Question Did I pick the right SSDs for my new build ?

[knowledge2121]

Crucial T500 500GB ----- OS drive
Samsung 990 Pro 4TB ----- Main drive
Teamgroup MP34 4TB ----- Dump drive

Do you agree with my SSD selections ? Should I replace any of them with something better ? if so, tell me.

Does the 990 pro support direct storage ? how about the MP34 ?

Also why do some SSDs like Seagate FireCuda 530 have higher TBW rating(5100) at 4TB but most top SSDs only have 2400 TBW ?

Also, which company produces the most durable flash chips ? Samsung, Micron or something else ?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Do you agree with my SSD selections ? Should I replace any of them with something better ? if so, tell me.

Do whatever makes sense to you. There's no right or wrong answer here.

Does the 990 pro support direct storage ? how about the MP34 ?

Any NVMe SSD will support it.

Also why do some SSDs like Seagate FireCuda 530 have higher TBW rating(5100) at 4TB but most top SSDs only have 2400 TBW ?

Higher capacity SSDs mean high density flash memory most of the time. And in order to squeeze in higher density, the flash cells have to hold more voltage states. The way SSDs degrade is over time, the flash cells accumulate charge that can't be removed, and once the flash cell can no longer be erased to a "0" value, it's worn out.

For example, SLC flash memory has two states of charge, and we'll say the threshold is at 50%. MLC brings this up to four states of charge, so now the threshold between the 0 value and the next state is 25%. TLC adds 8 states of charge, dropping the threshold down to 12.5%. You can start to see why higher densities "wear out" faster.

Also, which company produces the most durable flash chips ? Samsung, Micron or something else ?

There's no practical difference. But the thing to note is at the moment, flash memory wears out slowly enough that something else in the SSD is likely to die before the flash cells wear out. I average about 2TBW a month. So even with a drive that has a 2400TBW guarantee, that means I have 100 years of usable write life. Even if you added an extra 0, I still have 10 years of life and that's plenty for a main drive.

 

[knowledge2121]

Do whatever makes sense to you. There's no right or wrong answer here.

Which 3 SSDs would YOU pick, if you were in my shoes ?

Higher capacity SSDs mean high density flash memory most of the time. And in order to squeeze in higher density, the flash cells have to hold more voltage states. The way SSDs degrade is over time, the flash cells accumulate charge that can't be removed, and once the flash cell can no longer be erased to a "0" value, it's worn out.

For example, SLC flash memory has two states of charge, and we'll say the threshold is at 50%. MLC brings this up to four states of charge, so now the threshold between the 0 value and the next state is 25%. TLC adds 8 states of charge, dropping the threshold down to 12.5%. You can start to see why higher densities "wear out" faster.

I think you misunderstood me a bit, What I meant was, Does the 5100TBW figure for the Seagate Firecuda 530 4TB mean that its flash chips are more durable than , Say, Samsung 990 Pro 4TB which is rated 2400TBW ?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Which 3 SSDs would YOU pick, if you were in my shoes ?

If you're seeking validation for your decision, yes what you did was fine.

But I don't like this question because what I do may not work with what someone else does or how they want to do things. The way I do things only matters to me and may only be fine for me. My current setup is a 2TB drive split 500GB for the OS and the rest for a data, and I have another 2TB drive for my games. Some people here don't think splitting a drive is practical because I took out a 500GB SSD. But I wanted that 500GB SSD to use as a spare drive so I could do things that may require wiping the drive.

Like for instance, installing Linux on one of my other computers to try it out.

I think you misunderstood me a bit, What I meant was, Does the 5100TBW figure for the Seagate Firecuda 530 4TB mean that its flash chips are more durable than , Say, Samsung 990 Pro 4TB which is rated 2400TBW ?

In theory? Yes. In practice? No. Again, something else is more likely going to die on the drive or you'll probably move on from it long before the flash wears out.