Expect to lose data when your SSD fails
As more people are switching from HDDs (hard disk drives) to SSDs (solid state drives), more data loss is occurring, a new report by Kroll Ontrack suggests.
SSD disks might be solid in their state, but don’t seem to be more reliable than HDD disks. Still, it doesn’t stop their popularity growth. Out of 2,000 global respondents to the Kroll Ontrack survey, 92 percent are using SSD technology, with more than a third (38 percent) having experienced an SSD failure. Of those failed disks, almost a quarter (23 percent) lost data.
"Businesses and consumers continue to move toward SSD technology", said Robin England, senior research and development engineer at Kroll Ontrack. "Aside from the sheer speed and reliability of solid state drives, prices have decreased to become more competitive with traditional storage. Nevertheless, as our research shows, failures do occur".
The adoption rate is increasing, and the prices are dropping, but the failure rates between the two types of disks are consistent, England said. The usual reason for a HDD failure is either a bad motor or scratch in the platter. SSDs, on the other hand, having no moving parts, usually suffer an electric failure or wear leveling failure.
"When failure leads to data loss, it’s not uncommon for IT admins and consumers to utilize data recovery software to attempt recovery, as demonstrated by nearly three-quarters of respondents who took that approach".
As the SSD market grows, other types of disks are finding their way through, including solid state hybrid disk (SSHD), helium drives and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) hard drives, all of which have seen a slight increase in use, year-on-year.
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