On: Western Digital HDD boss mentions archive disk dri...

[throw0101a]

> No, they're referring to bit rot on flash storage due to slow leakage of the charge that represents the data.

Could not the same be said of the magnetism of the bits on spinning rust? What's the shelf life of data on an HDD?

Tapes also have magnetic charge, but are designed to be "unrefreshed" for longer periods of time.

[labawi → throw0101a]

Tapes and HDDs are magnetic. Flash and DRAM is electric. It is easier to create magnetically stable structures (magnets) than non-leaking capacitors.

Flash has a better insulator than DRAM, but it wears out with use and leaks more with higher temperature, densities, less margin with more bits per cell...