[Leica] (SPAM: ?) RE: (SPAM: ?) Re: So much for "film is forever"..

[Frank Filippone]

I hate to burst another bubble, but....  SSD's do not last forever.

The following is a technical discussion, so those short on patience for technical data may wish to skip it all together......

SSD's lose their ability to be re-used.  IOW, they eventually get stuck bits.  You will not be able to write to them another time, eventually.  How long?  Somewhere around 5K-100K  erase-write cycles.  This is on an individual cell basis.  Marketing guys absolutely do not tell you this.  They would have you believe they are more reliable than HDD ( which may or may not be true) and are faster (true).

How does that relate to a user?  Like the useful lifetime of the computer, about 3-5 years, when you will toss your old computer and buy something more whiz-bangy with new SSD's (or whatever is bleeding edge at that time.)  This is the practical answer.

There is a disconnect between the technology ( proven, electronic performance data), marketing hype, and practical information.

This is a handy practical discourse on SSD's.... well worth the time to read it, understand it, and make best use of your SSD...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043634/how-to-stretch-the-life-of-your-ssd-storage.html

Piers first statement about losing a file because his data was incompatible with current OS or hardware is 100% correct.  Every time there is a major change of storage technology, or in his case, software, this is a real threat.  ( think of floppies, 8 inch, 5 1/2 inch and 3 1/2 inch or tape drives as examples  For that matter, certain HDD technologies that were common a few years ago are no longer supported in current OS.. And therefore, any data stored on them is also useless.. Today's computers have no physical capability to put a floppy into the computer,,, no less the OS to support it).  WHEN not IF there is a major shift in storage technology or software, you had best pay attention so that you are not using the equivalent of 8 inch floppies in 2015..... 

Piers explanation is correct, that, in practical use, powered up, an SSD is not to be worried about.

But do not believe there is no "wear" in SSD's because they are non-spinning memories.... ( The Electrical Engineering part of the equation)

For the sake of completeness, RAM and un-alterable ROM does not suffer from any wear.  It may and will eventually die, but not for any of the reasons we have been talking about.  It will far outlive your computer, and maybe yourself.......and your Grandkids......

If all of this is too technical for you, but you care that your pictures of you kids as babies are saved for the next 5 generations, then just do as we have told you.. refresh those old data files on new media if it is indicated.  That is 5 minutes, twice a year, every year.

But keep in mind that when you pass on to the great digital or analog darkroom in the sky, your kids will probably take your computer and toss it.  They may or may not look at any of the images you have crafted.  They certainly do not want the 16TB of images you have from them as babies........

Frank Filippone
Red735i at verizon.net


Exogenous vs endogenous heat, Tina. That is, you must not keep them unpowered in a room likely to get above 75F. Allegedly. But if they are powered (and not getting hot) you don't need to worry.

Piers

I thought the great thing about SSDs is that they do not get hot.

Tina

On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 12:38 PM, Piers Hemy <piers.hemy at gmail.com> wrote:

> You want examples?
>
> I'll give you two from direct personal experience - they may not be 
> what you thought you were asking for, but they make the same point.
>
> 1) All files I saved in .STN format. Did you say "What the dickens is 
> that?" -it's the format used by Genuine Fractals, which I am sure you 
> remember, now subsumed into OnOne Perfect Resize, currently at v9. To 
> quote OnOne "The only way to open STiNG files is via Adobe Photoshop 
> if Perfect Resize 7.5 or earlier is installed". Doesn't matter if the 
> bits are corrupted or not, the format has been abandoned.
>
> 2) All files I backed up to a so-called online backup system nearly 20 
> years ago. They went through two acquisitions, and the new proprietors 
> felt there was better business to be done elsewhere. Service was 
> simply terminated, as if they had gone out of business (they may yet 
> do so, of course). Doesn't matter if the bits are corrupted or not, again.
>
> And a third of which I have no personal experience, simply technical 
> press articles this week. Look out if you use SSDs for backup, as 1s 
> magically can become 0s, as Spencer rightly says. You have to keep 'em cool.
>
> Piers
>