Open jasen-b opened 1 month ago
Did you catch the "Future data recovery" section at the bottom of the main page? It is possible to recover directly from the FRAM chip.
This is a common criticism that I saw after Blaustahl was released. One of the main ways I imagined Blaustahl being used, was that a user would make regular edits over several years, and then at some point stop. After that, it would become a matter of data recovery in the distant future.
However, if the flash became corrupt after 20+ years it may still be possible to reflash the firmware. The MCU has a USB bootloader in ROM that's essentially unbrickable. We have plans to make all of our firmware/source, documentation and schematics available for 100+ years.
And then as @akrabu mentioned, it is possible to recover the data directly from the FRAM chip if the MCU, flash or PCB don't work.
It's not clear how common USB-A connectors will be decades from now, so specialized equipment for data recovery may be necessary regardless.
Luckily Blaustahl has received a decent amount of press coverage that may be discoverable in the future so if someone finds a Blaustahl they should be able to determine what it is and that it might be worth trying to recover data from it.
You need to also store the firmware in durable storage, else when the flash holding the firmware forgets it the device is bricked.