I missed that earlier post to ask a question that always bugs me... do SSDs, when powered on, actually "patrol" their storage and rewrite cells that are fading even when quiescent from the host perspective?
Or does the data decay there as well, just as a function of time since cells were written?
In other words, is this whole focus on "powered off" just a proxy for "written once" versus "live data with presumed turnover"? Or do the cells really age more rapidly without power?
My understanding based on my readings of the previous post is there are no hardware level checks. SSDs need to be power cycled every so often and the integrity of the filesystem needs to be checked via something akin to zfs scrub. This should bs done on a monthly basis at minimum.
If you are paranoid about your data and not relying on filesystem level checks from ZFS or Btrfs you should ptobably avoid SSDs for long term storage.
I was researching that topic a little bit a while ago but with no usable outcome. The aim was to find out how to cope with SSDs as backups. Is it enough to plug them into a power connection once in a while so the firmware starts the refresh cycle? Do I need to do something else? How often does it need to be plugged in? Thankful for any pointers ...
It's not super conductivity but instead quantum mechanics.
High capacity hard drives nowadays use heat and strong magnetic fields to write patterns into the platter. It's pretty stable just sitting around doing nothing.
High density multi level NAND involves quantum tunneling a few electrons using a strong electric field into an electrically insulated bit of semiconductor. Over some time the electrons tunnel their way out, but usually this only ends up actually happening if too much writing damaged the insulation.
threeducks|3 months ago
saltcured|3 months ago
Or does the data decay there as well, just as a function of time since cells were written?
In other words, is this whole focus on "powered off" just a proxy for "written once" versus "live data with presumed turnover"? Or do the cells really age more rapidly without power?
stuxnet79|3 months ago
If you are paranoid about your data and not relying on filesystem level checks from ZFS or Btrfs you should ptobably avoid SSDs for long term storage.
ofrzeta|3 months ago
Razengan|3 months ago
Why is that? I'd have expected solid-state electronics to last longer at low temperatures.
Or is it precisely that, some near/superconductivity effects causing naughty electrons to escape and wander about?
khuey|3 months ago
kingstnap|3 months ago
High capacity hard drives nowadays use heat and strong magnetic fields to write patterns into the platter. It's pretty stable just sitting around doing nothing.
High density multi level NAND involves quantum tunneling a few electrons using a strong electric field into an electrically insulated bit of semiconductor. Over some time the electrons tunnel their way out, but usually this only ends up actually happening if too much writing damaged the insulation.
arcanemachiner|3 months ago
unknown|3 months ago
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