I’ll admit that the phrase “like a USB flash drive” in your question bothers me. It kind of implies that flash drives always lose their data on power loss and that simply is not true.
Sudden power loss will actually affect all three of the different devices (physical hard drives, a Solid State Drive, or a flash drive) in pretty much the same way.
There are three things that can happen when power is suddenly removed from your computer while you’re using your hard drive.
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Nothing happens
The most common thing to happen is absolutely nothing.
It’s actually kind of reassuring in some ways. You turn the computer back on, the power returns, and everything picks up more or less where it stopped. It’s not something to be relied on by any stretch of the imagination, but it is one of those statistically happy coincidences that your machine is usually okay.
There’s some data loss or corruption
The next most common thing to happen is some amount of data loss or corruption.
Perhaps a file that was being written to at the time of the power loss might find some of its data missing or garbled. The file system could report that it’s missing information, so you may end up losing files or having other things disappear.
And this is true regardless of what kind of drive you’re using.
There’s massive data loss
Of course, the rare, but still possible option is that you could have massive data loss.
If the computer happens to be writing at exactly the wrong place at the right time when the power goes out, it’s conceivable that critical information could be lost. It’s also possible in some cases – again, rare – that some actual physical damage could occur.
Most of these devices are very well protected from that kind of a thing and what we’re usually looking at is data corruption or loss. In most cases, recovery is usually possible with a combination of tools like Recuva (which I’ve recommended in the past for being able to find and recover deleted files) as well as things like CHKDSK to rebuild the system file structure and have that working once again.
Prepare for problems: Backup
Ultimately, the best thing that you can do is make sure that you are appropriately backed up. Anything can happen at any time. Your hard drive can completely fail without warning. And that’s true of physical hard drives, Solid State Drives, or USB flash drives.
a
- affiliate
- affiliate program
- algorithm
- Animated GIF
- anonymizer
- anti-malware
- aspect ratio
b
- back up
- backup
- bandwidth
- bare metal
- BCC
- Blind Carbon Copy
- binary
- BIOS
- Basic Input/Output System
- bit
- bit-ness
- blog
- web log
- bot
- botnet
- bounce
- breach
- brick
- broadband
- brute force attack
- BSOD
- Blue Screen of Death
- buffer
- bug
- bus
- byte
c
- Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
- CAPTCHA
- CDN
- Content Delivery Network
- certificate
- click bait
- clipboard
- clone
- cloud
- codec
- CSV
- Comma Separated Values
- compression
- context menu
- cookie
- core
- CPU
- Central Processing Unit
- CPU bit-ness
- craplet
- crapplet
- crapware
- CRC
- Cyclic Redundancy Check
- XSS
- cross-site scripting
- Cruft
d
- dark web
- dashboard
- DDOS
- Distributed Denial Of Service attack
- deep web
- defrag
- defragment
- device driver
- DHCP
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
- dialog box
- differential backup
- digital signature
- disc
- DLL
- Domain Name System
- DNS
- dongle
- download
- Dots Per Inch
- DPI
- driver
- DRM
- Digital Rights Management
- Digital Subscriber Line
- DSL
e
- echo chamber
- ellipsis
- encryption
- encryption – asymmetric
- encryption key
- encryption – public key
- encryption – symmetric
- epub
- electronic publication
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- Email Service Provider
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f
- Fallacy of Composition
- file system
- Fiber Optic Service
- FiOS
- firewall
- Focus
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- form factor
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol
- FUD
- Fear Uncertainty Doubt
- full backup
g
- GIF
- Graphics Interchange Format
- Graphical User Interface
- GUI
- guid
- Globally Unique IDentifier
h
- hack
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- ham
- hamburger
- hamburger menu
- hash
- HDD
- Hard Disk Drive
- HDMI
- High-Definition Multimedia Interface
- home page
- honeypot
- HTML
- HyperText Mark-up Language
- http
- HyperText Transfer Protocol
- https
- HyperText Transfer Protocol – Secure
- hub
i
- idle
- image backup
- Internet Message Access Procotol
- IMAP
- incremental backup
- IOT
- Internet Of Things
- Input/Output
- I/O
- Internet Protocol Address
- IP address
- ISO image
- ISO
- Internet Service Provider
- ISP
j
- Java
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k
- keylogger
- kilobyte
l
- LAN
- Local Area Network
- latency
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m
- mainboard
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- map
- Master Boot Record
- MBR
- megabyte
- memory
- mobo
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- motherboard
- Mount
- MTBF
- multi-factor authentication
n
- NAS
- Network Attached Storage
- Network Address Translation
- NAT
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- net etiquette
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- netizen
- network
- network adapter
- Network Interface Controller
- NIC
- notification area
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o
- OCR
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- op-level domain
- open wifi
p
- packet
- partition
- passphrase
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- Portable Document Format
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- PEBCAK
- Phishing
- POP
- Point Of Presence
- pop-up menu
- POP3
- Post Office Protocol version 3
- populate
- port
- Port 25
- Plain Old Telephone System
- protocol
- proxy
- pst
- Personal STore
- Potentially Unwanted Program
- PUP
- pwn
q
- Quick Response
- QR Code
r
- RAID
- redundant array of independent disks
- rainbow table
- Random Access Memory
- ransomware
- RDP
- reboot
- recovery drive
- registrar
- registry
- root
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- router
s
- sandbox
- SATA
- Serial ATA
- scareware
- screen shot
- script
- sector
- Secure Boot
- SED
- Self-Encrypting Drive
- SFTP
- Secure File Transfer Protocol
- Share
- shell
- shovelware
- Short Message Service
- SMS
- SMTP
- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- sniffing
- SSD
- Solid State Disks
- spam
- spoof
- spyware
- SSD
- Solid State Disk
- Secure SHell
- SSH
- Service Set IDentifier
- SSID
- SSL
- Secure Sockets Layer
- streaming
- switch
- system tray
t
- telemetry
- Tethering
- TOR
- The Onion Router
- third party ad
- Time-based One Time Password
- TOTP
- TLA
- Three-Letter Acronym
- top-level domain
- TLD
- Too long; didn.t read
- TL;DR
- TLS
- Transport Layer Security
- tooltip
- tray
- trojan
- TPM
- Trusted Platform Module
- Two-factor authentication
u
- UAC
- User Account Control
- UEFI
- Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
- UI
- URL
- Uniform Resource Locator
- USB
v
- VGA
- virtual desktop
- virtual machine
- Virtual Memory
- virus
- VLC
- vlog
- vlogger
- VNC
- Voice Over Internet Protocol
- VOIP
- volume (disk)
- Virtual Private Network
- VPN
- VPS
- Volume Snapshot Service
- VSS
- vulnerability
w
- WAN
- Wide Area Network
- weblog
- Wi-Fi
- wifi
- wireless network
- wireless network adapter
- What You See Is What You Get
- WYSIWYG
x
- XSS
y
- Your Mileage May Vary
- YMMV
z
- zero-day
- zombie
But the important thing is that it can give you enough time to shut down your computer cleanly.
In fact, some of them have interfaces so that they will notify your computer that the real power has gone out and the computer can shut itself down cleanly.
I really don’t think that there’s a tremendous amount of difference between the drive technologies when the power goes out. The power going out is just kind of a scary thing. It can do bad things – or nothing at all – on all three of the different media types.
I would imagine the hard drive might have slightly more potential for more serious damage as a power loss at an inopportune time might cause a head crash (the write head scratching the hard drive.)
Good article. One point of clarification: some people seem confused regarding traditional storage and RAM, much like confusing memory with drive space. All drives — whether they be mechanical or solid state, full size or USB thumb drive — have data *written* to them, and stays until overwritten or deleted. RAM (memory), on the other hand, *does* disappear after power is cut. Thus, the need to save regularly, and MS Word’s (and other app’s) default behavior of auto-saving every few minutes. Once saved to a drive (any drive), said data should be safe from a power failure.