Thread by @lauriewired on Thread Reader App – SSDs are *shockingly* bad at power off retention, esp if it’s near it’s endurance rating.
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/02/17
[Wayback/Archive] Thread by @lauriewired on Thread Reader App – SSDs are shockingly bad at power off retention, esp if it’s near it’s endurance rating.
Your files are dying.
That SSD you keep in the closet, the one from your old system “just in case”. Yup, degrading as we speak.
SSDs are *shockingly* bad at power off retention, esp if it’s near it’s endurance rating.
The JEDEC standard only requires 1 year of unpowered data retention at 30C after max TBW (writes).
Now here is where physics starts to get goofy.
The conductivity of a semiconductor scales with temperature, and electrons have a nasty tendency of floating out of their gates.
Powered-on retention is *better* at higher temperatures, Power-off retention is better at lower temperatures.
If your closet stored SSD is hot, (like, crazy hot, 55C+), the data retention decreases to less than a week!
In other words, MLC NAND likes to run hot, but be stored cold.
Yes, I’m mostly trying to scare you into backing up your data actively. Cold storage is not a solution.
It’s not all doom and gloom however.
Thankfully, retention goes way up when a drive is closer to new. If you’re not close to the max TBW, and storing the powered off drive at a reasonable temp, you start to hit 10+ years of retention.
Even so, I wouldn’t risk it. Whether spinning rust or the newest SSD, an active archive is a happy archive.
Tweets:
- [Wayback/Archive] LaurieWired on X: “Your files are dying. That SSD you keep in the closet, the one from your old system “just in case”. Yup, degrading as we speak. SSDs are *shockingly* bad at power off retention, esp if it’s near it’s endurance rating. The JEDEC standard only requires 1 year of unpowered data”
- [Wayback/Archive] LaurieWired on X: “Now here is where physics starts to get goofy. The conductivity of a semiconductor scales with temperature, and electrons have a nasty tendency of floating out of their gates. Powered-on retention is *better* at higher temperatures, Power-off retention is better at lower https://t.co/s9Aw1SdfTi” / X
- [Wayback/Archive] LaurieWired on X: “Yes, I’m mostly trying to scare you into backing up your data actively. Cold storage is not a solution. It’s not all doom and gloom however. Thankfully, retention goes way up when a drive is closer to new. If you’re not close to the max TBW, and storing the powered off”
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
Leave a comment