r/DataHoarder•
Infinite100p

Safest way to copy contents of an external exFAT-formatted NVME SSD (Samsung T5) that was in cold storage for a long time?

Question/Advice

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.

  1. What is the best way to copy ALL the contents verbatim to another drive?

  2. Any way to detect corrupt data in the process since there are no checksums in exFAT?

  3. 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

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