Mar 10, 2026 21:00:00

If I store data on a 32GB USB memory stick and leave it for six years, will the data deteriorate?

Although cloud storage has become more popular in recent years, some people still use physical USB flash drives due to security and service reliability concerns. Technology blogger Zach Vance conducted a test to see what would happen if data was stored on a USB flash drive and left for six years.

Flash media longevity testing - 6 years later : r/DataHoarder

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1q6xnun/flash_media_longevity_testing_6_years_later/

To test the durability of USB flash memory, Vance purchased 10 32GB Kingston USB flash memory sticks in 2020. He stored data on these USB flash memory sticks and left them to see if the data inside deteriorated over time.

In a blog post by Vance in 2022, he reported that both 'Drive 1,' tested one year after data storage, and 'Drive 2,' tested two years after data storage, showed zero bit degradation.

USB Flash Longevity Testing – Year 2
https://blog.za3k.com/usb-flash-longevity-testing-year-2/

In a blog post from 2022, Vance wrote that the reason for preparing the 10 drives was to see what would happen if they were left without power. He also wrote that the test drives were rewritten with new data and then tested again a year later. He also wrote that the drives were loaded onto a moving truck during the experiment and left there for about a month, likely in a sub-zero environment.

Vance said he tested Drive 1 after one year, Drive 2 after two years, Drive 3 after three years, and Drive 4 after four years, finding no sign of bit degradation. He retested Drives 1-4 after five years, and Drive 5 after six years, again finding no sign of bit degradation.

Vance said that because USB flash drives are likely to last for more than 10 years, they don't plan to test a new drive every year. The plan is to test new drives in eight years (drive 6), 11 years (drive 7), 15 years (drive 8), 20 years (drive 9), and 27 years (drive 10).

Vance's report has drawn mixed reactions from Reddit users, with one user commenting, 'Today at work, I took out about eight USB flash drives from 2018 to 2023. Only one of them was broken. It was a generic, no-brand USB flash drive.'

Another user commented: 'Wow, that's amazing. I'll probably lose my USB stick before I run the test in a year. I end up losing everything that's not screwed into my computer. So flash drives are 100% data loss.'