How long does the data on a HDD last without power?

[ThrowAway -BobAcri]

I've heard on the web before that a HDD will begin to lose data if it fails to recieve power for longer than a certain period of time (I think it was a year?)
Is this true? (Supposedly this is true for SSDs, but it only takes 6~ months for them as SSDs are similar to how RAM loses data).

I'm asking this because I'm wondering if it is feasible to backup data to a HDD, send it to a friend far away and have them look after it until you need it again. Could they just store it in a box or do they need to do something special to maintain the data?

My final question is about how long the drive itself will last. Hard drives last 4~ years, is that 4 years of daily use or 4 years of sitting in the packaging doing nothing (talking about the mechanisms here, not data).

 

[jsmithepa]

Where are you reading all these Internet stuff?

I got old PATA drives that's been sitting there for 10+ years on the shelf. still good!

If you want last forever, leave stuff for your great-great-great grand children, google M-DISC.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Some relevant articles you may like to read:

http://lifehacker.com/5808858/how-long-can-a-hard-drive-hold-data-without-power

http://lifehacker.com/how-long-will-my-hard-drives-really-last-1700405627

Plenty more articles on the subject if you 'Google' it.

I've got all my family photographs mirrored over four external hard drives. The oldest of these drives is now coming up to it's tenth year and the data is still all there. When one drive fails I replace it immediately and copy my photos over to it from one of the other drives - - you get the idea? - - - one drive is not enough, not enough by any means. Even two is taking a risk as it's not impossible for two to fail on the same day.

As for sending a hard drive to friend far away, bear in mind it might sustain mechanical damage en-route (mishandling by the carrier etc) in which case it would have been safer to store it in your own property.

 

[lodders]

The data on the disk will probably last for decades.
However, the motor that spins it and the chips that control it may not work if the drive is left unused for a long time.