SSD/flash data loss widespread?

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 16:07

Business IT - Technology

More than half of SSD/flash users have experienced data loss, according to a survey.

A survey performed by data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack and attracting 560 respondents found that over half had experienced data loss with SSD/flash technology. Despite that, over 90% said SSD/flash data rates were minimal and the technology was reliable.

And it's not as if SSD/flash storage was a minority interest, as nearly 70% said they currently use it or plan to do so in the near future. More than three-quarters describe it as a safer, more robust technology.

This seems to confirm the old idea that computer users fall into two categories: those who have lost data, and those who will lose data.

But if - when? - data loss occurs, is recovery from an SSD/flash device less likely to be successful than from a conventional disk drive? Users certainly think so, with three-quarters saying they consider SSD/flash data recovery to be complicated or nearly impossible.

"Recovery for SSD is more black and white, the recovery either gets everything or nothing while with mechanical drives, the recovery is reported in percentage of the imaging process," Adrian Briscoe, Kroll Ontrack's general manager for the Asia Pacific region, told iTWire. "SSD and conventional hard drive recovery will be the same type of percentage, high 90+% but if you drill down into the conventional recovery there will always be partial file recoveries whereas this doesn't really occur with SSD."

What's the cause? See page 2.