SSD Shelf Life

It turns out SSDs will slowly "discharge" over time if it sits, with manufacturers suggesting ~a year of stability. If the SSD is used regularly, it would likely be okay, but if you have SSDs that don't need regular access, dropping the data into HDDs would be better for archiving.

This can be as simple as an external drive: SanDisk Professional 8TB G-Drive Enterprise-Class External Desktop Hard Drive - 7200RPM Ultrastar HDD Inside, USB-C (10Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen 2, Mac Ready - SDPHF1A-008T-NBAAD

https://amzn.to/3Yc14nu

While I have you here, considered best practice for critical data archiving is the 3-2-1 backup plan:

3 copies
2 types of storage - i.e.: an external hard drive and cloud storage, to reduce the risk of failure
1 offsite: a copy offsite, away from your main location, to protect against local disasters like fire or theft

As a value-add for my clients, I hold a copy for at least a month (often longer), which provides ample time to copy into your own system. Often this is enough time for a project to go live, saving you the hassle of archiving until then.

For unlimited cloud backup, I recommend Backblaze:

https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal#afc2cx

It has the unique feature to back up external drives as well, so you can plug in your archive external HDD every now and then to keep the cloud version up-to-date. Note that this service isn't the same as something like Dropbox or Google Drive where you have somewhat immediate access to everything--- Backblaze is meant to hold a copy for restoring from disaster.

Summary: Use SSDs as work drives for current projects but make a copy to a HDD, which then gets backed up to an archival cloud service.