Year 0 – I filled 10 32-GB Kingston flash drives with random data.
Year 1 – Tested drive 1, zero bit rot. Re-wrote the drive with the same data.
Year 2 – Re-tested drive 1, zero bit rot. Tested drive 2, zero bit rot. Re-wrote both with the same data.
They have been stored in a box on my shelf, with a 1-month period in a moving van (probably below freezing) this year.
Will report back in 1 more year when I test the third 🙂
FAQs:
- Q: Why didn’t you test more kinds of drives?
A: Because I don’t have unlimited energy, time and money :). I encourage you to! - Q: You know you powered the drive by reading it, right?
A: Yes, that’s why I wrote 10 drives to begin with. We want to see how something works if left unpowered for 1 year, 2 years, etc. - Q: What drive model is this?
A: The drive tested was “Kingston Digital DataTraveler SE9 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (DTSE9H/32GBZ)” from Amazon, model DTSE9H/32GBZ, barcode 740617206432, WO# 8463411X001, ID 2364, bl 1933, serial id 206432TWUS008463411X001005. It was not used for anything previously–I bought it just for this test. - Q: Which flash type is this model?
A: We don’t know. If you do know, please tell me. - Q: What data are you testing with?
A: (Repeatable) randomly generated bits - Q: What filesystem are you using? / Doesn’t the filesystem do error correction?
A: I’m writing data directly to the drive using Linux’s block devices.