The lifespan of data on a USB flash drive depends on many factors: Under ideal conditions, data should remain preserved on a high-quality USB stick for at least 10 years or even longer. But what exactly does that mean and under what conditions does this hold true?

USB sticks or flash drives store data using NAND flash memory, in the form of binary valuesd (zeros and ones) in memory cells. Interestingly, it is electrons trapped in a kind of “floating gate” that represent these values. But these electrons can “leak” over time. This causes the data to degrade because it becomes harder to read whether the charge state represents a one or a zero. //

If the stick is exposed to high temperatures for a long time, this can cause the electrons to “leak” faster, which can damage the data and lead to its loss.