3 ms·

However there's a major issue with SSDs. SSDs keep their data for ~10 years, which is a lot shorter than most people realize. "Spinning rust" will remain operat

by spwa4 2y ago

However there's a major issue with SSDs. SSDs keep their data for ~10 years, which is a lot shorter than most people realize. "Spinning rust" will remain operational for longer and should keep the data for at least a century. You cannot have data on SSDs for backup or data hoarding. I get that spinning rust is put to shame by CD or DVD (even writable ones), but still.

kissiel 2y ago
That sounds very optimistic. Do you have any data to back that up? Is it hot or cold storage? I understand, that the breakdown of magnetic field is indeed slow, but the HDD as a whole is not as sturdy, I think - you need to spin the platters, control the heads and so on.
- spwa4 2y ago
  That's true. Perhaps I should say that data on hard drives will remain recoverable, not available, for a century. Data on CDs/DVDs should remain recoverable for millenia (properly stored, even readable). Another advantage: CDs/DVDs can be duplicated with only analog tools maybe 10 times to further extend that (obviously not writable CD/DVS). And if we were to glue cd's top-to-top, that could be an easy hack to 10x that, which would even work for (re)writable CDs/DVDs. (Re)writable CDs/DVDs should remain readable/recoverable for centuries too. Probably not millenia. https://www.easeus.com/resource/does-ssd-need-power.html https://www.easeus.com/resource/does-ssd-need-power.html TLDR: SSDs keep data for "minimum 1 year" when used as archival storage (of course specific models have been caught losing data in as little as 3 months). Keeping the SSD powered on regularly should increase that, but only to 2-5 years if you want to be on the safe side.
  - buttercraft 2y ago
    > Data on CDs/DVDs should remain recoverable for millenia (properly stored, even readable). If by "properly stored" you mean in a cold, dark vacuum, then maybe. Otherwise this is not true in my experience. I've had CD's in temperature controlled storage for 25 years and about 1 on 10 are unreadable. It's my understanding that they oxidize. In theory gold CD'S are immune to that.
teddyh 2y ago
10 years? Try three months (worst case, but still): <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37144598 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37144598>

by spwa4 2y ago

kissiel 2y ago

That sounds very optimistic. Do you have any data to back that up? Is it hot or cold storage? I understand, that the breakdown of magnetic field is indeed slow, but the HDD as a whole is not as sturdy, I think - you need to spin the platters, control the heads and so on.

spwa4 2y ago
That's true. Perhaps I should say that data on hard drives will remain recoverable, not available, for a century. Data on CDs/DVDs should remain recoverable for millenia (properly stored, even readable). Another advantage: CDs/DVDs can be duplicated with only analog tools maybe 10 times to further extend that (obviously not writable CD/DVS). And if we were to glue cd's top-to-top, that could be an easy hack to 10x that, which would even work for (re)writable CDs/DVDs. (Re)writable CDs/DVDs should remain readable/recoverable for centuries too. Probably not millenia. https://www.easeus.com/resource/does-ssd-need-power.html https://www.easeus.com/resource/does-ssd-need-power.html TLDR: SSDs keep data for "minimum 1 year" when used as archival storage (of course specific models have been caught losing data in as little as 3 months). Keeping the SSD powered on regularly should increase that, but only to 2-5 years if you want to be on the safe side.
- buttercraft 2y ago
  > Data on CDs/DVDs should remain recoverable for millenia (properly stored, even readable). If by "properly stored" you mean in a cold, dark vacuum, then maybe. Otherwise this is not true in my experience. I've had CD's in temperature controlled storage for 25 years and about 1 on 10 are unreadable. It's my understanding that they oxidize. In theory gold CD'S are immune to that.

teddyh 2y ago

10 years? Try three months (worst case, but still): <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37144598 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37144598>