Data Storage Lifespan | Linking Past to Future

We all faced a tragic situation in our life where we stored our valuable memories like memorable photos and videos, important documents or any kind of digital data that had been lost. Mostly because it was the storage device that had failed or got hampered in such a way that the data was no longer accessible or recoverable.

Well, among the most common cases it’s the expiration of the lifespan of that storage gadget. So let’s share light and discuss different types of storage device and their lifespan.

Digital storage devices were not the same in size or reliability as we see them today. They evolved as most other digital devices like computers, phones and so on.

Different digital data storage devices are made of different data storage technology. That is why they evolved with a vast diversity in performance, speed, storage capacity, and lifespan.

Our lifestyle is changing rapidly so is our digital technologies like data storage devices are evolving as I write this article. There is a rich history behind today’s modern storage devices and there is an equally majestic future for data-storage technology.

Storage Technologies in Hand

Join me as we go through the history of our data storage technology and their possible futures. Sounds exciting enough? Without further ado let us get into it.

Hard Drives

These are one of the most widely used storage devices. The only way to make any data on a hard drive completely inaccessible is to destroy the hard drive physically.

Yet these drives are not so much reliable because they have lots of moving parts which wear over time. May fail due to mechanical error or manufacturing defect. A sturdy hard disk enclosure proves great if you choose to use external hard drives.

There is a magnetic arm that reads data from a rotating disk which may fail because the magnetism of it tends to fade away over time.

To prevent these things to occur one must read or write these data after every few years because they have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years. In that case, you may need to replace your hard drive.

Solid State Drives

Solid-State drives are way faster than hard disk drives. As they do not store data inside a moving disk they do not consume as much power as a hard drive and do no heat up.

Unlike hard drives, they are also hard to destroy physically and their lifespan does not depend on how many years you store them, instead of that it depends on how many times you write them.

 Theoretically, SSDs are capable of storing data for several hundred years which is around 300 to 400 years but like all physical devices, this not guaranteed. They often come with a guaranteed lifespan of 10 to 12 years.

Flash Drives

Flash drives are the more general forms and solid-state drive is one of its types. Other types of flash drives are SD cards and flash drives.

As I have said earlier that the life span of a flash drive does not depend on how many years you store them instead of that it depends on how many times you write or delete data from them.

Various manufacturers provide various writing cycles hence various lifespan. Generally, the life span of a flash drive is around 5 to 10 years which depends upon several cases like the class of the memory card.

For instance, a class 10 memory card will read and write data faster than a class 4 memory card hence their reading and writing capacity varies and so does their lifespan.

Magnetic and Cassette Tapes

Magnetic tapes are one of the earliest forms of storage devices. Magnetic tapes and cassette tapes have a very similar lifespan.

The stored data inside them fades away because of two things. The first cause is that the tape loses its magnetic charge over time and the data gradually fades away and the second one is that the layers of the tape may separate from each other resulting in the loss of data inside it.

The average lifespan of a magnetic tape or a cassette tape is around 10 to 20 years. It may vary due to humidity, temperature, and other environmental causes.

Floppy Disks

In the history of storage devices according to my personal opinion floppy disks are the least reliable devices. They sometimes did not even work properly right after unpacking.

Floppy disks use a magnetic storage system which tends to fade away along with the data in it. Their average lifespan is around 3 to 5 years.

CD and DVDs

CD and DVDs have almost a similar lifespan which is around 5 to 10 (Blank) and 3 to 5 (Recorded) years. This may vary due to manufacturers’ variety.

But these devices are not so reliable because as an optical storage device they have very little protection and limited space. CDs get scratched after a few months of regular usage and the data stored in it becomes crippled.

Future of Storage Devices and Their Data Storage Lifespan

So, we have talked about our conventional storage devices with an average life span of 10 years at best. But is this the limit of our memory? What if we want to explore further?

Yes, in this section of my article I am going to talk about such technologies that can demolish this boundary and expand our realm of memory beyond imagination. Here are some future technologies that have great potentials.

M-Disks

M-Disks are said to be the solution for the future storage crisis. They are optical storage devices having a theoretical lifetime of several hundred to a thousand years. They can also withstand the harsh environment and critical physical damage like scratches.

The most reliable assumption is 1000 years but still, it may change due to many practical factors like environment, catalysts and using cycle. Until then we can say that time will say.

Gene Storage

DNAs are the messengers of heredity. They carry the data of thousands of generations engraved within their molecular structure to the future generation.

Gene storage or a DNA storage system is a thing of the future. It has great potential because it can store a tremendous amount of data.

Technologies like CRISPR are the beginning of this technology’s practical application.

This technology is at its starting phase. They just began to appear in the practical world from the pages of research papers. This is why no one can tell about its actual lifespan of storing data.

But theoretically, once you have inserted data in a gene structure it cannot be destroyed, because it can spread through generation to generation at the molecular level without ever attracting our attention to recover or destroy it unless we try to do so.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say memories are beyond every other human limitation. They draw a fine smile on our sad faces when we revisit such an enjoyable memory. As long as we are human enough to harness that feeling we will continue to search for a better storage device to store our memories and past knowledge.