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I recently learned that SSDs actually forget data if left unpowered for like a year. This was shocking news to me.

But then I started thinking, and realized that while all my offline backup disks are mechanical, I do have a bunch of USB memory sticks and memory cards using flash memory (which is the same as SSDs, right?), and I don't want those to lose data!

For example, I might have one USB stick in a water-proof bag inside a little metal container which I've dug down in the soil outdoors and planned to keep there for decades... But maybe it's already lost its data, then?

Obviously, I did research before asking, but zero relevant search results. Seems like nobody has ever asked about USB sticks/memory cards losing data like SSDs.

T. W.
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    Stop "closing" my questions and redirecting them to old ones with no answers. That is completely WORTHLESS. – T. W. Sep 25 '22 at 09:22
  • I'm not surprised it was closed, the statement `...SSDs actually forget data if left unpowered for like a year...` is completely false. I've got sticks which were not used for years and still fully functional. Please do some proper research before asking questions like this. – Bib Sep 25 '22 at 10:49
  • The term would be "bit rot"... In the case of NAND based storage, the data will degrade over a period of time if not powered. – xentoo Sep 25 '22 at 16:35
  • NAND memory left unpowered 'bleeds data', this is fact. – Joep van Steen Oct 18 '22 at 18:26

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