Longer SSD life span

[brown hash]

I had read scary stories about SSD failing within 2 years or even 1 week so i was thinking would doing the following actually help a ssd last longer.

1. Getting a good SSD brand.
2. Getting a SSD with a good amount of GB.
3. Only use it for gaming, no photoshop or video editing.
4. Using a SSD on a computer with only 1 graphic card instead of 2.
5. Using a SSD on a computer with a good amount of ram.
6.

Thanks!

 

[photonboy]

All you need worry about is getting a good brand which has enough space.
*Don't exceed 80% of the usable space (you can temporarily though).

An SSD will slowly wear out but in normal use that takes many years. Current failures aren't due to wearing out but rather defective hardware.

I recommend a 120GB SSD for Windows and apps, and a hard drive (i.e. 2TB WD Green) for games, downloads etc. It's a great idea to have a hard drive anyway to make a BACKUP IMAGE periodically. Acronis True Image (free edition exists for Seagate/WD drives) or a similar product.

Good SSD's:
1. Samsung 840
2. latest Intel
3. latest Crucial
4. OCZ Vertex 4

SSD's have improved quite a bit lately but a few crappy ones still exist.

 

[kitsunestarwind]

If you want a SSD to last, get a bigger one then what you need, the more free space you have the more room for the wear leveling algorithms to work.

I originally used a 60gb as my boot drive (constantly 45gb+ full all the time) wore out 94% of its endurance in one year , moved up to 120gb SSD, using the same amount of space a year later only 2% of endurance lost. (some of that can be attributed to better wear leveling)

 

[photonboy]

If you want a SSD to last, get a bigger one then what you need, the more free space you have the more room for the wear leveling algorithms to work.

I originally used a 60gb as my boot drive (constantly 45gb+ full all the time) wore out 94% of its endurance in one year , moved up to 120gb SSD, using the same amount of space a year later only 2% of endurance lost. (some of that can be attributed to better wear leveling)

I don't quite understand your description of how fast your SSD drive wore out. They don't wear out very fast. I also had a 60GB SSD, however the reason I ran out of space wasn't the SSD wearing out, rather it was the consumption of space via Microsoft Updates, Internet browser and other downloads, System Restore Points etc.

The recommendation is to leave at least 20% free for wear but an SSD really does take a long time to wear out (It varies a lot though). Considering how fast PRICES ARE FALLING for SSD's it's pointless to get far more than you need.

I use my PC a lot and have an older OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. My capacity appears to be about 98% of what it was two years ago.

*Remember that it is the WRITE cycles that wear out an SSD, not READ cycles. Once you install Windows and programs write cycles are very minimum. Even Internet usage is fairly minor.

**It's simply not worth stressing over. Buy a quality 120GB SSD unless you think you need more. Get a hard drive and assign Browser downloads to it, and for storing media etc. Then don't worry about it until/if your SSD exceeds 85%. That may never even happen.

 

[kitsunestarwind]

For my instance it was cause of huge amounts of data i was writing , that 60gb drive has an average of 4862 writes per cell out of 5000 writes per cell its rated for.

 

[cbrunnem]

I don't quite understand your description of how fast your SSD drive wore out. They don't wear out very fast. I also had a 60GB SSD, however the reason I ran out of space wasn't the SSD wearing out, rather it was the consumption of space via Microsoft Updates, Internet browser and other downloads, System Restore Points etc.

The recommendation is to leave at least 20% free for wear but an SSD really does take a long time to wear out (It varies a lot though). Considering how fast PRICES ARE FALLING for SSD's it's pointless to get far more than you need.

I use my PC a lot and have an older OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. My capacity appears to be about 98% of what it was two years ago.

*Remember that it is the WRITE cycles that wear out an SSD, not READ cycles. Once you install Windows and programs write cycles are very minimum. Even Internet usage is fairly minor.

**It's simply not worth stressing over. Buy a quality 120GB SSD unless you think you need more. Get a hard drive and assign Browser downloads to it, and for storing media etc. Then don't worry about it until/if your SSD exceeds 85%. That may never even happen.

you say a lot of things that are correct but not for the right reasons. yes it is the writes that wear out ssds but the ratio of writes to reads is not as low as you think. i think you just threw something out without actual information. so fyi in the 9 months i have had my current ssd i have read 9500 gb of data and written 3500 gb of data.

THERE IS NO NEED to assign browser downloads and to store media on other hard drives unless room is an issue.

if you dont get a defective one you will never wear it out and if you do a magnetic one would have worn out before it. good ssds have higher write ratings then magnetic drives.

 

[photonboy]

you say a lot of things that are correct but not for the right reasons. yes it is the writes that wear out ssds but the ratio of writes to reads is not as low as you think. i think you just threw something out without actual information. so fyi in the 9 months i have had my current ssd i have read 9500 gb of data and written 3500 gb of data.

THERE IS NO NEED to assign browser downloads and to store media on other hard drives unless room is an issue.

if you dont get a defective one you will never wear it out and if you do a magnetic one would have worn out before it. good ssds have higher write ratings then magnetic drives.

Well, we basically agree. I'm not going to argue with your statement "I think you just threw something out...", your entitled to your opinion but for the record I've built 100+ systems, studied Electronics and Computer at College and managed the Command and Control System for the Canadian Navy.

*I never actually stated write vs read numbers. My POINT in saying writes are low is that there's no danger of wearing out the drive not that it's low in relation to the reads.

As for storing media or downloads on a hard drive, that's really going to depend on how much data people are downloading. If you have a 120GB drive with 111GB usable and a few games installed and start downloading VIDEO etc the SSD might fill up pretty quickly.

My main point is simply (and you agree) that SSD's do not wear out as quickly as the uninformed seem to suggest. That's kind of the point of this post.

*I also prefer keeping my downloads and media on a separate hard drive because I make weekly IMAGE BACKUPS using Acronis True Image. I prefer to keep the backup size to a minimum. Videos not only increase the size but they don't get compressed like applications can.

My backups are automated as a CHAIN (main backup + five weekly incrementals). If the C-drive doesn't change too much the incremental backups can be kept much smaller (i.e. 2GB instead of 8GB).

 

[photonboy]

For my instance it was cause of huge amounts of data i was writing , that 60gb drive has an average of 4862 writes per cell out of 5000 writes per cell its rated for.

I'm curious, how do you manage to write that much data to a home SSD? That's more like server access.

 

[photonboy]

I had read scary stories about SSD failing within 2 years or even 1 week so i was thinking would doing the following actually help a ssd last longer.

1. Getting a good SSD brand.
2. Getting a SSD with a good amount of GB.
3. Only use it for gaming, no photoshop or video editing.
4. Using a SSD on a computer with only 1 graphic card instead of 2.
5. Using a SSD on a computer with a good amount of ram.
6.

Thanks!

I thought it worth it to summarize a lot of points. Feel free to PRINT this for reference.:

1. the amount of RAM affects the size of the SSD if you use HIBERNATION (recommended). Windows reserves space on the SSD for your RAM. I'm uncertain if it uses the SAME capacity (i.e. 8GB if you have 8GB of RAM) or whether it's now dynamic (same size as the data in your RAM).

Some people are getting 16GB of RAM now so that eats up a bit.

2. Usable capacity is LESS than listed. A 120GB SSD might have 111GB usable.

3. USED SPACE is recommended to not exceed 80%. So that brings us down to 89GB.

4. GRAPHICS CARD. The graphics card has nothing to do with the SSD.

5. Cleaning up Space.
a) Use "Disk Cleanup" (right-click drive in Windows Explorer or "Computer" then "properties).
*The TEMPORARY folder listed in Disk Cleanup is a folder used for programs when they install. It's 100% safe to delete and NEVER used anyway. It can be quite huge after installing several programs or games. Mine was 15GB at one time!

b) SYSTEM RESTORE:
Windows make periodic partial backups so it can roll back in case of issues. You can assign the PERCENTAGE of space used, such as 5%. I recommend using it, however you should periodically DELETE all the backups and make a new one. Issues can arise if too many changes are made (installing/uninstalling apps, drivers etc). I delete every six months.

6. DOWNLOAD FOLDER location?
It can be on the SSD. No problem. In fact, mine is so the hard drive doesn't start up too often, but I periodically TRANSFER any large files to my Hard Drive.

7. GAME LOCATION?
If you just have a couple games your SSD is fine. If you have the money you can spend more on a 256GB drive as well. I personally have my STEAM folder on a Hard Drive, and a GAMES folder for manual install of other games to the same Hard Drive. So I do NOT have games on my SSD.

8. GAME loading times on SSD vs HDD?
Games load slightly faster on the SSD but not nearly as fast as you might think. It varies but it's probably closer to 25% difference. The reason is that a large part of that time isn't just simple loading. The GPU and CPU are doing things. Also, there might be unskippable loading videos.

*Where the SSD works quite well though is if a game is poorly coded and STUTTERS when you save your game.

9. SSD firmware. Should I apply it?
Yes. But backup your drive first just in case.

10. How do I BACKUP my SSD?
I use Acronis True Image 2013 and have an automatic backup solution done weekly. It creates a FULL backup the first week, then a smaller Incremental one the next (for five weeks). It then REPEATS and eventually deletes older ones.

If you have a Seagate or Western Digital hard drive (USB or internal) you can get a FREE, basic version of Acronis True Image that works quite well, though it's manual. In this case, I recommend a MONTHLY backup. Keep the first one you make FOREVER (in case of later corruption), then keep TWO backups (create a third then delete the oldest).

Windows 7/8 have "okay" backup solutions, and there are other methods I'm not familiar with.

*ASSUME YOUR SSD COULD DIE ANY SECOND AND HAVE A RECOVERY PLAN.


SUMMARY:
- a 120GB SSD should be ideal for most people
- a quality SSD is important (some have severe issues)
- SSD (Windows/apps) + Hard Drive (Games, Media, Backups) is an ideal setup for most
- cleanup space, especially the TEMPORARY folder (Disc Cleanup)
- delete the System Restore files every six months (and make a new one right away)
- *SSD's do not wear out that quickly for most people.
- Don't buy MORE than you need "just in case" since SSD prices are dropping very quickly (and becoming better too).
- BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP.

 

[eXistenZ]

I used a junction to put Installer and Software Distribution folders on D.

Space. Those can be up around 10GB on a 120 SSD (minus overprovisioning).