SSD data retention

[Harrison]

This is something I hadn't thought about until I was just reading an article.

In the recent series Silo they had removed all traces of old technology and an ancient illegal harddrive was being secretly hidden and accessed.

With a traditional HDD, or other media such as a floppy disk, the data written to the disk will remain on the disk for a long time unless temperature extremes or magnets are involved. So it was possible the data was still intact on that disk.

But if it had been an SSD or a USB drive this might have been very different. I hadn't thought about this but these devices use flash memory that need to occassionally receive power to maintain their stored data on the chips. I just looked this up and estimates are most SSD and M2 devices should store data for 2-5 years without power, but some quote 10-15 years. So definitely not for long term archival storage. For that a traditional HDD is still a more rebust solution.

Had you ever thought about this?

This also means that with more recent gaming systems now using SSDs and games stored on them into the dirtier will mean you need ro turn the systems on regularly to make sure the drives remember the data.

[J T]

This sounds like an interesting kind of series. But how were they accessing the ancient illegal hard drive without other technology too?

[Harrison]

I highly recommend Silo. It's based on a book trilogy by Hugh Howey, starting with the book Wool. It's based on a dystopian future where a disaster has occurred over 100 years ago and everyone is living in a huge underground Silo. It's on Apple TV.

There was meant to have been a mass uprising event 130 years ago that destroyed most objects from the past, as well as the knowledge about what really happened to the world or why they are in the silo. Most technology had been erased or banned. The Silo is however still controlled by ancient computers and they do have terminals in administration, police etc to access the system. An underground hacker in the lower levels managed to access the harddrive using one of these terminals. They have no knowledge of cameras f.ex.

[Demon Cleaner]

I highly recommend Silo. It's based on a book trilogy by Hugh Howey, starting with the book Wool. It's based on a dystopian future where a disaster has occurred over 100 years ago and everyone is living in a huge underground Silo. It's on Apple TV.

There was meant to have been a mass uprising event 130 years ago that destroyed most objects from the past, as well as the knowledge about what really happened to the world or why they are in the silo. Most technology had been erased or banned. The Silo is however still controlled by ancient computers and they do have terminals in administration, police etc to access the system. An underground hacker in the lower levels managed to access the harddrive using one of these terminals. They have no knowledge of cameras f.ex.

Wrong topic? But this got me interested now, has also great reviews on IMdB.

[Harrison]

As you know I've never been that bothered about staying I topic. Most conversations start in a very different place to where they end. Definitely give Silo a watch.

[Kin Hell]

Isn't this just another "Pootang" variant! :hmmm:

When I think of Silo.... this kind of storage springs to mind.....

1471

& then visions of this on a hot summers day along with the damned stench for days on end....

1472

:eyebrow:

Good old Mechanical Hard Drives eh! :lol:

[Harrison]

Yeah, normally we think of Bunker or shelter, not Silo. But in the series they are round like a silo and it sounds better. The book was called Wool though.

[Kin Hell]

Yeah, normally we think of Bunker or shelter, not Silo. But in the series they are round like a silo and it sounds better. The book was called Wool though.

1473

1475

1474

[Harrison]

I've just started reading Wool and they seem to have stuck very closely to the books in the series, which is very unusual these days. From brief descriptions of the other 2 books they explore back when the silos were being build, as well as into the future beyond the first book. If that's true they might need to diverge from the second series, otherwise the same characters/actors wouldn't be possible.

But anyway, back on topic. As much as we were all happy for much faster, smaller silient solidstate HDDs, the limitations of data integrity are present. So I will be sticking with mechanical drive in my NAS to back everything up.

[Kin Hell]

It's crazy tbh H isn't it. :eyebrow:


One thing one minute with tech & then another the next.... It's all becoming very much like fashion & the wind is always changing direction.

I always thought Technology was supposed to be ever going forward.

Not the cheapest of places but some ideas on current sizing & pricing from 4GB up....

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/storage/internal-hard-drives-hdd/above-4tb?sort=price_desc

[J T]

SSD for commonly used things (like the OS) and mechanical HDDs for storage seem to show that the best of both is possible.

[Harrison]

Agreed. But with M2 SSD storage suddenly dropping a lot in price you can get fast Gen4 drives much cheaper now, so many are ditching data security for speed and convenience.

A 1TB M2 drive can now be bought for around £40 and 2TB for around £80. Even the fastest versions such as the Samsung 980 Pro 2TB are down to £120.

This means in a main PC you can have multiple large capacity M2 SSDs and no mechanical drives. Eliminates noise and dramatically cutting heat, as well as improving airflow.

But this obviously leads back to the original data retention subject. And my point being that with many now fully adopting solidstate storage their data is not safe long-term. We do have cloud storage these days which many people use. Often we get so much free. Devices such as phones and OSs are designed now to utilise cloud storage for backups. But that's only for general day to day things like photos and office documents. For something more precious such as large design projects or a retro rom collection mechanism drives are still a must.

We will lose a lot going into the future. Have you ever dug an older computer out and fired it up. Going though everything in it and discovering old pictures or games and things you created that you have forgotten about? Try this after leaving a system sitting for 5+ years in the future and the drives will be blank.

This also raises the question about cloud storage. How safe is your data in the cloud? If you storage was given to you free how long is the retention? How long after you stop using it will it get wiped? If you pay for larger cloud storage it will only last a long a you keep paying. You can up to a drive or burn a disc and you can store it indefinitely to be accessed much later. Just as traditional photo albums safeguarded memories for those in the future to discover and enjoy. Stop paying for cloud storage and it's gone.

When loved ones die in the future their data might die with them, leaving no record they were ever here.