Hard Drive Bit Evaporation
Penguin September 16th, 2008
You know that hard drive you have your precious data backed up on? You know, the one that you just keep on your shelf so you can sleep well knowing that your data’s safe. Well, it may not be so safe.
Magnetic signals recorded on a hard disk are designed to be refreshed periodically. If your hard disks stay on, this happens automatically. However, if you store your projects to a removable hard drive, then store that hard drive on a shelf, unattached to a computer, those magnetic signals will fade over time… essentially, evaporating.
According to what I’ve been told, the life-span of a magnetic signal on a hard disk is between a year and a year and a half. The issue is complex, as you’ll see, but this is a MUCH shorter shelf-life than I was expecting.
Life span of only about a year. That’s pretty scary. But that’s just an average. There have been reports where people have plugged in old drives and have them still work. But this is really dependent on how you store the drive.
So, the solution isn’t just to plug in the drive every year, that may not guarantee the drive is refreshed. You also want to copy the entire contents. This will ensure that every bit is read and refreshed.
This just goes to show, when it comes to backups, you need multiple solutions on different media.
-Penguin
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