cm0002Unpowered SSD endurance investigation finds severe data loss and performance issues, reminds us of the importance of refreshing backups
Verdant Bananavery very old news
no storage drive on the planet last more than two to three years and just like batteries go bad just sitting like everything else been a problem that people refuse to acknowledge like everything else
actual problem is finding storage on not only more durable longer lasting drives but also ones that use materials and resources that are more sustainable
DarkFutureno storage drive on the planet last more than two to three years
I have a 20+ year old disk hard drive from a desktop I used in high school that I can plug in and still access my files.
hime0321Not for long. And there is no way that it doesn’t have issues. Also that old of hardware will have connections that modern pc don’t have support for. So basically either the drive will die or the hardware running the drive will. But op is specifically talking about drives that are unplugged, just sitting around. All drives will lose data from being unplugged, and it has been known for a very long time. However they are incorrect on the “no storage drive” can last long. Tape drives are the go to for long term storage. Something like 15-30 year lifespans and 50+ on other types of tape drives.
I don’t touch the drive for years on end and it works. The connections are IDE and Molex. I have an IDE to USB data cable and a Molex power cable. I can plug it into my PC that I just built a few months ago no problem.
The data on “old” style disk drives is physically etched upon the disk magnetically. That’s why the data still exists, despite sitting unused for long periods of time.
Neither you nor the OP know much about this topic.
I’ve worked it for over a decade at this point, I know exactly what I’m talking about. Sure the drive works now, but it is mechanical and mechanical things WILL fail. Obviously adapters will allow it to interface with modern hardware.
I don’t know if you understand how magnetic drives work. They are not permanent magnets, that means that they will lose their charge unless you maintain the drive. It’s not a matter of if but when. And maintaining the drive means it’s plugged in and spinning, which wears the drive down.
I bet if you ran a smart report on that drive, it will have plenty of “old age” and “pre-failure” on many different attributes. If there is data important to you, then it should not be on that drive.