Question Optiplex 9020 excessive writing to brand new ssd....

[Jake Maverick]

So, been having nightmare IT issues lately...but long and short of it I just had to replace EVERYTHING.

Got 2 second hand Optiplex 9020s. SSDs were starting to fail, so i got two brand new Kingston 500gb ssds for them. Only been in for a few days and both are starting to fail...already down to 99% health in HD Sentinel already.

Both optiplex's are dual booted with linux, one has windows 7 and the other windows 10....this machine is windows 10 and over 4 days 18 hours usage it's saying 651gb data written! It's basic internet machine...apart from the install it really shouldn't have written very much. It's written over 20gb in last 3 1/2 hours with the system mostly at idle....I think it's the excessive writing to ssd that is causing the damage. So I'm asking.....anybody understand what is going on here and whether it can be fixed or not?

Thanks!

 

[rgd1101]

it is connected to anything? internet?

with all the security update?
malware scan?

 

[Lutfij]

Kingston make a number of SSD's, which one are you working with? Also, Kingston have been known to cherry pick units for reviews so said reviewers can provide favorable reviews to generate sales of the SSD in question. Where did you source the installers for the OSes from?

 

[Jake Maverick]

I always thought Kingston was a safe brand, their flash drives seem very reliable.

Kingston A400 480GB SSD Bought from ebuyer via ebay.

Yep connected to internet, all updates done (have suspended them now in case it was that that was doing it) I have Avast installed, no firewall as of yet.....looks like HD light is constantly flashing...written about 54gb in last 8 hours....I don't see how the drive itself would be an issue? Mostly been sitting idle all day accept for the odd email and general browsing.

 

[USAFRet]

The first few days of a new SSD incur a lot more write cycles than later.

Monitoring daily or hourly is of no relevance.
Weekly, and keep a graph.

And don't turn off updates, just to prevent write cycles.
You need those updates anyway.

 

[Jake Maverick]

i feel it has to be the ssd that is faulty some how....especially with both of them doing it! i just can't see how that is possible--- it's hardware, unless it's something wrong with the s/w driver for it? 5 days 9 hours on this = 742 gb and the hd light not stopped flashing all day, doing my nut now tbh :-(

 

[Jake Maverick]

i literally just blinked and it wrote another 2gb, up to 815gb from 813gb in a couple of seconds, 6 days 1 hour on the clock...I just can't get my head around what is going on :-(

 

[USAFRet]

i literally just blinked and it wrote another 2gb, up to 815gb from 813gb in a couple of seconds, 6 days 1 hour on the clock...I just can't get my head around what is going on :-(

"2GB" is easily temp files.


Again, track this use once a week at most.
Keep a log
See what happens

 

[Jake Maverick]

818gb now

does windows 10 have a swap file of any kind? i can't seem to find it, only just gone over...i'm wondering if that could be the problem....

 

[Jake Maverick]

"2GB" is easily temp files.


Again, track this use once a week at most.
Keep a log
See what happens

in that space of time? seems ridicously excessive to me...on my other machine, windows 10 20 odd days use, but like less than 40gb written.....?

 

[USAFRet]

818gb now

does windows 10 have a swap file of any kind? i can't seem to find it, only just gone over...i'm wondering if that could be the problem....

Pagefile
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-manage-virtual-memory-pagefile-windows-10,36929.html

If let at "System Managed", it is very common for the pagefile size to go up and down.
2GB is trivial.

 

[Jake Maverick]

thanks, seems i have windows 10 pro and the instructions differ somehwat, figured it out but i really don't think it's that that is making the difference...especially with it doing the same on windows 7 on the other system, all i can think is faulty ssd's :-( but i just don't understand how how hardware could be causing this problem....trying to sort a return but low cash, dnt want to be without a system over xmas and the seller is insisting i using a courier that i can't use :-( right pita i cd do without right now....

 

[USAFRet]

thanks, seems i have windows 10 pro and the instructions differ somehwat, figured it out but i really don't think it's that that is making the difference...especially with it doing the same on windows 7 on the other system, all i can think is faulty ssd's :-( but i just don't understand how how hardware could be causing this problem....trying to sort a return but low cash, dnt want to be without a system over xmas and the seller is insisting i using a courier that i can't use :-( right pita i cd do without right now....

I strongly doubt the SSD is at fault.
There is no fault.

As said, it could be a number of things.
Pagefile, temp files, etc, etc.

You are looking at this far too frequently, and at far too fine a distinction.
Going up or down by 2GB an hour can be absolutely normal.

Monitor it weekly, at most.
Keep a log, make a graph.
See if a trend emerges.

 

[Jake Maverick]

i've never had this much wear and tear on an ssd though, it's down to 99% already and it practically brand new....something can't be right...forget abt what i said above on the other machine, i just checked and it does say 1.22TB on 26 days and 17 hours......but it still seems like excessive writing to me. I can't see anything that would knock the health down to 99% so quickly, on both machines.

TBH I am in the habit of scrapping the drive as soon as it falls past 100% health. Had ssd go completely dead on me before, no warning (unbranded drive) and it caused so much grief with loss of data so don't take any risks that way now. Just to skint to replace :-( A pair 0f these drives cleaned me out with chrimbo coming up quick.

 

[USAFRet]

TBH I am in the habit of scrapping the drive as soon as it falls past 100% health. Had ssd go completely dead on me before, no warning (unbranded drive) and it caused so much grief with loss of data so don't take any risks that way now. Just to skint to replace :-( A pair 0f these drives cleaned me out with chrimbo coming up quick.

One of my 860 EVOs is at 99%.
This, after 32943 running hours.
3.7 years of 24/7 operation.

Others of mine are at 98, 99, 100%.

Drives can die at ANY time. Even one that is reporting 100%, and only a few weeks old.
If a dead drive causes you loss of data, that is YOUR fault.
Backups are your friend.

 

[Jake Maverick]

well, that's what i'm saying....after 3.7 years one would expect the health to start dropping, but this is brand new and on both machines now, which is what is worrying me. And break in couple of months back, stole everything, several grands worth of equipment including all my backup drives.....business is dead atm so real struggle to replace things :-(

 

[USAFRet]

well, that's what i'm saying....after 3.7 years one would expect the health to start dropping, but this is brand new and on both machines now, which is what is worrying me. And break in couple of months back, stole everything, several grands worth of equipment including all my backup drives.....business is dead atm so real struggle to replace things :-(

As said....monitor that use once a week, at most.
It may stay at "99%" for the next several years.

 

[Jake Maverick]

ha! just come across this...and i have been getting really really slow data transfers from it on the other machine as well :-(

PSA: Don't buy SSDs from the Kingston A400 line. : linux_gaming (reddit.com)

 

[USAFRet]

ha! just come across this...and i have been getting really really slow data transfers from it on the other machine as well :-(

PSA: Don't buy SSDs from the Kingston A400 line. : linux_gaming (reddit.com)

And that may be the issue.

Kingston drives have been on my DoNotBuy list for years.

 

[USAFRet]

But going from 100% to 99% in the first few days is not necessarily an indication of "fail".

 

[USAFRet]

Clearly you're not happy with this drive.
Since it is only a few days old....send it back for a refund, and buy something else, not Kingston.

 

[Jake Maverick]

Clearly you're not happy with this drive.
Since it is only a few days old....send it back for a refund, and buy something else, not Kingston.

that's the plan, but they both have all my secret files on it...wish i had the cash to buy replacements, transfer over factory format them at least...and running out of time on the return window, so i'm probably going to be stuck with them :-(

 

[USAFRet]

that's the plan, but they both have all my secret files on it

Hopefully that is not the only copy of these "secret files"?

If so, why is that?

 

[Jake Maverick]

as i said further up, everything nicked couple of months back so not much storage to be backing things up to.........i need money to solve the problems and my business is luxury art type items, so not selling anything in current climate :-(

 

[Jake Maverick]

ok on new crucial drives now....health wise everything looking good, but is it normal for windows to be writing about 50gb of what i presume are temp files a day? looks like a lot of unneccesary wear and tear to me :-(