External Hard Drive

[Dave]

I just have a general question about solid state drives. I am currently keeping nearly all my files, photos, movies, etc on an ext HD in order to free up space on my PC.
My question is, have you ever heard of one of these SSD's going bad? If it did go bad for some reason, is there any chance I could still get my data off of it?
Thanks.

[strollin]

An SSD is an electronic component and so is subject to failure as with any other component.  If the SSD does fail the data will most likely be non-recoverable.  Therefore, if your data is valuable, you should back it up. 

[Allan]

SSD's have a limited lifespan. See this article: https://www.ontrack.com/en-us/blog/how-long-do-ssds-really-last

And Strollin's advice is the best you'll get anywhere --- BACK UP on a regular basis (not only the ssd, but all drives that contain data you need).

[Dave]

So basically it's necessary to have at least two ext hard drives to save data on, unless you want to pay for "One Drive" or some other cloud storage?
It just seemed to me, an SSD would outlast a mechanical hard drive and I think maybe it will since there are no moving parts, but anything can go wrong with any device.
Thanks for the information.

[BC_Programmer]

SSD or HDD isn't relevant. both SSD and HDD Drives fail and keeping your data in only one place is foolish.

[Dave]

Cordial greetings. No, I don't keep my data all in one place. I back up my PC with an external hard drive, both are SSD. I just recently did put the SSD in my PC, and it has made a world of difference in speed and function. In your opinion, is one back up enough? The chances of both failing at the same time seems remote to me. It is not that I am a skinflint and won't spend the money for cloud storage, it is that I live in the Philippines and do what I can do.
Thanks

[BC_Programmer]

In your opinion, is one back up enough?

No.

The chances of both failing at the same time seems remote to me.

Take it from somebody who learned from experience and lost more than 5 years of work, which still stings over 10 years after fact: it's not. I thought the same thing. "I could make a 4th copy, but 3 backups should be enough, the chance of them failing is remote!".

There is really no such thing as too many backups. A good rule of thumb is to make an amount of backups you think are completely excessive- then make one more after that.

In my case I heavily prioritize backing up actual irreplacable data- Operating Systems and applications can be reinstalled, But the source code to applications I wrote isn't exactly so replacable. (Nowadays I also have that on github but there's always uncommitted stuff I'm working on or using). Other stuff gets backed up but largely for convenience.

Aside from having copies strewn across multiple hard drives, an external drive, as well as a NAS machine I built, I also burn BD-R Discs as well as for smaller amounts of data DVD-R Discs This is particularly useful for stuff that is "done" that I won't be touching regularly, or, to archive stuff for convenience; audio or video files, for example.

I keep one disk image of my boot drive that I refresh on occasion, but mostly because I'm too lazy to actually try to pick through the various user documents and folders to find stuff I want to backup and that doing that I'm certain to miss something.

[Allan]

This is something I put together years ago for another site. Perhaps you'll find it useful:

Disk Imaging software takes a "snapshot" of your drive as it exists at the time you create the image. You can then restore the entire image or any file(s) or folder(s) you choose. It is a virtually foolproof way of backing up your system and providing a safe haven in the event of a catastrophe that requires you to blow away your system partition and restore it to a previous state. It also allows you to "test" various software and be confident that you have a the ability to return to the prior state any time you choose.
 
I use Acronis True Image. It is the best of breed, but it isn't free. The best free alternative is Macrium Reflect.
 
1) I create an image of my system partition once a week to a second hard drive and keep the 2 or 3 most recent images. I also image my other partitions about once a month. I always enable "verify image" in the options. It takes a little longer, but insures a valid image (the last thing you want is to try to restore an image only to find it is corrupt - it happens).
 
2) I also create an image before performing any drive level function (ie, changing the size of a partition) or making any significant change to the OS such as installing a service pack or even when installing a "questionable" Windows update, etc -- also sometimes before installing new software.
 
3) Images may be created on any medium (external drive, usb drive, cd's or dvd's, etc). For obvious reasons they should not be stored on the same drive you are imaging. The easiest option is a second internal hd if you have one and, if you're really ambitious, to an external drive as well (one week to the internal & one week to the external or just duplicates on the external - that's actually the procedure I follow).
 
4) Images may be created "in the background" within the OS. If you need to restore the system partition, that will need to be done before the OS loads. You can start the process within the application in the OS and it will then tell you it needs to reboot to finish the process. Alternatively, you can boot to a "recovery disk" which you create from within the software (or to the application disk itself if you have one). Non-system partitions or drives can be restored without a reboot.

[Dave]

Thanks, Allan, for that info. I have one 16 MB Sony USB drive that I could use. Would that be large enough to store the image?

[patio]

No...

[Allan]

NOTE: I just added an edit to my post above because I switched from True Image to Reflect last year as my primary imaging app.