Storing an unused SSD

Steve-1989 · Aug 3, 2017

Hi,

Just bought a 1TB SSD as an upgrade over my trusty 240GB Kingston. I'm planning to clone the OS "as is" to my new SSD, but I don't want to use the Kingston anymore (unless poop falls down from the sky).

I heard that unused SSD-s will degrade over time, and if my new drive works as intended, then the old one may never be used again. To counter the possible degradation, one person suggested to keep it hooked up to SATA, but "don't use it" (I'm guessing to disable it in Win, but still have it powered on, thus it will age as intended...?). I don't know if this is true, but hoping so.

So I'd like to know: how should I disable the Kingston in 8.1 pro? I'd connect it after Win already booted on the new drive, then go and disable it, but what are the steps?

What will happen when I connect the Kingston boot drive (C: ) to the now brand new Samsung boot drive (C: ) ? Would it make my PC go nuts?

Our IT guy suggested that I use the new Samsung as an "SDD-HDD" and keep the Kingston as boot. However I cannot justify the hefty 400+ euros for the new drive as I originally wanted a single SSD solution and to keep the Kingston as a backup. For media storage I have an HDD.

I mainly do music production, but often times create promotional videos, animations and graphics design for our company. Occasional video gaming, hence the processor (4790k, and there's a good reason I mention this. No nvme for me, but I don't need it anyways. 4790k is the best and most reliable CPU I've ever had.)

Thanks in advance!

guanyu210379 · Aug 3, 2017

SSD-s will degrade over time, only if you use them.
SSDs have limited re-write cycles.
Keeping them in the drawer is the better solution.
Having the SSD connected can not guarantee that really nothing is written to the SSD.

Solandri · Aug 3, 2017

Flash memory cells slowly lose voltage over time. So if you have a drive with data, unplug it, and stick it in a drawer for several years, the data on it may not be readable. This was the problem with the Samsung EVO 840 drives - they used a smaller lithography, which caused the charge to leak out quickly enough to make the memory cells difficult to read within a few months.

If you intend to just stick the SSD in the drawer and don't care about the data on it, then this doesn't matter. You might want to do a "clean" or "refresh" operation if the drive's software has it. This will put all the flash cells in the erased state, but it doesn't really matter.

If you intend to store data on the SSD in the drawer for years, that's a bad idea. Use a HDD or optical media for archival purposes.

Leaving the Kingston SSD plugged in should prevent this degradation (it will occasionally move and re-write cells, effectively refreshing their charge). But having a duplicate of the boot drive in a computer can cause problems. Most BIOSes let you select which drive will have boot priority. But the other boot drive will still show up in Windows (usually as D: - Windows assigns letters to primary partitions first) and may confuse you. Also, it can cause you to fail to notice the boot drive has failed. The computer will automatically try to boot from the second drive, and your system will seem to be working until you notice your C: drive is now your old drive. I usually put a file or folder in the middle of the desktop named "THIS IS THE KINGSTON DRIVE" to avoid this.

If you really want to do this, a better solution may be to clone the 240GB Kingston to the 1TB Samsung without resizing partitions. So the new C: partition will be the same size as on the Kingston (create a new data partition in the remaining free space). Leave the Kingston drive in your computer but don't plug it in. Once a month or so, plug it in and copy the C: partition on the Samsung drive back to the Kingston drive. Then unplug the Kingston drive for another month. This way the OS partition on the Kingston stays up to date, and you're also refreshing its flash memory cells to prevent degradation.

Steve-1989 · Aug 3, 2017

Solandri :

Flash memory cells slowly lose voltage over time. So if you have a drive with data, unplug it, and stick it in a drawer for several years, the data on it may not be readable. This was the problem with the Samsung EVO 840 drives - they used a smaller lithography, which caused the charge to leak out quickly enough to make the memory cells difficult to read within a few months.

If you intend to just stick the SSD in the drawer and don't care about the data on it, then this doesn't matter. You might want to do a "clean" or "refresh" operation if the drive's software has it. This will put all the flash cells in the erased state, but it doesn't really matter.

If you intend to store data on the SSD in the drawer for years, that's a bad idea. Use a HDD or optical media for archival purposes.

Leaving the Kingston SSD plugged in should prevent this degradation (it will occasionally move and re-write cells, effectively refreshing their charge). But having a duplicate of the boot drive in a computer can cause problems. Most BIOSes let you select which drive will have boot priority. But the other boot drive will still show up in Windows (usually as D: - Windows assigns letters to primary partitions first) and may confuse you. Also, it can cause you to fail to notice the boot drive has failed. The computer will automatically try to boot from the second drive, and your system will seem to be working until you notice your C: drive is now your old drive. I usually put a file or folder in the middle of the desktop named "THIS IS THE KINGSTON DRIVE" to avoid this.

If you really want to do this, a better solution may be to clone the 240GB Kingston to the 1TB Samsung without resizing partitions. So the new C: partition will be the same size as on the Kingston (create a new data partition in the remaining free space). Leave the Kingston drive in your computer but don't plug it in. Once a month or so, plug it in and copy the C: partition on the Samsung drive back to the Kingston drive. Then unplug the Kingston drive for another month. This way the OS partition on the Kingston stays up to date, and you're also refreshing its flash memory cells to prevent degradation.

I'll go with this. Thank you so much for your help!

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Storing an unused SSD

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Solandri

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Steve-1989

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