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MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs to aurgathor

Premium Member

to aurgathor

Re: How long will my (your) SSD last?

said by aurgathor:

The SSDs I wrecked accumulated bad sectors, so in a real life usage that could've meant some data loss, the exact amount depending on the number of bad sectors and on their location.

In those cases, once the SSDs reached a certain limit, they wouldn't boot any more, Win8 would enter into an infinite repair cycle, etc.

So the big question in that case is - will freezing the SSD drive allow you to recover data which has not been backed up?

Freezing a failing/failed mechanical drive for 24 hours often is enough to get get it working to the point where you can extract data for 15-20 minutes until it really warms up again.

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

SSDs are very different, and what you can do with a failed SSD depends a lot on the failure mode. You need to forget about freezing and think about something else.

If there are worn out cells there's probably not much that can be done to retrieve data from those -- at least partial data loss. This can be a result of an end of life wearout, so this is a normal failure mode that will happen sooner or later unless the SSD is replaced. Given that in normal usage SSDs are expected to last 10+ years, they're likely to be replaced due to small size and/or obsolescence well before cells start wearing out en masse.

If the whole flash chip bites the dust (i.e. ESD damage) for all practical purposes, all data on said chip is gone -- that means at least a partial data loss, but if the flash chips are interleaved for higher through put, it can also mean complete data loss.

If the controller chip bites the dust, in theory it can be removed and replaced and the SSD should be fully functional with the data intact. Note, "should" doesn't mean "will", and replacing BGA chips is not easy, to say the least.

If it's a firmware bug (as was the case in the SSDs I wrecked) the result depends on many things and it can vary from total loss to full recovery.

Due to the lack of moving parts, I consider SSDs more reliable than MHDDs, but if you have valuable data, you should keep a backup, no matter what.