The paper took something out of context, didn't really understand what it reads and published nonsense.<p>The original blog post linked from the article is <a href="https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24#ssds-evidence-storage-issues" rel="nofollow">https://blog.korelogic.com/blog/2015/03/24#ssds-evidence-sto...</a><p>It actually raises a point for a specific use-case, when a computer with an SSD is taken for analysis (f.ex. a court case as evidence by the police) the SSD is kept powered off and may lose its data and thus be worthless as evidence after some time if the system is not kept in a normal temperature (around 25C).<p>It's not a normal use-case and in fact it may be to the benefit of the user to use an SSD in that case in the hope that the data will self-destruct with complete plausible deniability.
What a bunch of nonsense...
Here is the presentation:
<a href="http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/Alvin_Cox%20%5BCompatibility%20Mode%5D_0.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/Alvin_Cox%20%5BComp...</a><p>All what they found is that there's a correlation between load, the operation temperature during which data was stored, and the ambient temperature in which the device is kept while switched off.
This means that at an active operational temperature of about 40c (which is normal for most consumer drives) and a storage temperature of 30c (which is pretty much the upper maximum of storage temperatures under residential conditions) your drive will retain data for at least 52 weeks.
Someone missed an important part of the standard (JEDEC JESD218, section 6.3): "This standard is based on a use scenario in which the SSDs are actively used for some period of time during which the SSDs are written to their endurance ratings, followed by a power-down time period in which data must be retained."<p>E.g. in Intel's product spec for the DC S3500 series, the data retention parameter is specified as: "3 months power-off retention once SSD reaches rated write endurance at 40 °C".
<p><pre><code> According to a recent presentation by Seagate's Alvin
Cox, who is also chairman of the Joint Electron Device
Engineering Council (JEDEC), the period of time that data
will be retained on an SSD is halved for every 5 degrees
Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperature in the
area where the SSD is stored.
</code></pre>
"SSDs scary," says leading manufacturer of mechanical hard drives. "Mechanical drives good! SSDs baaaaaad! You like good, yes?" he added.
Terrible article. The actual presentation in question is at [1]. The presentation has nothing to do with performance in the field. Instead the presentation is regarding JEDEC requirements, for which the relevant specification is that "enterprise" class SSDs must retain their data when powered off at 40C for 3 months.<p>1: <a href="http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/Alvin_Cox%20%5BCompatibility%20Mode%5D_0.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/Alvin_Cox%20%5BComp...</a>
I assume 7 days is worst-case scenario, corporate-level drive quality (which is lower than consumer-grade) plus high temperature?<p>Is it becoming necessary to switch to a filesystem that ensures data integrity with redundancy and regular checksums?
This terrible article is actually a great example of a submarine. Note the mention of a completely irrelevant "security" company halfway down, and then a link to their blog post.<p>In any case, it's terrible because it takes testing criteria under extreme conditions (don't store your SSDs at 55C) and then fearmongers this as the norm.