Safest way to copy contents of an external exFAT-formatted NVME SSD (Samsung T5) that was in cold storage for a long time?
I have an SSD that was in cold storage with only some of it's files occasionally accessed on a regular basis, but most files have not been accessed in years. I only learned recently that SSDs can lose bits due to losing charge in memory cells very quickly. Reddit threads apparently recommend reading entire drive every 6 months.
I want to duplicate the contents to another drive. I am worried that some data loss may has already occurred, and exFAT does not store file content's checksums.
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What is the best way to copy ALL the contents verbatim to another drive?
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Any way to detect corrupt data in the process since there are no checksums in exFAT?
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Is there a better/safer filesystem that can interop on Windows and Linux (and ideally Mac, but it's probably not realistic to have all 3)?
Thanks
Posted Dec 1, 2025, 4:16 AM UTC