Question SSD Health percentage — can it return to 100%

[Newb888]

I'm wondering if the S.M.A.R.T values in NVMe drives are similar to traditional HDDs where once a value within the S.M.A.R.T reaches, say 99 or 98% if it can every return to 100%?

The reason i ask this is because my current NVMe drive the wear/writes are very few: 2.6 TB and just over 6 months old.

Diagnostic scans including CrystalDisk shows the value dropped from 100% after a reboot to 99%. There were no other anomalies and all tests including Mobo testing of sectors all show the drive is mechanically fine.

Someone suggested to do a complete Windows/drive format and reinstall Windows to see if that value will change. However, I don't want to go through that.

 

[Lutfij]

I found that a firmware update on some SSD's caused the health rating to go to 100% in spite of the health showing 98% prior the update. What is the make and model of your SSD in question? Might want to also make sure you're on the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. If you're working with WD, Samsung or Transcend(to name a few) they have their own utility to show you the health of the drive, you could use that to corroborate the findings on CrystalDisk.

Defragmentation option in OS disabled?

 

[USAFRet]

No, it will not go back to 100%.

Formatting/reinstall does not return it to 100%.

 

[USAFRet]

Further, this is NOTHING to worry about.

Maintain good backups.
Use it until it dies.

 

[Newb888]

I found that a firmware update on some SSD's caused the health rating to go to 100% in spite of the health showing 98% prior the update. What is the make and model of your SSD in question? Might want to also make sure you're on the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. If you're working with WD, Samsung or Transcend(to name a few) they have their own utility to show you the health of the drive, you could use that to corroborate the findings on CrystalDisk.

Defragmentation option in OS disabled?

Thanks for replying.
It's a Samsung NVMe, OEM product. Samsung's Magician doesn't reveal much—pass or fail. This drive is in a newer Lenovo laptop/ Hard Drive Sentinel corroborates CrystalDisk too. Lenovo's diagnostic didn't show any issue and also won't display NVMe percentage health. There is no option within Windows 10 to defrag the drive, only Optimize but I can defrag using Ccleaner's Defragger.

No, it will not go back to 100%.

Formatting/reinstall does not return it to 100%.

Thanks, I didn't think so.

Further, this is NOTHING to worry about.
Maintain good backups.
Use it until it dies.

Thank you for the reassurance. I wish these third-party utilities would add some detailed explanations instead of causing people like me to freak-out, lol

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Reinstalling Windows will not improve this value. In fact, it would contribute to the value dropping as there would be more written to the disk.

This is not an issue.

 

[Newb888]

Reinstalling Windows will not improve this value. In fact, it would contribute to the value dropping as there would be more written to the disk.

This is not an issue.

Thanks for that. I think the suggestion was based upon the belief that there may be some residual junk on the drive including the Windows restore image. However, I might do a full reinstall from scratch one day should I install Windows 11.

 

[USAFRet]

However, I might do a full reinstall from scratch one day should I install Windows 11.

Which will not materially impact the overall lifespan of this drive.

 

[Newb888]

How much though? I mean, should be we be paranoid and not delete files on our SSD drives or clear our tracking cookies, cache etc.? If these solid state drives are so "fragile" why is everyone still using them especially media creators such as graphic artists and more who write and erase a lot of data on their drives? And what about the environmental impact of SSD drives?

 

[USAFRet]

How much though? I mean, should be we be paranoid and not delete files on our SSD drives or clear our tracking cookies, cache etc.? If these solid state drives are so "fragile" why is everyone still using them especially media creators such as graphic artists and more who write and erase a lot of data on their drives? And what about the environmental impact of SSD drives?

They are NOT 'fragile'. At all.

 

[Newb888]

They are NOT 'fragile'. At all.

The way I'm inferring is they appear to be quite "fragile". Obviously, they're not fragile like a thin glass, but delicate or not durable because you mentioned reinstalling Windows degrades the life of the SSD. Someone might infer they shouldn't do that or delete items from their SSD because it wears out their drive. Anyway, I suppose it's a matter of semantics.

 

[USAFRet]

The way I'm inferring is they appear to be quite "fragile". Obviously, they're not fragile like a thin glass, but delicate or not durable because you mentioned reinstalling Windows degrades the life of the SSD. Someone might infer they shouldn't do that or delete items from their SSD because it wears out their drive. Anyway, I suppose it's a matter of semantics.

An OS reinstall on any SSD sold in the last decade might reduce its applicable life span from 10 years to 9 years, 51 weeks, 6 days.

I specifically said:
"Which will not materially impact the overall lifespan of this drive. "