"Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS cartridges use NAND flash for storage , not mask ROMs. Like all Flash memory, they "leak" charge over time and eventually lose data.
But, some users are reporting cartridges already dying, especially ones they haven't used for years. I wonder which of mine already don't work.
Just a reminder that you don't own any data you can't back up. Buying physical cartridges and game cards isn't enough if they're using technology that inevitably deteriorates over time."
The same is true for flash in general. In some ways it's worse for writable storage because when you're changing the charge of bits (i.e. writing to it) you slowly degrade it. Which is why you see things like wear leveling and a certain level of redundant storage built in on SSDs. Magnetic storage can degrade in a similar-ish kind of way. To a lesser extent it's true for optical media also
Probably not something you're going to come across within the reasonable lifetime of the platform. More of a 2050 maybe you grab a Switch game at a garage sale and it happens to have enough corruption that causes some assets to be garbled or it crashes in some unexpected spot. Or refuses to boot. But also.... we're 20 years post the end of GBA and Nintendo throws GBA games on NSO as part of their subscription and you can emulate GBA games on your phone so.....
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I do find it sad that all physical media will eventually break and digital storefronts will shut down. Ideally everything can and will be preserved.
...but I'm also not hugely fussed? When I bought my Switch, my Wii U and 3DS were basically retired and I have no issue with that. I can emulate any game from NES to the Wii and don't.
So I'm trying to enjoy the age we're in, but at my own pace. Not rushing for the sake of hype but also staying current. That's where I'm at currently and it's far less stressful - which is nice for a recreational activity
I wouldn't worry too much about it. NAND storage has been around since the 80s and there's plenty of evidence for its long term stability.
What tends to shorten its life is an excessive amount of write cycles but that's a non-issue for read only game carts.
Corruption of read only media to charge disappation is mostly a theoretical problem. It might happen to unused media stored at unusual temperatures over a period of decades but probably won't if it's correctly stored and used.
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Topic: Switch and DS Carts dying...
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