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SSDs are great for a lot of things, but long-term cold storage is not one of them, and while many never fail, some do -- taking some data with them.
If all your backups are currently on an SSD that's been sitting in a drawer for some time, you may be sitting on a ticking time bomb.
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Posts 4 By Will Verduzco SSDs are not a long-term archive Forgetting about your SSDs is not a good idea
SSDs are great if you want fast storage that you can transfer to and from frequently. Compared to HDDs, they're a dream in terms of data transfer rates. But if you want long-term, reliable cold storage that will just sit there forgotten for months or years on end, SSDs are not it.
SSDs rely on stored electrical charge in NAND flash cells to represent data. When an SSD is powered and in regular use, it can correct many small errors with ECC, remap weak blocks, and generally keep data reliable. Leave your SSD in a drawer, though, and it can't do any of that.
Industry sources talk about this at length. Western Digital notes that data retention diminishes as PE cycles increase. Most SSDs run checks in the background to verify which blocks are experiencing higher bit error rates, but when the SSD is powered off, that process can't take place.
YouTuber HTWingNut runs a (very small-scale) yearly experiment that shows what can happen to SSDs when they're used as cold storage. The latest results after two years showed that out of four cheap TLC SSDs tested, drives that were previously heavily used (way past their recommended TBW rating) showed signs of corruption after being unpowered for two years.
A sample size that small is not indicative of a larger trend, but it shows that all the drives deteriorated over time when left alone. Meanwhile, Backblaze's report on SSDs shows an annualized failure rate (AFR) of 0.90% across a fleet of 3,144 drives. However, those drives aren't just sitting there; they're actively used, which is the whole point -- SSDs can be great for storage, but not for long-term cold storage.
The risks of using an SSD as your only backup I'm not saying "never," I'm saying "be careful"
For many people, their SSDs never fail. They simply replace them after years of usage, repurposing their SSD or getting rid of it in the end.
Data loss can be entirely silent until it's too late. The drive may mount fine after not being used, but reveal corrupted files.
The main goal of backups is recoverability under failure. It's nice to buy one of the fastest SSDs and quickly transfer data, but when you're backing up, it's more important that it's steady.
With SSDs, a few different things play into why they're not ideal for cold storage:
Unpowered data retention is sketchy; you may one day find that your backup's become corrupted. Storing the SSD in less-than-ideal conditions will only contribute to potential data loss, such as exposing it to heat. If the SSD had been heavily used before going into cold storage mode, it might be even more likely to malfunction. With your SSD constantly powered off, you won't even know when data corruption sets in; by the time you check, it might be too late.
Of course, you may be one of those people who will never have a faulty SSD -- but do you really want to take that kind of risk with your data?
What to use instead If SSDs are out, what can you do?
No matter the storage device you use for your backups, there's always a risk of data loss. That's why following the 3-2-1 backup rule is more important than the exact storage media.
The 3-2-1 backup rule is simple, so apply it to your most important data. You need to have three copies of the data, on at least two separate devices, with one copy in a different location. This can mean another drive in a different location or cloud storage.
For local cold storage, an HDD is still a cheap alternative to an SSD, but those can fail with time, too. A NAS is fantastic if you deal with large amounts of data on a regular basis, and it doesn't have to be expensive; you can even repurpose an old PC and turn it into a NAS.
SSDs definitely have their place in the world of backups, but I don't recommend leaving them powered down for years on end. If you do use an SSD, check it frequently and make sure to use a separate location for a secondary backup.
When an SSD is still the right tool SSDs can be used for storage, but there are caveats
SSDs are useful for storage that needs to be quick to access. That, typically, rules out cold storage.
Use your SSD if you want working storage. Many people, myself included, use a second or third drive inside their PC just to store bigger files or games that need to be quick to access. However, filling up your SSD can slow it down, so there's a limit as to how much data you should really store on these drives.
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SSDs also shine as a fast, local backup tier. If you're about to tinker with your OS and are worried you'll break something, it's infinitely faster to back up to an SSD.
Lastly, SSDs do very well in a NAS as a cache or boot drive. They can still be used for storage, but they don't have to be.
How to protect your data during long-term storage No matter the storage type, important data left alone for ages needs some care
Cold storage is tricky. You're essentially trusting a device (or a service, in the case of cloud backups) to keep your data safe for an undetermined period of time. SSDs aren't perfect for the role, but no solution is infallible.
Make sure you're always backing up to multiple storage media, and don't let them all be part of the same PC or NAS. Keep one copy that's entirely separate from your main setup.
If you need to park data on an SSD, check on it periodically. Power it up, run a full read/verify pass, and compare checksums for your irreplaceable files. SMART tools like CrystalDiskInfo can warn you about wear and errors before anything goes south.