{"id":934,"date":"2018-11-06T07:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=934"},"modified":"2018-11-02T11:30:09","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T15:30:09","slug":"a-reader-asks-if-i-safely-store-away-a-2tb-hdd-and-never-plug-it-in-again-how-long-will-all-my-data-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/06\/a-reader-asks-if-i-safely-store-away-a-2tb-hdd-and-never-plug-it-in-again-how-long-will-all-my-data-last\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: If I safely store away a 2TB HDD and never plug it in again, how long will all my data last?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader asks:<\/p>\n

“If I safely store away a 2TB HDD and never plug it in again, how long will all my data be retained?”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Retained? Or \u201cretained in useful form?\u201d<\/p>\n

The magnetic encoding will be detectable for a very long time \u2014 centuries, even \u2014 provided that the drive is physically undamaged and undisturbed. Heck, scientists can read the natural magnetic domains that occur in rocks even millions of years old.<\/p>\n

But saying “the 1s and 0s survived in detectable form” is not the same as saying “the data will be readable and useful.”<\/p>\n

Consider: Say you found this IBM hard drive in an attic.\u00a0 Say that, improbably, it was in perfect working order. What would you do with it?<\/p>\n

\"\"
State of the art in 1956, this 3.75MB hard drive (yes, mega<\/span>, not giga<\/span>) stored data in 6-bit characters that are fundamentally incompatible with today’s 8-bit bytes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even if the 1s and 0s are still intact on the disk\/drum, so what? The drive doesn’t use any current data-storage format. (That drive used 6-bit characters, unlike today’s 8-bit bytes.) You’d need to find a working IBM computer of the same vintage; vintage power supplies; vintage software and instruction manuals; and you’d have to write custom software to convert the old data format into something today’s software could interpret….<\/p>\n

And that drive is just from a few decades ago!<\/p>\n

Your 2TB hard drive would suffer a similar fate. Even if the stored drive survived the degradation of the lubricants on its moving parts (you did say HDD, not SDD) and the eventual breakdown of its plastic circuit boards and components, within a few decades the drive won\u2019t fit any hardware outside of museums; and no one will be running the software or have the knowledge necessary to do useful work with whatever data is on the drive \u2014 at least, not without a ton of hassle.<\/p>\n

Most experts say the average useful life of a consumer-grade hard drive is around 5-ish years. By that point, wear and tear are beginning to affect the components; and the march of time is starting to make the data, and the formats it\u2019s recorded in, and the software needed to recover and use the data, increasingly obsolete.<\/p>\n

Long-term data storage requires periodic refreshing of the data, including moving it to newer\/better media and formats as they become available.<\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-f4<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader asks: “If I safely store away a 2TB HDD and never plug it in again, how long will all my data be retained?”\u00a0 Retained? Or \u201cretained in useful form?\u201d The magnetic encoding will be detectable for a very long time \u2014 centuries, even \u2014 provided that the drive is physically undamaged and undisturbed….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-f4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1917,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/05\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-transfer-files-from-an-old-possibly-infected-laptop-to-an-external-hdd\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “How do I safely transfer files from an old, possibly infected laptop to an external HDD?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-05","format":false,"excerpt":"First, scan the \"possibly infected\" system using an external, self-contained, bootable, DVD- or flashdrive-based anti-malware tool. (Examples; many are free.) Boot and run the suspect PC from the anti-malware DVD or flash drive --- not from the possibly-infected hard drive. The anti-malware tool then runs, scans, and cleans all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1697,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/a-reader-asks-i-thought-an-old-external-drive-was-full-but-it-shows-up-as-empty-and-needing-format-when-i-plug-it-in-is-it-really-unused-or-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “I thought an old external drive was full, but it shows up as empty and needing format when I plug it in. Is it really unused, or broken?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Badly scrambled, is my guess. An error during shutdown, or storage, or reboot, may have damaged the disk's MBR or Boot Sector or GUID table (depending on how the disk was set up). If there were files on the disk, they're still there, but the OS can't see or access\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3055,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/09\/is-it-possible-to-retrieve-data-from-an-hdd-thats-been-zeroed-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":2},"title":"“Is it possible to retrieve data from an HDD that’s been zeroed out?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-07-09","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Shane Zimmerman) Actually, yes! (And I'm not talking about recovering a long, useless string of zeros!) Zeroing (or One-ing) out a drive --- filling it with all Zeros or all Ones --- will make it unrecoverable to consumer gear, but maybe not to specialized equipment. Here's why:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1312,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/11\/a-reader-asks-do-i-risk-damage-to-my-hard-disk-if-when-i-travel-i-keep-it-in-my-bag\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “Do I risk damage to my hard disk if, when I travel, I keep it in my bag?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-11","format":false,"excerpt":"You can safely transport a hard drive if you avoid the three main classes of \"things that can kill a hard drive:\" Avoid physical shocks: make sure the drive won't be dropped, stepped on, knocked, or otherwise banged about.Avoid temperature\/humidity extremes: Keep the drive dry, at human-comfortable temperatures, and in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-much-open-space-does-a-drive-really-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: How much open space does a drive really need?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Liz G asks (via the CONTACT link) how much open space a drive really needs: I know installed hard drives need 15% breathing room. How about portable external hard drives? I have 7 Western Digital drives ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB and the only thing on them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/24\/a-reader-asks-why-does-android-need-more-ram-than-a-full-windows-10-pc\/","url_meta":{"origin":934,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: Why does Android need more RAM than a full Windows 10 PC?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-24","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: Why does Android need more RAM than my full Windows 10 PC?\u00a0\u00a0(Question sent via Quora) A:\u00a0Your PC's RAM is usually just\u00a0the working memory for the CPU; a separate hard drive (solid state or magnetic) lets you store files and data outside of RAM. But in Android, the\u00a0RAM is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}