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Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ?

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bilsch01 <usenet@writer.com> wrote:
> They say some of the cells on flash drives lose their charge after a 
> while. So, If you plug the drive in before any cells start to discharge 
> does it get a new lease on life at that point.

In theory the flash controller _could_ rewrite old data to refresh
it. I don't think any such consumer device manufacturers publicly
document the behaviour of their controller chips such that you
could tell whether they do this or not.

This page by an industrial SD card manufacturer describes under
"Data Integrity" how their controllers run a custom "Dynamic Data
Refresh" routine to avoid data loss over time. Their implication
is that regular flash controllers for consumer devices don't do
this, but of course it's in their interest to imply that.

https://www.atpinc.com/blog/industrial-sd-cards-factors-requirements-to-consider

Typically higher-density flash has more issues with reliability, so
one might speculate that controllers for newer flash like 3D NAND
might also have smarter ways of preventing associated issues. The
manufactuers of consumer flash memory cards and sticks
unfortunately seem determined to reveal as little as possible about
the technical details of how they work and wear out.

> Can I avoid the problem of dying cells by plugging it in periodically?

So generally speaking, after writing all that, I don't know the
answer.

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Thread

can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? bilsch01 <usenet@writer.com> - 2024-04-25 05:12 -0700
  Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2024-04-27 11:32 +1000
    Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? bilsch01 <usenet@writer.com> - 2024-04-28 10:14 -0700
  Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? <bp@www.zefox.net> - 2024-04-29 02:05 +0000
  Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? John Dulak <Johnd@Booogus.com> - 2024-04-29 19:42 -0400
    Re: can U refresh thumb drive by plugging it in ? bilsch01 <usenet@writer.com> - 2024-04-30 10:55 -0700

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