Flash/SSD loses data when the charge slowly bleeds off bits over years. When you periodically plug in a USB drive or a SSD, does anyone know (with certainty) what processes will replenish the charge of every bit of data on a drive, to set up the entire drive's storage up to last another few years?
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This information has been infuriatingly hard to find. The vague suggestions I've found so far suggest that it depends; for a simple device like a...
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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/D-Alembert on 2024-10-02 17:37:31+00:00.

Original Title: Flash/SSD loses data when the charge slowly bleeds off bits over years. When you periodically plug in a USB drive or a SSD, does anyone know (with certainty) what processes will replenish the charge of every bit of data on a drive, to set up the entire drive’s storage up to last another few years?

This information has been infuriatingly hard to find. The vague suggestions I’ve found so far suggest that it depends; for a simple device like a thumbdrive or SD card, you probably have to read (and write?) every bit on the drive to replenish their charge level, but an SSD with a high-end management system might replenish everything simply when it gets powered up. (If so, is that instantaneous, or is it a background process that takes a while? How would you find out whether your model of SSD does what?)

Most discussion is rumor and guesswork, but this seems like this is something we should KNOW about.

Does anyone have proper knowledge or good sources?