Comment Data Retention and Wear (Score 2) 79
There is a JDEC spec for both consumer and data center SSDs. The consumer spec requires 1 year power off retention at 0% health remaining. The data center spec is only 90 days.
As the SSD wears, the retention goes down. Years ago, a tech magazine (remember those) did a torture test on an old MLC Samsung 3D SSDs. It was healthy with no errors at well over 10X the rated endurance. Unfortunately, the data retention was measured in days. This is why it is so important to watch SMART for wear and replace drives that are worn out. They might still seem error free, but they are not really storage at some point.
Other factors are temperature (cooler is better). Some have mentioned radiation, which probably is an issue if you are putting these in aircraft. Bottom line, if you really want the data to survive, replicate and keep it moving with good data integrity checks.
As the SSD wears, the retention goes down. Years ago, a tech magazine (remember those) did a torture test on an old MLC Samsung 3D SSDs. It was healthy with no errors at well over 10X the rated endurance. Unfortunately, the data retention was measured in days. This is why it is so important to watch SMART for wear and replace drives that are worn out. They might still seem error free, but they are not really storage at some point.
Other factors are temperature (cooler is better). Some have mentioned radiation, which probably is an issue if you are putting these in aircraft. Bottom line, if you really want the data to survive, replicate and keep it moving with good data integrity checks.