It's A Digital Disease!

The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/nemuro87 on 2025-02-27 11:19:44.

If my information is correct, SSD, USB sticks, SD cards and less so spinning rust, are susceptible to data loss if left unpowered over a few months or 1-2 years.

I have some external SSD enclosures, USB drives of various ages and some 2.5in HDD as well as 3.5in HDDs.

From what I read, to re-power or refresh a usb drive so you can safely power it off and forget about it for the next 6-24 months, plugging it in once in a while isn't enough to prevent data loss, and instead you should do a complete READ (not write) surface test.

If you're on windows there are plenty of free options like https://victoria.en.lo4d.com/windows

But how do you do this if you're on a mac?

I could only find a paid solution, DriveDx, but from what I gathered, it can't be used on external drives, since it can only surface test the internal drive.

If free is not an option, I'm open to paid options as long as it's a one time fee and not subscriptions.