Hi, in 2018, I built a PC using two Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD. One is for Windows and one for Linux. The one for Windows has been working fine but since I have been using it daily for a few years, is it at high risk of sudden failure since it has passed the 5-year mark? As for the one for Linux, I seldom use it and haven't booted into it for about three years. Does the lifespan start reducing since I put it in the computer regardless of whether I boot into Linux partition or not?
Question Is my data at risk after using a Samsung 970 Evo Plus for over 5 years?
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No, the use is what kills things. You could just wipe the Linux drive and pair it with the windows one in raid 1 to mirror it as a backup. Normal use though should get 10+ years from a data write standpoint. Use CDM to look at the use.
WelshBloke
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Obligatory "you should be backing your stuff up regularly regardless of your hardware" post.
Seriously! All hardware is subject to failure regardless of vendor. And all failure is unexpected. Plan for it!
Seriously! All hardware is subject to failure regardless of vendor. And all failure is unexpected. Plan for it!
I mainly do work on a few folders and I back them up daily to an external drive by overwriting the old files made on the previous day. That means I only have backup of the latest version of the files. However, I am looking for something like Apple's Time Machine which I could keep different versions of the files and have the ability to retrieve any previous versions.
WelshBloke
Lifer
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From what I read, it seems to be able to do that but I have not tried nor know if it is reliable.
WilliamM2
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The first Samsung SSD I bought in 2011 (64GB) is still chugging away in my niehbors Laptop. The second, bought in 2012 (128GB is in another friends laptop. Last year I ran Crystal Disk on it, it was still at 90% life.
I currently have a 2016 7 year old Zotac (256GB) at 94% life. And a 2.5 year old 980 pro (512GB) at 98% life
The only SSD's I have had fail were Crucial, fairly new at the time too.
I currently have a 2016 7 year old Zotac (256GB) at 94% life. And a 2.5 year old 980 pro (512GB) at 98% life
The only SSD's I have had fail were Crucial, fairly new at the time too.
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Not lifespan but the flash cells are at risk of losing their charge over long periods of being powered off so there is a possibility of losing data. Only experienced it with Samsung 860 EVO that was powered off for two months. I have some really old OCZ Vertex 30GB and Corsair F60 60GB SSDs that still had the data intact after years of no use. I upgraded the SSDs in the devices they were in and they serve no purpose for me, other than as a piece of history and maybe, a long term experiment in data retention.
It's a dual drive single system. Just not booting into the second drive with Linux.
I have some SSD drives though that haven't been used in an active system for a decade or more that fire up just fine if needed. It's not like a battery where if you don't use it then the charge goes away.
What is the best way to check the health status and TBW of Samsung SSD? Is the method reliable?
So the saying that SSD is likely to fail from around the end of the warranty period (5 years in the case of Samsung) is misinformation?
So the saying that SSD is likely to fail from around the end of the warranty period (5 years in the case of Samsung) is misinformation?
Depends on the manufacturer and quality of NAND used. If you buy some cheap no name brand using QLC NAND, don't expect anything too good from such an SSD. But most of the major brands like Samsung, Crucial, Kingston, Seagate, Corsair, Silicon Power, Teamgroup etc. should be fine.
The life of an SSD is directly proportional to the number of writes it sustains during normal use. If your use case involves writing a lot to some database, your SSD flash cells will degrade at a faster rate. But for some normal office or home use, you can look forward to anywhere from 10 to 20 years of useful life out of an SSD until the flash cells wear out. You can get an estimate of the remaining life by a simple calculation. If suppose it took 3 months to reduce the remaining SSD life by 1%, then 99 (% life remaining) x 3 months = 297 months /12 = 24.75 years.
Using QLC for cold storage is a fool’s errand – Blocks and Files
Editor’s Note: This blog by storage industry veteran Hubbert Smith begins with a brief history of SLC-MLC-TLC-QLC and then gives a forecast of what to expect from QLC. It pertains mostly to server/cloud SSDs. History SLC – single level cell. It stores a single bit and a cell uses 2 charge...
blocksandfiles.com
Recharge Your USB Flash Drive Today or Say Goodbye to the Files Tomorrow - CGI Сoffee
I know, I know. The title will inevitably raise some eyebrows. Rest assured, though, by the end of this brief post it will make perfect sense.
The charge loss issue is more of a problem with QLC NAND based SSDs. However, TLC drives are not exactly immune as I faced it with my Samsung 860 EVO drive. Generally, the higher the storage temperature of the unused SSD, the greater the chance that its flash cells may lose their charge. It's why it's a good idea to keep backups on spinners for extra peace of mind.
EDIT: Article on data retention of TLC/QLC from an Silicon Motion who make SSD controllers: https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3ft/a/FerriSSD_Data_Retention_WP_EN.pdf
Calculate life of SSD: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/hardware/ssd-lifespan-how-long-will-your-ssd-work/
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You can use their own SSD Magician software. Alternatively, you can use Crystal Disk Info or SSD-Z: http://aezay.dk/aezay/ssdz/
Since there could be some writings going on even we just leave the computers on doing nothing, to prolong the lifespan of internal SSD, is it better to turn off the computer when it is not used for, say over an hour? Usually I just turn it on earlier in the morning and turn it off in the evening.
Personal preference. The endurance of electronics is impacted by power cycles. I leave my stuff on 24/7. Of course if you're electric bill is a sensitivity then powering down might help but, in reality it's a few cents per day typically.
The reason for leaving things on is the initial surge of power hitting the components when cycling the power. This is what kills devices eventually.
It's best to let the device sleep rather than go through the whole power cycle from dead cold conductor state. As TJ mentioned, the ripple current from repeatedly turning stuff on from the off state is what usually degrades electronic components and leads to their eventual demise. Best example: The oldest lightbulb is still working after 120+ years coz it's seldom been turned off.
Eternal Light | BYK Instruments
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That idle state writing won't do much damage. It's still much less than active writing of heavy paging due to running out of RAM. Want to save SSD? Increase RAM to 32GB.
I 0 out paging on both Windows and Linux. Been running that way for years. Initially it was because the os allocated way too much drive space and disabling it didn't impact anything. I was running a baseline of 16gb though for quite some time as well until I felt the need for 32gb due to stuff crashing with bloated ram use like Chrome.
Yeah, I did the same on my Sandy Bridge i3 with 32GB RAM for two years or more. But now my Thinkpad with 32GB RAM keeps hitting 95% RAM used due to my crazy multiple tab browsing habits. Have to kill Firefox every week or so and RAM returns to 60% free. Uptime is in months, on Windows 8.1
I found that to be worse than dealing with Chrome. There are some new flags in Chrome that tame it better than in the past.
Unfortunately, Firefox has some features I need, particularly save the multiple page spanning articles as a huge screenshot. It keeps the formatting intact. Saving as PDF will mess up the formatting.
120GB lasted that long. Bigger SSDs fare even better because they have more flash cells to endure the abusive writing.
WelshBloke
Lifer
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That madee look up when I bought my first SSD!
Samsung 840EVO 250gb Feb 2014. Been in service everyday since!
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