We tend to think that because the Memory cards they use silicon chips to store the information, this will remain unchanged until the end of time. However, this is not the case and it could be that in a few years or decades all those memories of the MicroSD of the mobile or the game cards of your favorite laptop are gone. Why will this happen?
One of the problems of digital distribution is the transformation of the right to buy and sell the content to be reduced to a usufruct in the form of an indefinite license of use, but in which the licensee can decide when you stop playing. have access to it. Which makes many decide to choose to buy games in physical format or use memory cards to save their vacation photos. However, they bring with them some problems.
Memory cards will stop working
One of the controversies of recent days has been Nintendo’s closing of digital stores of its long-retired 3DS and Wii U platforms, a move they made in their days with Wii and DS. Which has caused many users to run either to buy what is needed for said console before the final shutdown, or to buy the games in physical format, which are on proprietary flash memory cards sold with the game saved at the interior.
However, there is a problem with the use of memory cards and it is not the other that they differ from the cartridges of yesteryear in the way they store information persistently. A cartridge is based on ROM memory, this means the memory transistors are forged to store specific information in perpetuity. That is to say, no matter how much time passes, it cannot be rewritten and it will remain forever as long as there is no physical deterioration.
Instead, flash memory is all about retaining captured electrical charge in the cells for a long time and this cannot be done in perpetuity, there comes a time when it leaks and the information is gradually lost over time. time. Many years may pass, but all this means that a memory card, unlike a cartridge, will not retain its contents indefinitely and will eventually be lost.
It doesn’t just affect video game consoles
Let’s not forget that cameras and mobile phones generally use MicroSD memory cards governed by the same principles. That is to say, they use flash memory to store the information of apps and data inside, so the point will be reached where the information will be lost forever.
In all cases, it should be noted that this degradation is slow enough to make backup copies and that the information they contain is not lost. In any case, this is not a problem with reels of film, which must be stored in special conditions so as not to be veiled and to be able to keep the information inside for a long time. The worst thing is that in a flash memory device, the more capacity there is, the less useful life it has, because it is easier to lose the information of 4 bits per cell than 1 bit per cell of information .
Our advice? Try to make backup copies of your memory cards from time to time so that the memories are not lost.