[gentoo-user] Re: problem formatting new 256 GB USB stick : glances at gparted

[Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com>]

On 2025-02-20, Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de> wrote:

> Another thing to consider: don’t put it into the safe for a year without 
> powering it up. As was explained in a previous mail, QLC uses sixteen 
> different levels of charge inside one single flash cell. The chance of a bit 
> flip increases the longer the SSD is powerless and charge slowly (very 
> slowly) dissipates. It’s hard to find exact numbers, and it’s more of a 
> statistical question. Could be a research topic for a slow Sunday. ;-) 
> Also, don’t you live in a hot area?
>
> I don’t know if an SSD does a re-charge regularly by itself, or whether you 
> need to actually read out the cells for the controller to notice any issues. 
> This may be another good research topic.

According to some sources I've read, (at least some) flash controllers
do automatic refresh cycles in the background. I've no clue how long a
complete device refresh cycle would take for any particular device, or
how long between refresh cycles you would want to tolerate.

--
Grant