SSD with no power = death?

[WhyFy78]

Hello internet people. I know everyone read that leaving ssd without power for a week or even a month won't hurt its data, right? Well i got a bit different situation.

About a year ago i bought my first new ssd (SanDisk ssd plus 240gb) really dirty cheap. It all went well until my laptop decided to kill itself. So i removed the hdd and the ssd that i have installed and left in a drawer, put the broken laptop in the closet and completely forgot about everything. Until now. Recently i put together a small (and old)system for testing and practicing, chucked in the ssd (which did have windows 7 and other data that i kinda like to keep). Guess what. BIOS can't read the damn ssd. You can find it in advanced bios options, but it cannot boot it up. Connected good old hdd and it booted up from the first time.

So my question is - Is it possible that SSD lost data while being left alone unpowered for a bit longer then a year? Or is there more to it? All setting in bios is set to read the sata first, then the rest.

 

[Snipergod87]

The SSD can lose data if not powered on in a awhile, the data is stored in electrical charges which will very very slowly leak over time, usually emptying out within 3 months to a year for consumer SSD's (depending on the quality and node manufacturing process). Data center SSD's fair better but all SSD's will slowly lose the electrical charge storing the bits of data over time.

 

[WhyFy78]

The SSD can lose data if not powered on in a awhile, the data is stored in electrical charges which will very very slowly leak over time, usually emptying out within 3 months to a year for consumer SSD's (depending on the quality and node manufacturing process). Data center SSD's fair better but all SSD's will slowly lose the electrical charge storing the bits of data over time.

But then again, some companies claim that data can be stored up to 2 years before starting to degrade. Can this be true?

 

[Snipergod87]

That's quite possible.
It is difficult to find a definitive answer on the web about data lose and how long a drive can be powered off before losing data as there are alot of variables.

I take it after you boot you see the drive as an empty disk?

 

[TJ Hooker]

BIOS can't read the damn ssd. You can find it in advanced bios options, but it cannot boot it up. Connected good old hdd and it booted up from the first time.

What actually happens when you try to boot from the SSD?
It could be the data has decayed. However, taking a windows install from one machine and trying to boot it on another machine is a bit of a crap shoot, that could also be the issue. If you have both HDD and SSD installed and boot from the HDD, are you able to see the SSD in Windows?

 

[WhyFy78]

What actually happens when you try to boot from the SSD?
It could be the data has decayed. However, taking a windows install from one machine and trying to boot it on another machine is a bit of a crap shoot, that could also be the issue.

No, no, i had 2 separate drives, each having different os. SSD had windows, regular one had ubuntu. After the initial screen that lets you to go to bios, etc. it says "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device". As from what i understand it doesn't find windows boot sequence on this particular storage. So could it be that over time ssd lost parts (or all) data? That would confirm my initial question haha

are you able to see the SSD in Windows?

can't confirm as i only have one power cable for storage

 

[USAFRet]

What actually happens when you try to boot from the SSD?
It could be the data has decayed. However, taking a windows install from one machine and trying to boot it on another machine is a bit of a crap shoot, that could also be the issue. If you have both HDD and SSD installed and boot from the HDD, are you able to see the SSD in Windows?

No, no, i had 2 separate drives, each having different os. SSD had windows, regular one had ubuntu. After the initial screen that lets you to go to bios, etc. it says "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device". As from what i understand it doesn't find windows boot sequence on this particular storage. So could it be that over time ssd lost parts (or all) data? That would confirm my initial question haha

Are you trying to start up with both drives connected? Or just the SSD connected?

If just the SSD, did it boot properly with just the SSD before?

 

[USAFRet]

Other issue...
This SSD was installed in a laptop?
And now you're trying to boot it up in a desktop? That is unlikely to work.

 

[WhyFy78]

Are you trying to start up with both drives connected? Or just the SSD connected?

If just the SSD, did it boot properly with just the SSD before?

Other issue...
This SSD was installed in a laptop?
And now you're trying to boot it up in a desktop? That is unlikely to work.

Just the ssd. And it did boot up properly when it was in a laptop a year ago.

Yes, i've put the ssd in a laptop, formatted it and installed win 7 on it. Not sure why it would make a difference as windows uses NTFS as a standard regardless on what system it's on.

 

[USAFRet]

Are you trying to start up with both drives connected? Or just the SSD connected?

If just the SSD, did it boot properly with just the SSD before?

Other issue...
This SSD was installed in a laptop?
And now you're trying to boot it up in a desktop? That is unlikely to work.

Just the ssd. And it did boot up properly when it was in a laptop a year ago.

Yes, i've put the ssd in a laptop, formatted it and installed win 7 on it. Not sure why it would make a difference as windows uses NTFS as a standard regardless on what system it's on.

It's not NTFS, but rather what system the drive is in when the OS is installed.
Various internal parts of the OS are specifically configured during the install, and upon seeing a whole different system, often it simply does not boot.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.
And laptop -> desktop only increases the probability of fail.

 

[WhyFy78]

It's not NTFS, but rather what system the drive is in when the OS is installed.
Various internal parts of the OS are specifically configured during the install, and upon seeing a whole different system, often it simply does not boot.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.
And laptop -> desktop only increases the probability of fail.

I see. Just tried ubuntu and yet another hdd that was previously in that laptop (win 7) and they both work in my test rig. Can it be SSD problem specific?

 

[USAFRet]

I see. Just tried ubuntu and yet another hdd that was previously in that laptop (win 7) and they both work in my test rig. Can it be SSD problem specific?

No, this is not specific to SSD's.

 

[WhyFy78]

Interesting! I will try to launch windows installation through usb maybe it will tell more