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Solid-state drives lose data if left without power for just a few days
ZDNet ^ | May 9, 2015 | Zack Whittaker

Posted on 05/10/2015 1:06:11 PM PDT by Utilizer

Storage. It's not a sexy topic. But everyone uses it in some way or another. You have iPhones, you have computers. Everyone knows how important a person's data is. But it doesn't just "disappear."

Or does it?

New research suggests that newer solid-state hard drives, which are faster and offer better performance, are vulnerable to an inherent flaw -- they lose data when they're left dormant in storage for periods of time where the temperature isn't properly regulated.

The worrying factor is that the period of time can be weeks, months, but even in some circumstances -- just a few days.

Solid-state drives are better than regular mechanical hard drives, which are slow and sluggish. But unless they're battered around, smashed, or poured in acid, they pretty much last forever.

(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: computers; computing; harddrives; hdd; sdd; storage; windowspinglist
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To: rockrr

SSD and thumb drives are both NAND memory, however they are VERY different grades use much different controllers. SSD’s are leagues faster in I/O and speed, reliability. Flash drives (thumb drives) use much cheaper simpler controllers that are much slower. However, both being NAND they are similar in tech.


21 posted on 05/10/2015 2:16:50 PM PDT by miliantnutcase
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To: max americana

Odd you should mention that. I just yesterday found a couple of Maxstors and a Seagate drive(s) that had the ‘doze 95b, 98SE, and RedHat 5.0 on them and they ran perfectly.

Well, the one MB had some questionable ‘lytics, I think, judging from all the AM hash it generated on powering up, but the systems functioned perfectly.

Hadn’t powered them up since somewhere around 2001 or 2002.

Think I’ll go look for those old XT and AT MBs and see what I can find...


22 posted on 05/10/2015 2:17:36 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: Organic Panic

You absolutely must backup SSDs religiously. They do not degrade, they just fail completely, like flipping a switch.


23 posted on 05/10/2015 2:18:08 PM PDT by dinodino
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To: SamAdams76

Until someone hacks your password and you lose everything. Or a bit of malware encrypts it and demands a ransom to get it back.


24 posted on 05/10/2015 2:21:22 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: Utilizer

Does this affect those USB drives?


25 posted on 05/10/2015 2:24:06 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: cynwoody

I don’t see any comments. Even when I disable Ghostery nothing pops up so I will have to rely upon others to view them. That and Adblock Plus do an amazing job of stopping pretty much all adware on sites. :)


26 posted on 05/10/2015 2:24:07 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: spintreebob

Well, to be fair, even optical disks (CD/DVD/BR) degrade over time, and bitrot can be a problem on many forms of medium.

Even BIOS chips can suffer from it although they are manufactured to be quite resilient to it as I was reminded not too long ago.


27 posted on 05/10/2015 2:29:05 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: SkyDancer

In a word, yes. But the interfaces and amount of data lost will differ markedly depending upon where the data loss occurs.


28 posted on 05/10/2015 2:40:31 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: SamAdams76

“All the more reason to have your data backed up in the clloud.”

No thanks. Back up, absolutely, but no cloud.


29 posted on 05/10/2015 2:41:06 PM PDT by Proud2BeRight
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To: Utilizer
From personal experience with SSDs, my BS detector is starting to chirp a little at this article.
30 posted on 05/10/2015 2:47:44 PM PDT by The Cajun (Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Mike Lee, Louie Gohmert....Nuff said.)
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To: Utilizer

I carry several of those plug-in memory sticks and haven’t a problem with them yet ... so what you’re saying is I have to plug them in every so often?


31 posted on 05/10/2015 2:57:27 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: SkyDancer

In summation; you should have NO critical data on a thumb drive / flashdrive for permanent retention. They were never meant for long-term storage and while reconnecting them to a power source will help long-term (yes) they are only intended to help with sneakernet data transfers not permanent storage.

Hard disks are still the best solution for long-term storage since so long as the physical disk is intact. Even if the controller electronics fails the data can still be recovered. Optical disks begin losing data after only a few years, generally from the outer edges in unless the reflective coating begins to degrade, and if a flash drive or SSD dies then you have NO chance to recover any data.

Think of thumb drives as the electronic equivalent of pencil-and-paper medium as far as “longevity” is concerned.


32 posted on 05/10/2015 3:15:10 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: Utilizer

Ahem: “Hard disks are still the best solution for long-term storage since so long as the physical disk is intact even if the controller electronics fail the data can still be recovered.”

Sorry. Been quite ill for a time and having trouble thinking cogently for long.


33 posted on 05/10/2015 3:20:50 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: Utilizer
I don’t see any comments. Even when I disable Ghostery nothing pops up so I will have to rely upon others to view them. That and Adblock Plus do an amazing job of stopping pretty much all adware on sites. :)

Hiding comments is a bug, not a feature.

I took another look at the article. There are now 113 comments and 991 people watching.

It uses Livefyre Comments, which is apparently a Disqus competitor. It dynamically updates when new comments are added. (IOW, it needs JavaScript).

The big trend these past few years is for content sites to farm out comment handling to one of a small number of providers instead of rolling one's own comment system. Disqus seems to have most of that market. It's much more common to see commentable articles than it used to be.

34 posted on 05/10/2015 3:59:58 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Utilizer

I have a 3-part policy here.
1. For my paranoia, no cloud or other online storage;
2. For my feeling of insecurity, I back up everything on at least five devices (other laptop, thumb drives, etc.);
3. For actual security, I make a print copy of everything.


35 posted on 05/10/2015 4:08:26 PM PDT by Buttons12
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To: Organic Panic
With an hdd I am able to recover most anything. The ssd just stopped and there was no way to get anything off it.

SSDs also present a new challenge in the data forensics field.

36 posted on 05/10/2015 4:09:19 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Utilizer

Okay - I carry some flight plans on them plus other useful aviation stuff that I can plug into any computer if needed.


37 posted on 05/10/2015 5:12:35 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: SkyDancer

I would advise you to always carry a backup, luv. Never be dependent upon only one device, right?


38 posted on 05/10/2015 5:16:44 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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To: Utilizer

Have used the same one for years (okay, four) never let me down. I do have several with me in case but not needed them. Okay, well launching out of LAX to SEA ...later.


39 posted on 05/10/2015 5:21:35 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: SkyDancer

Take care, and talk later. :)


40 posted on 05/10/2015 5:28:27 PM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
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