4 ms·

Except SSDs aren't very good for long term storage as their data will decay if left unpowered for 6 months.

astrodust 10y ago
If you're going to believe every rumor you read you'll be convinced of anything. SSD devices are very durable except if they're subjected to repeated and extreme levels of heating/cooling. Also I'm not sure what datacentres you work in but I've never heard of one being turned off for six months. You can spin down drives when they're not in use, but that's mostly to save energy. An idle SSD uses almost no power, there's no reason to spin it down.
- benaadams 10y ago
  No you wouldn't switch an in use disk of in a data centre; but you would for archival cold storage; such as legal evidence: (From: https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24 https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24 ) > Digital evidence storage for legal matters is a common practice. As the use of Solid State Drives (SSD) in consumer and enterprise computers has increased, so too has the number of SSDs in storage increased. When most, if not all, of the drives in storage were mechanical, there was little chance of silent data corruption as long as the environment in the storage enclosure maintained reasonable thresholds. The same is not true for SSDs. ... > For client application SSDs, the powered-off retention period standard is one year while enterprise application SSDs have a powered-off retention period of three months. These retention periods can vary greatly depending on the temperature of the storage area that houses SSDs. ... > The standards change dramatically when you consider JEDEC's standards for enterprise class drives. The storage standard for this class of drive at the same operating temperature as the consumer class drive drops from 2 years under optimal conditions to 20 weeks. Five degrees of temperature rise in the storage environment drops the data retention period to 10 weeks. Overall, JEDEC lists a 3-month period of data retention as the standard for enterprise class drives. > A check of various drive manufacturers, in this case Samsung, Intel, and Seagate, shows that their ratings for data retention of their consumer class drives are what would be expected for JEDEC's enterprise class drive standards. All three quote a nominal 3-month retention time period. Most likely, the manufacturers are being conservative; however, it demonstrates the potential variability the manufacturers associate with data retention on any SSD in storage.
  - astrodust 10y ago
    As SSD explodes in capacity and HDD struggles to keep up look for "archival grade SSD" to emerge as a serious product. I know there's a ridiculous amount of offline data that must be maintained and tapes aren't always a practical solution. Manufacturers are being very conservative when it comes to retention times. I haven't heard of anyone losing data because they left their SSD powered off for two long, but if you have any anecdotes or reports to share, by all means. Early SSDs were temperamental, flaky, and would burn out quickly. The current generation is durable, almost impossible to burn out, and seems to hold data for years even when powered off. It's like the bad rap that plasma screens got for burning in even when that problem was addressed by the manufacturers.
- majewsky 10y ago
  Can you even "spin down" an SSD, considering that there is no spinning things in there?
  - benaadams 10y ago
    Its not spinning down; rather switching off and putting on a shelf for a year or two.

If you're going to believe every rumor you read you'll be convinced of anything. SSD devices are very durable except if they're subjected to repeated and extreme levels of heating/cooling. Also I'm not sure what datacentres you work in but I've never heard of one being turned off for six months. You can spin down drives when they're not in use, but that's mostly to save energy. An idle SSD uses almost no power, there's no reason to spin it down.

benaadams 10y ago
No you wouldn't switch an in use disk of in a data centre; but you would for archival cold storage; such as legal evidence: (From: https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24 https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24 ) > Digital evidence storage for legal matters is a common practice. As the use of Solid State Drives (SSD) in consumer and enterprise computers has increased, so too has the number of SSDs in storage increased. When most, if not all, of the drives in storage were mechanical, there was little chance of silent data corruption as long as the environment in the storage enclosure maintained reasonable thresholds. The same is not true for SSDs. ... > For client application SSDs, the powered-off retention period standard is one year while enterprise application SSDs have a powered-off retention period of three months. These retention periods can vary greatly depending on the temperature of the storage area that houses SSDs. ... > The standards change dramatically when you consider JEDEC's standards for enterprise class drives. The storage standard for this class of drive at the same operating temperature as the consumer class drive drops from 2 years under optimal conditions to 20 weeks. Five degrees of temperature rise in the storage environment drops the data retention period to 10 weeks. Overall, JEDEC lists a 3-month period of data retention as the standard for enterprise class drives. > A check of various drive manufacturers, in this case Samsung, Intel, and Seagate, shows that their ratings for data retention of their consumer class drives are what would be expected for JEDEC's enterprise class drive standards. All three quote a nominal 3-month retention time period. Most likely, the manufacturers are being conservative; however, it demonstrates the potential variability the manufacturers associate with data retention on any SSD in storage.
- astrodust 10y ago
  As SSD explodes in capacity and HDD struggles to keep up look for "archival grade SSD" to emerge as a serious product. I know there's a ridiculous amount of offline data that must be maintained and tapes aren't always a practical solution. Manufacturers are being very conservative when it comes to retention times. I haven't heard of anyone losing data because they left their SSD powered off for two long, but if you have any anecdotes or reports to share, by all means. Early SSDs were temperamental, flaky, and would burn out quickly. The current generation is durable, almost impossible to burn out, and seems to hold data for years even when powered off. It's like the bad rap that plasma screens got for burning in even when that problem was addressed by the manufacturers.
majewsky 10y ago
Can you even "spin down" an SSD, considering that there is no spinning things in there?
- benaadams 10y ago
  Its not spinning down; rather switching off and putting on a shelf for a year or two.