TrueCrypt and SSD

[paul878]

Does using TrueCrypt with an SSD (samsung 830) increase wear on the SSD and shorten it's life span?

I understand that there is a risk of using the 2 together and I don't care about possibility of data leak.

 

[corkyg]

It is not so much a life span problem. Samsung 830 and other SSDs use wear leavelling as a means of prolonging SSD life. TreuCrypt advises specifically about this: http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=wear-leveling

 

[paul878]

It is not so much a life span problem. Samsung 830 and other SSDs use wear leavelling as a means of prolonging SSD life. TreuCrypt advises specifically about this: http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=wear-leveling

I understand that risk.
What I want to know is doe Truecrypt reduce the life of an SSD?

 

[corkyg]

Anything that writes to the SSD uses "life." OTH, there is more life there than you may ever use. How many drives do you keep beyond 3-4 years? So, the basic answer is yes. The qualified answer is more likely yes, but not significantly. By the same token, running benchmarks on SSDs also shortens their lifespan. But, significantly so? Probably not.

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't see why TC itself would use any more life than a modern OS and file system would.

The only exception to that I can think of is that TC advises a full format of a TC volume before you begin using it.

Thanks corkyg for the SSD advisory, I wasn't aware of that and wouldn't have thought of it myself (though I would have wondered how TRIM would work in the scenario that I normally use TC in). There are other potential issues with TC and SSDs that arise from what is said there, but it seems to me that TC should cater for the header scenario itself.

 

[corkyg]

I don't see why TC itself would use any more life than a modern OS and file system would.

I would say it is because it does it all again. If you have a SSD all done and then decide to use TC, it will have to overwrite everything all over in an encrypted format.

 

[mikeymikec]

I would say it is because it does it all again. If you have a SSD all done and then decide to use TC, it will have to overwrite everything all over in an encrypted format.

See second paragraph of my previous post

 

[corkyg]

Is not a second full format adding to writes?

 

[BrightCandle]

Wear on SSDs is a theoretical problem more, almost myth like. SSDs are not fragile, a complete disk wipe is not suddenly going to degrade the SSD really quickly. Even if you reformatted the entire disk, and wrote an entire fill of the disk on it every day it would take you more than 10 years to wear it out.

Treat your SSD just like a HDD that is quicker and smaller and you'll do just fine. You aren't going to get through all the writes, its just not going to happen before the drive is obsolete or dies for another reason. Stop worrying about it and install TrueCrypt like you want to.

 

[paul878]

Thanks Everyone.

 

[mikeymikec]

Is not a second full format adding to writes?

Of course it is, we're agreeing, I was just pointing out that I had already said it

 

[Nothinman]

Wear on SSDs is a theoretical problem more, almost myth like. SSDs are not fragile, a complete disk wipe is not suddenly going to degrade the SSD really quickly. Even if you reformatted the entire disk, and wrote an entire fill of the disk on it every day it would take you more than 10 years to wear it out.

Treat your SSD just like a HDD that is quicker and smaller and you'll do just fine. You aren't going to get through all the writes, its just not going to happen before the drive is obsolete or dies for another reason. Stop worrying about it and install TrueCrypt like you want to.

SSD wear is not theoretical and your 10 year estimate is just a guess like the MTBF that manufacturers use. We won't have estimates based upon real world usage until SSDs are in heavy use for a real 10 years or so.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you in that you shouldn't worry about the drive's health too much. But I also think the people running benchmarks on their drives a half dozen or more times are stupidly causing unnecessary wear on their drives for no reason.

And the security warnings on the TC site about putting it on an SSD should be considered more than the wear it'll put on the SSD. If you're just trying to hide your porn from your wife and kids, that's one thing but if you're concerned about the security of personal or work information it doesn't seem very smart to put that on an SSD right now.

 

[corkyg]

Well said, Nothinman. I especially smiled at the line about stupidly doing benchmarks after benchmarks. Seems l;ike some people just don't have enough to do.

Rather than rely on encryption, I would keep sensitive data on a separate drive and remove it when not in use by me. A 2.5-in form factor drive is easy to lock up in a secure area - even a safe.

 

[rh71]

** reviving this thread as this question is similar...

Didn't realize Truecrypt would take a stated/estimated 2 days to encrypt my 3TB Seagate external HDD. There's about 1TB of data already on it before I decided to secure it. Is this really bad for an external drive to run for 2 days (I can give it breaks I guess)?

Other question is - is truecrypt doing the entire 3TB or just my existing data?