long term storage

B

bass4040

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
143
I backed up four hard drives of data and stored them in static bags in a fire proof case. Are there any problems to leaving them there for years at a time without powering them on?
 
I don't believe there will be any problems. However, I'd be inclined to make a raid 5 or 6 stripe set, or at least use par2 to generate parity on an extra disk. Then if one of the drives goes bellyup, you can regenerate the lost data without too much hassle.

 
i am not sure on this, but i am a CS major (thrid year) and i believe harddrives will lose their voltage (ie 0s and 1s) over time if they arent powered on. The levels of voltage in the drive will deteriate. I am more into coding so i am not 100% on this, but it is something to keep in mind

clark
 
clark45 said:
i am not sure on this, but i am a CS major (thrid year) and i believe harddrives will lose their voltage (ie 0s and 1s) over time if they arent powered on. The levels of voltage in the drive will deteriate. I am more into coding so i am not 100% on this, but it is something to keep in mind

clark
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you should leave the hardware to EE's or in this case Material Science majors. HDDs do not store the 0/1 as a charge, but rather as a magnetic orientation. Unlike DRAM (charge) it does not require voltage to keep the stored value.

However, you are true, over time the drives to degenerate, of that I am sure. Whether it is faster if they are powered on/ powered off, I am not sure.
 
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