Solid-State Drives Losing Data Without Power

[Rudi]

    
This is concerning!!

Solid-State Drives Losing Data Without Power

[HansV]

Better move to a cool climate!

[ChrisGreaves]

This is concerning!!

I agree.
Anyone who writes " ... dormant in storage for periods of time ..." needs serious help.

P.S. I'm now wondering whether 80-column punched cards could be classified as solid-state-storage devices?

[Jay Freedman]

I'm now wondering whether 80-column punched cards could be classified as solid-state-storage devices?

They probably could... do you have enough storage area for a terabyte of punch cards? Hmm... I guess Saskatchewan might be large enough.

[ChrisGreaves]

...do you have enough storage area for a terabyte of punch cards?

I thought we had already covered that in this post
DO pay attention Jay

[Jay Freedman]

...do you have enough storage area for a terabyte of punch cards?

I thought we had already covered that in this post
DO pay attention Jay

Thanks for the reminder. But that was about the weight (so estimating 125 tons/terabyte?). I'd like to know how many cartons of cards you can fit on your desk.

[ChrisGreaves]

... how many cartons of cards you can fit on your desk.

Not many. My "desk" is an escritoire.
The hinged-down portion is about three feet (max) by 18 inches.
The hinges are silvered steel held by two screws.
3/4-inch screws.
So based on my memories from 48 years ago, I'd think maybe one carton.

But you'd have to put it down very carefully, preferably on the hinge side rather than the outer edge (a.k.a.the "cascade-to-the-floor edge)

P.S. If you are going to ask me how many 12-tone trucks I could fit on my desk, the answer is "It depends on whether they'd first fit into the elevator"

[PJ_in_FL]

Ahem, back to the original topic (and by that I do not mean the "tons per terabyte" discussion), the Seagate announcement is FUD!

SS data retention for NAND Flash which make up the memory storage components in SSDs is in the decades range, not days. Admittedly if you hold your SSD over your campfire alongside your marshmallows don't expect 25 year retention, but if you're in an environment where you can live comfortably then so can your SSD. Use reasonable cooling strategies for your computer so it doesn't substitute for a hot plate and you're good for years.....

[Peter S]

Here in South Africa we experience power outages for a range of reasons I need not go into here. I have had the power go off whilst working on my desktop (OS and software installed on an SSD) and had no problems re-booting. I have also had power cuts whilst my system was "Sleeping" and once again had no problems re-booting. Perhaps the slight "lag"that the AC power supply in the case experiences when power is cut is sufficient to allow the SSD to stabilize? Any comments? (Or have I just been very lucky!!)

[HansV]

I don't think you have to worry. According to this article:

Most consumer solid-state drives, such as those in high-end performance desktops and certain notebooks (including Apple MacBooks), do not suffer as much. They are designed to retain data for about two years in storage under the right temperature.

So a power outage of a few hours, or even several days, should have no impact on your SSD.

[StuartR]

A power outage of a few YEARS will not affect an SSD unless it is in an extremely hot location.

[BobH]

Ahem, back to the original topic (and by that I do not mean the "tons per terabyte" discussion), the Seagate announcement is FUD!

SS data retention for NAND Flash which make up the memory storage components in SSDs is in the decades range, not days. Admittedly if you hold your SSD over your campfire alongside your marshmallows don't expect 25 year retention, but if you're in an environment where you can live comfortably then so can your SSD. Use reasonable cooling strategies for your computer so it doesn't substitute for a hot plate and you're good for years.....

Your post begs the question of what internal case temperatures are reasonable. I have enough fans in my tower that the disk drive temps run in the range of 85 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Is that reasonable?

[HansV]

As long as your SSD is powered, there is no problem at all. The article mentioned at the beginning of this thread is about what happens if you store an SSD without a power connection.