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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
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Subject: Re: OT: backup panic?
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2024 03:55:55 -0700
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On 9/13/2024 2:25 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
> You may find that the oxide coat falls off when you try to read them.

Or, the drive/transport doesn't work.  Or, the controller that
talks to it.  Or, the OS/driver that talks to *that*!

The fallacy behind all storage mechanisms is that you have no
assurance of the data's integrity /and accessibility/ until (and
unless) you actually TRY to access it *and* verify it's integrity.

How do you reassure yourself that the contents of a particular
volume are /as they should be/ -- unless you have some sort
of "signature" that you can verify (in lieu of a duplicate copy
of the volume's contents)

[I maintain a database of all files in my "collection" along with
hashes of each so I can reassure myself that they are intact.  I
am also "prompted" by that collection to let it reexamine volumes
that it hasn't had a chance to validate in a particular period
(it automatically validates the contents of any volume it "notices"
as being accessible)]

This is why there are mechanisms like patrol read to refresh/reassure
of the integrity of data that may not be actively inspected at this time.

> That might be on its last legs. I knew someone who used them as disposable 
> items literally wearing them out the way they were used.

Thumb drives go to pot pretty quickly.  Write times start to increase
dramatically.  Eventually, they all seem to resort to a "read only" mode
which effectively makes them useless.