[Swordmaker]

Consider this your routine reminder to back things up—preferably to a mechanical hard drive.

[Swordmaker]

Owners of Apple MacBook Airs, new MacBooks, Macbook Pros and some Apple iMacs need to see this article. Also some Mac Pros. . . keep in mind that as long as the Apple product is plugged in, or still has a charge on the battery, there will be a trickle charge keeping the SSD live. Powered down means exactly that. No power at all on the device. This may also apply to cellular phones or tablets using SSD type memory. Back up everything. . . PING!

Apple, Windows, Android, and Linux SSD device loss of memory danger
Tell your friends to read this article — Ping!

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[21twelve]

So you mean those two 386’s I have in the shed, meaning to get around to go through them to see what I still might want, may have degraded? It’s only been about 13 years - I should try to get around to that in the next year or so.

[21twelve]

“If you’ve got an unused computer with solid state storage inside...”

Oops - I should have read it more carefully. I’m good. Mine are outside - in the shed!

[clearcarbon]

Don’t leave your notebook in the car in warm climates?

[ShadowAce]

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Funny how things come out too.late. I call shenanigans!!!

[patro]

I’m not surprised. ECM and ECU modules use solid state memory for storing fuel trim and other data which is why if you leave your battery disconnected long enough, your ideal fuel trim settings dump back to factory default. It’s even why computers need a CMOS battery.

[dayglored]

More on the SSD data loss in heat question ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Thanks to Swordmaker for the ping!!

[The Antiyuppie]

I believe that some SSD’s have procedures built into their firmware to “read/re-write” stale sectors over the original data in the background in order to refresh them and keep the cells “topped off”. Of course, the device has to be powered in order to do this. I had no idea that this problem could manifest itself so quickly.

I have very old computers (some >30 years old) with UVEPROMS (an older programmable read-only technology). When those came out, they were guaranteed to retain data only ~10 years (maybe later, 20 years). I’ve backed up images of them, but so far, not one bit has changed (they are checksummed).

[editor-surveyor]

This is no joke either.

The memory in my data collectors use up two AA cells every three days, and if you forget them for a week, the data is completely lost, and they are small by comparison with the SS drives in most computers.

[TheBattman]

But I thought SSD drives were suppose to be less prone to data loss than physical drives....