On 1/31/23 20:16, Ali via cctalk wrote: > If I remember Spinrite would read and write each sector back in Level I or > II and gave you a constant update.... I still have a license from long > ago.... I think the last version came out in early 2000s...
If you look at the specs for SSDs or any flash medium for that matter, they're rated in terms of *write* cycles, which is why you don't want to abuse that. However, it may well be that writing is the only way to refresh cells, as reading won't, if I understand flash operation correctly. But rewriting a sector or block of a file doesn't usually write back to the original, because of the write-leveling firmware in the drive. JEDEC requires data retention of a consumer drive for at least 1 year, which doesn't sound like much; real retention is probably much longer. You can write a script that write-refreshes every file on the drive. The easiest thing is to buy a second drive and ping-pong the data between them periodically. That way, if one fails, you still have the other for backup. FWIW, Chuck
