Flash memory stores data as a voltage level, with different values being a tiny distance apart. The voltage slowly leaks out of the cells and has to be periodically topped off.
SSD would be 100% dead unless you buried it with a power source.
Huh? Why? Should SSDs not be able to contain data without power?
Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Blackmist@feddit.uk 4 weeks ago
No, they’ll start to corrupt within a year or two. They need to be powered to retain data.
After 30 years you can forget it.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Sadly, no.
some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 weeks ago
There was a recent paper on this. The failure rate was higher than expected. You’ll have to search for it; I didn’t save a link.
The_v@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Leave a USB drive in a drawer for a couple of years and you can prove this one at home.
That’s why my backup drive is an old spinny hard drive.
rikudou@lemmings.world 4 weeks ago
That’s one of the downsides of SSDs, you lose data really fast without power. Like, after a year, your data will almost sure not be intact.