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Debunked: Your SSD won't lose data if left unplugged after all
PC World ^ | May 21, 2015 | Gordon Mah Ung

Posted on 05/25/2015 8:25:11 PM PDT by dayglored

If you’re in a panic because the Internet told you that your shiny new SSD may lose data in “just a few days” when stored in a hot room, take a chill pill—it’s apparently all a huge misunderstanding, according to the man who wrote the original presentation all the fear is based on.

In a conversation with Kent Smith of Seagate and Alvin Cox, the Seagate engineer who wrote the presentation that set the Internet abuzz, PCWorld was told we’re all just reading it wrong.

“People have misunderstood the data that they’re looking at,” Smith said.

Cox agreed saying there’s no reason to fret.

“I wouldn’t worry about (losing data),” Cox told PCWorld. “This all pertains to end of life. As a consumer, an SSD product or even a flash product is never going to get to the point where it’s temperature-dependent on retaining the data.”

...

The original presentation ... was intended to help data center and enterprise customers understand what could happen to an SSD—but only after it had reached the end of its useful life span and then stored at abnormal temperatures. It’s not intended to be applied to an SSD in the prime of its life in either an enterprise or a consumer product.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: bogus; dataloss; ssd; windowspinglist
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Big scare debunked. For example:
"Solid-state drives lose data if left without power for just a few days"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3288328/posts
Your SSD solid-state hard drives are just fine, just like we suspected all along.
1 posted on 05/25/2015 8:25:11 PM PDT by dayglored
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To: dayglored; Abby4116; afraidfortherepublic; aft_lizard; AF_Blue; Alas Babylon!; amigatec; ...
Big SSD data loss scare was a "big misunderstanding" and not true for you and me ... PING!

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

2 posted on 05/25/2015 8:26:16 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: Swordmaker; ShadowAce

Definitely ping-worthy.


3 posted on 05/25/2015 8:26:55 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: dayglored

I believe a FReeper pointed precisely this point out back on one of the threads on this topic a week or so ago. I can’t remember who, unfortunately.


4 posted on 05/25/2015 8:32:00 PM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP for A Slower Handbasket)
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To: Steely Tom
Well there was a great deal of good discussion of whether the original concern was warranted (most agreed it sounded unreasonable, but that one ought to do backups anyway), so I wouldn't be surprised if somebody had pulled out the old report that caused the concern and said, "Now wait one cotton-pickin' minute here..."

Thing is, I would think I would have either seen that, or been alerted to it by Swordmaker or ShadowAce since I'm on their ping lists.

So either I've been oblivious (which I admit happens occasionally), or this is the first thread specifically on the debunking.

But if someone can find an earlier thread on the same topic, please post a link to it.

5 posted on 05/25/2015 8:36:49 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: dayglored; ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1234; Abundy; Action-America; acoulterfan; AFreeBird; Airwinger; Aliska; ..
All that Internet panic spread about SSDs losing data after being left powered down after just a few days in a hot environment? Just forget it! The guy who published the study says everyone was reading his study wrong — PING!


OOPS, we were wrong about hot unpowered SSDs losing data
So sorry about that Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

I challenge the members of the Apple ping list to each donate at least $10 each to the latest Freepathon. I HAVE donated $100. Many members of the Apple Ping list are already rising to the challenge. Join them. Let's show the power of the Apple Ping list in supporting Freerepublic!

If you have ordered an Apple Watch,
MAKE A DONATION TO THE FREEPATHON!

6 posted on 05/25/2015 8:37:32 PM PDT by Swordmaker ( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: dayglored

I have repaired many computers with SSDs and I have yet to have any problem with one, others have. I worked with a guy who had someone drive over his laptop and the SSD survived. But if a SSD does fail, I don’t of any thing you can do or a place that can recover like you have for Hard drives. My best machines use a hybrid SSD for the OS and store data on two mirrored 3TB drives.


7 posted on 05/25/2015 8:48:07 PM PDT by ThomasThomas ("YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR BADGE!")
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To: dayglored
Definitely ping-worthy.

Yes it soytenly is!

8 posted on 05/25/2015 8:48:08 PM PDT by Swordmaker ( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: dayglored

Journolist goes pc.


9 posted on 05/25/2015 8:50:45 PM PDT by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: ThomasThomas

Best way to store critical data is on mechanical drives in RAID configuration for mirroring. I love SSD drives I only install my OS and games to them.


10 posted on 05/25/2015 8:55:39 PM PDT by miliantnutcase
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To: Swordmaker
That makes me happy. I was looking at a 1.0TB SSD to upgrade my computer and had put it on hold.
11 posted on 05/25/2015 9:04:41 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the Occupation Media.)
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To: miliantnutcase
> Best way to store critical data is on mechanical drives in RAID configuration for mirroring. I love SSD drives I only install my OS and games to them.

I can't think of any reason not to do a RAID-1 mirror with SSDs either. Seems like it ought to work as well as with rotators.

12 posted on 05/25/2015 9:06:07 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: bajabaja
> Journolist goes pc.

??? Please 'splain?

13 posted on 05/25/2015 9:10:38 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is...sounding pretty good about now.)
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To: dayglored

As I suspected.


14 posted on 05/25/2015 9:50:06 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: dayglored

I guess I can move my AC setting back up to 74 from 60 now ...


15 posted on 05/25/2015 10:05:30 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: dayglored

Journolist == a group of leftist journalists who were found to be on an internet “list” where they pushed leftist persperctives.

PC: == play on “politically correct” and “personal computer”

So here the author of the “SSD’s lose memory if left unpowered” was pushing an agenda, just as the leftie journolistas do.

Or: don’t believe what you read, not only in the general press, but in the “personal computing” press.

Can’t be trusted.


16 posted on 05/25/2015 10:13:41 PM PDT by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: ThomasThomas
That's similar to my setup I put in place a few months back. I have a 128GB SSD for the OS (/ on my Linux system) and swap, and a 1TB conventional HDD for data. (/home on my Linux system)

I don't have RAID for /home, but I do make regular backups to an external USB HDD. That drive is only on the system to make the backups, it is not on normally. That reduces wear and tear on the external drive, and reduces the chances of a single mishap taking out the primary and backup.

17 posted on 05/25/2015 10:25:59 PM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Stop obarma now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: dayglored

I will let you guys know if I have data corruption on my 850 evo 250. I was using one as my main OS but migrated the data to an hardrive because of the update schedule for Windows 10 tech preview. Figured I would save the writes for when I am not rewriting it every two weeks.


18 posted on 05/25/2015 10:54:49 PM PDT by aft_lizard
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To: miliantnutcase
Best way to store critical data is on mechanical drives in RAID configuration for mirroring

Works for a server sitting on the floor, that can't be tipped over. For my laptop which I drop from time to time, I use SSD, and back it up as often as it changes (i.e. days). If I had critical data that changed more rapidly I would probably do an online backup.

19 posted on 05/26/2015 4:11:19 AM PDT by palmer (Net "neutrality" = Obama turning the internet into FlixNet)
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To: ThomasThomas
But if a SSD does fail, I don’t (sic) of any thing you can do or a place that can recover like you have for Hard drives.

SSDs warn you WELL IN ADVANCE of a failure. Any modern OS (i.e. Win7, 8, OSX, Ubuntu) have tools in the system to warn you of failures on SSDs. These failures usually occur during operations against sectors and manifest as read failures. Unless you're running your SSD at 95% or more capacity utilization, the firmware in a majority of SSD controllers have SMART warnings to notify of an impending failure.

You are doing yourself a disservice if you disregard hardware/SMART warnings from your system, esp. for HDD/SSDs!

20 posted on 05/26/2015 4:29:08 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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