hi i am working with solidity and blockchain and i wanted to find out about how often the ropsten-testnet gets reset.
i cant find what i'm looking for so maybe it doesn't get reset, but if it doesn't get reset, then it seems too good to be true that the ethereum testnets will provide unlimited storage and data space for free? (because you can withdraw as much as you want from things like faucet.metamask.io)
Best Answer
They can do. There's no guarantee that the public testnets will persist for the amount of time you need them.
If we're talking about the proof of work testnets, we're currently on the third iteration, the "Ropsten Revival" testnet. The original Ropsten was a victim of spam attacks and was retired before being revived. Going back further, the Morden testnet was taken down I think because it lacked replay protection. (Or something similar?)
See:
So in the past testnets have only been reset as a consequence of attacks or upgrade requirements. That doesn't mean these will be the only reasons going forward.
The supply from faucets isn't (shouldn't be) limitless. Else you could accumulate enough test ether to potentially spam/attack the network.
There are some details about the tiered withdrawal limits for the Rinkeby testnet faucet, here. (Rinkeby is PoA, not PoW as Ropsten is, but still gives you an idea of how faucets have to be limited.)
In response to one of the comments on the other answer:
That shouldn't be the case. The testnet should operate in the same way as the main net. Contracts shouldn't just disappear :-)