It's not disk rot since I use SSD's throughout SSDs, unless they're very old SLC/MLC ones, do actually suffer from bit rot a lot more than magnetic/optical med

It's not disk rot since I use SSD's throughout SSDs, unless they're very old SLC/MLC ones, do actually suffer from bit rot a lot more than magnetic/optical media. The unpowered retention ratings of new TLC/QLC flash is rather horrifying (months, not years or decades like they used to be). https://goughlui.com/2023/10/10/psa-ssds-with-ymtc-flash-prone-to-failure-check-your-ssds/ https://goughlui.com/2023/10/10/psa-ssds-with-ymtc-flash-pro... https://goughlui.com/2016/11/08/note-samsung-850-evo-data-retention-performance-degradation/ https://goughlui.com/2016/11/08/note-samsung-850-evo-data-re... If you want a reliable SSD for old systems, an SLC-based CF card is a good choice; it doesn't need to be very big (8GB is plenty), and the retention characteristics are also "period-correct".