Question Can SSDs physically degrade/break from non-use in storage?

[Cyber_Akuma]

I know that there are risks of SSDs losing their data over time if not powered on for years, but I don't mean data loss, I mean if the drive can physically not work properly anymore if left unopened in storage for a long time.

I have an old laptop I am sort of restoring to use as a retro system, and since 2.5 IDE/PATA drives are not really being made much anymore and quite old, and I wanted to use a SSD on it anyway, I figured the best way to do that would be to get a m.2 SATA drive and an m.2 SATA to 2.5 IDE enclosure for it.

Thing is, the largest drive I believe it can handle is 128GB, and while I can find 128GB m.2 SATA drives.... only just barely, they seem to be on the cusp of not being manufactured for much longer. So I figured since they are relatively cheap anyway, to get a second as a backup in case my main one ever fails. That one is just going to remain in storage unopened for likely many years just in case my main one ever breaks and they don't really make them anymore. Can SSD drives just being stored unused and unopened like that still degrade if just left like that for many years? Or is the concern only that the drives can lose their data if not powered on for years, not physically break?

 

[Aeacus]

Found this:

For example, the age of an SSD has proven to be a valuable determinate in its performance and longevity. Current estimates put the age limit for SSDs around 10 years, though the average SSD lifespan is shorter. In fact, a joint study between Google and the University of Toronto tested SSDs over a multi-year period. During that study, they found the age of an SSD was the primary determinant of when it stopped working. Researchers working on the study also found SSDs were replaced about 25% less often than HDDs.

Source + further reading: https://www.n-able.com/blog/ssd-lifespan

Also, do note that if you buy cheap SSD (which your plan is), it won't last long. Now, going with good SSD (e.g Samsung), and you have far better chances of drive lasting considerably more.
Or in other words: if you pay peanuts - you will get monkeys.

 

[USAFRet]

Bad idea.

1. Storage only gets cheaper as time goes on.
2. The only 128GB drives sold today are by second/third rate manufacturers. The good companies have moved on to 250GB minimum
3. In "many years", will you still have this old laptop?
4. If this laptop can only use an IDE drive, what specific SSD are you going to put in it?

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Source + further reading: https://www.n-able.com/blog/ssd-lifespan

Hmm.... this isn't too helpful about this. It does mention "Current estimates put the age limit for SSDs around 10 years, though the average SSD lifespan is shorter. In fact, a joint study between Google and the University of Toronto tested SSDs over a multi-year period. During that study, they found the age of an SSD was the primary determinant of when it stopped working."

But then they also mention "Another way of measuring how long SSDs will last is the total number of terabytes written over time (TBW). TBW estimates how many successful writes you can expect a drive to make over its lifetime. If a manufacturer says their SSD has a TBW of 150, it means the drive can write 150 terabytes of data. After the drive hits that threshold, it’s likely you’ll need to replace it." and "The final of the three metrics manufacturers might use when predicting the lifespan of their drives is the drive writes per day (DWPD). DWPD measures how many times users can overwrite the amount of available storage in the drive each day of its working lifespan. "

So this seems to mostly talk about it's usage, not just being stored unused.

Also, do note that if you buy cheap SSD (which your plan is), it won't last long. Now, going with good SSD (e.g Samsung), and you have far better chances of drive lasting considerably more.
Or in other words: if you pay peanuts - you will get monkeys.

Problem is I literally can't. It needs to be a m.2 SATA drive, most of those are NVME, and it needs to be 128GB, many don't even sell below 500GB anymore, 256GB if you're lucky. My options for a 128GB SATA m.2 drive are pretty limited.

Bad idea.

1. Storage only gets cheaper as time goes on.
2. The only 128GB drives sold today are by second/third rate manufacturers. The good companies have moved on to 250GB minimum
3. In "many years", will you still have this old laptop?
4. If this laptop can only use an IDE drive, what specific SSD are you going to put in it?

1. How much cheaper can it get than $20? The 256GB version of the same drive is about $2 more, so it's clearly not even cost-effective to get the 128GB anymore already. I would have gotten the 256GB if the system could handle it. I am worried it's hitting the point where prices will start going up once it's no longer manufactured due to becoming a limited product.

2. I know, that's kind of the problem. I have very limited options for a 128GB M.2 SATA drive.

3. Yes, I have no plans to get rid of it. It's a Pentium 4 laptop with a dedicated GPU, the whole reason I am restoring it is to dualboot 98 and XP on it to run older software (namely old games) that no longer work properly on modern systems/Windows.

4. As I mentioned, I am going to get a M.2 SATA drive and a m.2 SATA to IDE adapter.

Specifically, this drive: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079X7K6VP/

And this adapter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XC36V63/

 

[Rokinamerica]

About a month ago I bought an adapter to be able to copy from an external drive or clone from one to another.

I have 13 2.5 HDD's and an Intel 510 SSD and an old Corsair Nova SSD from old laptops over the last 10-15 years stored in a box.

I was able to copy or recover data from 10 of the HDD's, which were between 160 and 500 GB. Neither of the SSD's were readable. Both were usable when removed from my computers (my c: drives) years ago.

However, since I have data on them, I have not tried to format them to see if reusable, because I might have some cool old pix or tunes or vids. I am still looking for recovery software that might be able to let me see if there is anything I might want to recover (I have tried about a dozen so far, not done looking, but not going to pay if I can't tell if it will work. Just my experience.

 

[Aeacus]

So this seems to mostly talk about it's usage, not just being stored unused.

The part i quoted is the durability of a drive when left unpowered.

The other two, TBW and DWPD are to do with SSD usage.

For long-time unpowered data storage, HDD is the best option. SSD, while faster, isn't designed for long-time storage per se. And M.2 drive may have even less long-time durability than 2.5" SSD.

As I mentioned, I am going to get a M.2 SATA drive and a m.2 SATA to IDE adapter.

I'm skeptical if the adapter even works. Since PATA PCs and M.2 SATA are so much in part, in terms of time, and your old laptop may not even recognize the much newer drive. 🤔
You'd have more success with PATA to SATA adapter.

It's a Pentium 4 laptop with a dedicated GPU, the whole reason I am restoring it is to dualboot 98 and XP on it to run older software (namely old games) that no longer work properly on modern systems/Windows.

Win98 games will run on WinXP just fine and here, i don't see why would you need dual boot between the two. E.g my old AMD build (full specs with pics in my sig) has the very same purpose of playing (retro) games (pre-2005). There, i have WinXP Pro SP2 and i can play all my old games just fine, even DOS games. Oh, have emulator for NES games on there as well.

All-in-all, dedicated old PC for retro gaming is obsolete nowadays, since there are emulators out there, that can be easily used. Heck, you can even run virtual machine, where Win98 or WinXP is running, if you want more "full" experience.

Another thing is; what happens when your hardware dies? Since you have laptop, it isn't as easy as replacing 1 component to get the system working again, as it would be if you would have desktop PC (like i do). And with such an old laptop, finding spare parts is next to impossible.

 

[USAFRet]

1. How much cheaper can it get than $20?

A drive sold for $20, I wouldn't count on it lasting beyond next week.
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[Cyber_Akuma]

I'm skeptical if the adapter even works. Since PATA PCs and M.2 SATA are so much in part, in terms of time, and your old laptop may not even recognize the much newer drive. 🤔
You'd have more success with PATA to SATA adapter.

Well, I haven't tested it in the laptop yet, but I did test it using a IDE to USB adapter and it worked fine.

Win98 games will run on WinXP just fine and here, i don't see why would you need dual boot between the two.

I remember even back when XP was new I had several 98 games that did not play nice in XP, many even refused to install on a NT based OS.

All-in-all, dedicated old PC for retro gaming is obsolete nowadays, since there are emulators out there, that can be easily used.

Well aware those exist, they have issues though. The best something like MiSTer can handle is a 486 without 3D acceleration, and my 11700K can barely handle Pentium II with Voodoo acceleration software emulated. I was literally using PCem the other day to test what 3rd party patches I would need to install on the actual system, and it was stuttering emulating a 233Mhz Pentium 3 with a Voodoo 3 card. 86Box fared even worse.

And I would hardly say using the original hardware is an obsolete idea, many still far prefer to do it that way, emulation is not flawless.

Heck, you can even run virtual machine, where Win98 or WinXP is running, if you want more "full" experience.

Virtual machines tend to choke on anything older than XP or 2K, especially in terms of gaming/3d acceleration. I never managed to get VirtualBox to play nice with DOS-based Windows.... or even DOS itself. And that's without 3D acceleration which if I remember correctly it only supports for XP and later.

Another thing is; what happens when your hardware dies? Since you have laptop, it isn't as easy as replacing 1 component to get the system working again, as it would be if you would have desktop PC (like i do). And with such an old laptop, finding spare parts is next to impossible.

Most of the parts are replicable, as long as the CPU or GPU does not die on me it will be fine.

Seriously, there are thousands of people still using Commodore 64s for retro gaming,

A drive sold for $20, I wouldn't count on it lasting beyond next week.
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That's literally the most expensive 128GB M.2 SATA I could find, not counting ones that cost more simply because they are a smaller form factor M.2. That's about the same price as a good quality 128GB Flashdrive. From what I understand Silicon Power while not high-end isn't some no-name brand, it was about the only one I could find that was a name-brand and not something I had never heard of in my life like Timetec or ROGOB or dozens of others that came up.

Again, I don't really have a lot of options for something this old, if you do know of a better 128GB M.2 SATA drive then I would actually like to know so I can get it.

 

[Aeacus]

That's literally the most expensive 128GB M.2 SATA I could find

Fun fact, it was the cheapest M.2 120/128GB SATA SSD i could find. 🤣

That's literally the most expensive 128GB M.2 SATA I could find, not counting ones that cost more simply because they are a smaller form factor M.2. That's about the same price as a good quality 128GB Flashdrive. From what I understand Silicon Power while not high-end isn't some no-name brand, it was about the only one I could find that was a name-brand and not something I had never heard of in my life like Timetec or ROGOB or dozens of others that came up.

Again, I don't really have a lot of options for something this old, if you do know of a better 128GB M.2 SATA drive then I would actually like to know so I can get it.

How about Samsung 850 Evo 120 GB but M.2 SATA version?
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-120GB-MZ-N5E120BW/dp/B00TGIVY1G

Reliability wise, it won't get any better than this.

For other options,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/i...&sort=price&page=1&A=90000000000,146000000000

But i'd go with Samsung drive.