Post #728918

2026-03-12 16:12 UTC

I just concluded a decade long experiment. I had a USB flash drive in a jar buried in my back yard since 2015. I dug it up, plugged it in and it suffered no data loss after 11 years idle underground. It&#39;s a usless experiment but everyone needs hobbies.

Replies (10)

@swope@mstdn.plus 2026-03-12 16:51

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social While doing environmental testing on a helicopter payload, I learned that NVMe drives (and perhaps all SSDs) can write data at high ambient temperatures >40 C, but the data is less permanent than if you write data at normal ambient temperatures. So on hot days we had to hurry and copy our 4TB drives after the flight because the data had a half-life of a dozen hours or so. That phenomenon is already documented, but I don't think it's widely known.

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@wesdym@mastodon.social 2026-03-13 18:32

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social I'm sure this will also work for any other functioning USB drive that's hermetically sealed against most elements, agents, and phenomena for an arbitrary length of time. Like if I put my car in a museum, instead of using it.

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@browngraham243@mstdn.ca 2026-03-13 22:27

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social ……….. phew, I’ll sleep a little more soundly tonight! (0;=

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@the5thColumnist@mstdn.ca 2026-03-13 23:09

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social It would have been more interesting if you had buried a control USB in a bottle full of water.

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@notsoloud@expressional.social 2026-03-14 01:55

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social Size of drive? (Physical AND informational) I have this idea that drives with smaller individual memory cells are more susceptible to leaking.

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@simonzerafa@infosec.exchange 2026-03-15 07:39

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social Was the flash memory in that USB Drive older SLC type? In which case I would anticipate that it would have a longer data retention. 11 years is impressive though. What make and model was that drive? 🙂

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@Gustodon@mas.to 2026-03-21 01:18

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social Informative AF. 🎖️

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@peterrenshaw@ioc.exchange 2026-03-21 01:56

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social did you use silica bags to reduce the chance of moisture buildup?

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@heafnerj@scholar.social 2026-03-21 09:34

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social Oh I don’t think it’s useless at all!

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@geospacedman@mastodon.social 2026-03-21 14:28

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social It survived because it had nothing critical stored on it. Now repeat the experiment with the only remaining copy of a cryptocurrency key :)

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