[news] SSDs can lose data in as little as 7 days without power

[unixman_again]

SSDs can lose data in as little as 7 days without power | ExtremeTech

 

I'm surprised by this. I thought SSDs were basically USB memory sticks with bigger chips, but it seems I was wrong. Memory sticks seem to last forever. A couple of weeks ago I popped one in that I haven't used in 5 years, mainly to see what was on it. The files were just fine and it was interesting to see what I thought was important 5 years ago.

[localzuk]

My thought would be - why are things being stored at such high temperatures? My storage room would hardly get above 20 degrees on the hottest day here. Most of the time it will be at 15 degrees I'd say!

[GuyJD]

I never knew they could lose data either.

[dhicks]

I'm surprised by this. I thought SSDs were basically USB memory sticks with bigger chips

 

The main issue seems to be with enterprise SSDs - consumer SSDs seem to be able to retain data better when powered off. Does make me wonder if we'll see any system failures after the summer holidays, though - PCs with SSDs sat unused for 6 weeks in a warm classroom, we might see some issues on the first day back in September. However, as far as I can make out the drives themselves are fine, it's just the data on them that might get lost - we can just re-image a workstation.

[timbo343]

hmmm, we have had SSDs in our machines for over a year now and not noticed anything like this happen to any of our machines even over the summer period.

[CamelMan]

Interesting one to keep in mind - Just plugged in an old OCZ that I built a server on a while ago (probably not been on in a 2 months or so) and it seemed fine. It was left in my office so not aircon'ed just storaged at room temp.

 

Might be one of those to remember when storing crucial data.

[sted]

i had a crucial 128gb i replaced sat in a box for over a year and when i found a use for that all the data was as far as i could tell still intact granted sample size of 1 but its not something im worried about

[Arthur]

AnandTech has a much better article on the subject. Yet again, ExtremeTech = :rolleyes:

 

The Truth About SSD Data Retention « AnandTech

 

In the past week, quite a few media outlets have posted articles claiming that SSDs will lose data in a matter of days if left unpowered. While there is some (read: very, very little) truth to that, it has created a lot of chatter and confusion in forums and even I have received a few questions about the validity of the claims, so rather than responding to individual emails/tweets from people who want to know more, I thought I would explain the matter in depth to everyone at once.

 

Before we go into the actual data retention topic, let's outline the situation by focusing on the conditions that must be met when the manufacturer is determining the endurance rating for an SSD. First off, the drive must maintain its capacity, meaning that it cannot retire so many blocks that the user capacity would decrease. Secondly, the drive must meet the required UBER (number of data errors per number of bits read) spec as well as be within the functional failure requirement. Finally, the drive must retain data without power for a set amount of time to meet the JEDEC spec. Note that all these must be conditions must be met when the maximum number of data has been written i.e. if a drive is rated at 100TB, it must meet these specs after 100TB of writes.

 

At 40°C active and 30°C power off temperature, a client SSD is set to retain data for 52 weeks i.e. one year. As the table shows, the data retention is proportional to active temperature and inversely proportional to power off temperature, meaning that a higher power off temperature will result in decreased retention. In a worst case scenario where the active temperature is only 25-30°C and power off is 55°C, the data retention can be as short as one week, which is what many sites have touted with their "data loss in matter of days" claims. Yes, it can technically happen, but not in typical client environment.

 

In reality power off temperature of 55°C is not realistic at all for a client user because the drive will most likely be stored somewhere in the house (closet, basement, garage etc.) in room temperature, which tends to be below 30°C. Active temperature, on the other hand, is usually at least 40°C because the drive and other components in the system generate heat that puts the temperature over room temperature.

 

All in all, there is absolutely zero reason to worry about SSD data retention in typical client environment. Remember that the figures presented here are for a drive that has already passed its endurance rating, so for new drives the data retention is considerably higher, typically over ten years for MLC NAND based SSDs. If you buy a drive today and stash it away, the drive itself will become totally obsolete quicker than it will lose its data. Besides, given the cost of SSDs, it's not cost efficient to use them for cold storage anyway, so if you're looking to archive data I would recommend going with hard drives for cost reasons alone.

[Arthur]

Does make me wonder if we'll see any system failures after the summer holidays, though - PCs with SSDs sat unused for 6 weeks in a warm classroom, we might see some issues on the first day back in September.

See post above. I bet they will be perfectly fine.