SSD Drive Write Endurance Exceeds 9PB Data, Drawing Attention: Lawyer Interprets Legal Risks and Evidence Preservation in Data Storage
A recent news story about a durability test on a SanDisk 64GB SSD has sparked heated discussion in the tech community: over 16 years of uninterrupted operation, this small-capacity solid-state drive accumulated more than 9PB (9,000TB) of written data and logged over 61,000 hours of powered-on time, far exceeding its rated endurance. This result not only reshapes people's understanding of the lifespan of consumer-grade storage hardware, but also, in the eyes of lawyers, reflects a legal issue in the digital age that cannot be ignored—when our property, contracts, transaction records, and even life memories all depend on electronic devices for storage, the legal risks of data security and the validity of evidence have become more important than ever before.
From a legal perspective, this news is not merely a discussion of hardware technology; it touches upon provisions in the Civil Code concerning property protection and tort liability, as well as the rules on the admissibility of electronic data as evidence under the Electronic Signature Law and the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Evidence in Civil Procedures. Whether individuals or enterprises, while enjoying the convenience brought by storage devices, have they recognized the potential legal risks involved? Once data is lost due to hardware aging, damage, or operational errors, how can one safeguard their rights through legal channels? This article, from the perspective of legal practice, will delve into the legal risks and response strategies behind data storage, using this SSD durability case as a focal point.
1. Data Storage Hardware Lifespan and the Legal Risk of "Property Destruction"
Although the SanDisk SSD featured in the news demonstrated extraordinary durability, the vast majority of storage devices have their physical lifespan limits. When handling civil disputes, lawyers frequently encounter situations where clients suffer permanent loss of critical evidence or important materials due to hard drive failure, USB drive loss, or termination of cloud storage services.
According to Article 1165 of the Civil Code, a person who causes damage to the civil rights and interests of another through fault shall bear tort liability. If an enterprise causes the loss of customer data due to improper management of its own storage equipment, it may be held liable for breach of contract or tort. For example, if a company fails to back up data in a timely manner due to a server hard drive failure, resulting in the loss of electronic contract documents with a supplier, it may lose a subsequent payment dispute due to its inability to provide evidence of the contract terms.
In practice, lawyers advise clients to treat storage devices as a "legal evidence carrier" rather than ordinary electronic products. For important documents, the principle of "off-site backup and multi-medium storage" should be followed, and hardware health should be regularly checked. No matter how durable an SSD is, it cannot be relied upon indefinitely.
II. Legal Requirements for Electronic Data as Evidence and Preservation Strategies
In judicial practice, the probative value of electronic data depends on its authenticity, integrity, and relevance. According to Article 14 of the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Evidence in Civil Procedures, electronic data includes information published on online platforms such as web pages, blogs, and microblogs, as well as communication information from network application services such as text messages, emails, instant messaging, and communication groups. It also includes user registration information, identity authentication information, electronic transaction records, communication records, login logs, and similar materials.
However, data stored on devices such as SSDs may be challenged by opposing counsel regarding its authenticity if there is no standardized record of the generation, storage, and transmission process. For example, in a labor dispute case, an employee claimed that the company failed to pay overtime wages, but the attendance records they provided existed only on their personal computer's hard drive. The company argued that the records could have been tampered with, and the court ultimately did not accept them as evidence.
Lawyers advise that electronic data involved in legal disputes should be preserved as early as possible through notarization or third-party evidence storage platforms. According to the relevant provisions of the Notarization Law and the Electronic Signature Law, notarized electronic data has higher evidentiary validity. Additionally, using evidence storage tools with timestamp and hash verification functions can effectively prove that the data has not been tampered with at a specific point in time.
III. Corporate Data Compliance Obligations and Storage Media Management
As data controllers, enterprises must not only safeguard their own rights and interests but also bear statutory data compliance obligations. Article 27 of the Data Security Law of the People's Republic of China requires that data processing activities be conducted in accordance with laws and regulations, establishing and improving a full-process data security management system, and adopting corresponding technical measures and other necessary measures to ensure data security.
Although the extreme durability of SSDs in the news is an isolated case, enterprises may face administrative penalties or even criminal liability if data leaks or losses occur due to improper procurement of storage media or negligent maintenance. For example, a financial institution was fined by regulatory authorities for failing to replace aging hard drives in a timely manner, resulting in the loss of customer transaction data, which also triggered multiple customer compensation lawsuits.
When lawyers develop compliance programs for enterprises, they pay special attention to the lifecycle management of storage media, including quality review at the time of procurement, regular health monitoring, and data destruction during disposal. According to Article 51 of the Personal Information Protection Law, personal information processors shall adopt security technical measures such as encryption and de-identification to prevent unauthorized access, leakage, tampering, or loss of personal information.
IV. Legal Remedies After Data Loss and the Role of Lawyers
When data is unfortunately lost and legal rights are involved, how should the party concerned respond? First, they should preserve the physical hardware and avoid powering it on or operating it further to prevent data from being overwritten. Second, they should promptly consult a professional lawyer to assess whether the data loss constitutes a breach of contract or infringement against others, and whether they themselves may bear adverse consequences for failing to properly preserve evidence.
In litigation, if a party claims that the content of electronic documents submitted by the opposing party does not match the original storage, the lawyer may apply for judicial authentication to restore or verify data integrity through technical means. According to Article 63 of the Civil Procedure Law, electronic data is one of the statutory types of evidence, and the court will comprehensively assess its probative value in conjunction with other evidence.
Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has long represented cases involving electronic evidence, including contract disputes, labor disputes, and intellectual property infringement. They have helped numerous clients reverse unfavorable litigation positions through lawful data recovery and evidence preservation strategies. The firm's lawyers remind: no matter how reliable the technology, legal contingency plans are essential as a safety net. For the storage of important data, it is recommended to entrust professional institutions for compliance planning, rather than relying on the durability of the equipment itself.
In the data age, every hard drive may carry traces that influence legal relationships. From the remarkable durability of SanDisk SSDs, we see not only technological progress but also a call for reflection: when data becomes the vessel of rights, have we equipped it with the legal "fuse" it deserves?
