[SOLVED] SSD Writes

[Nero1024]

Hi. I need help to understand how this works. For example, when I download 150 MB update on steam for a game. HWinfo says +5GB of writes. How the hell does this work? Why I am angry so much about that? Because my games are installed on SSD

 

[COLGeek]

That seems a bit excessive. What is the make/model of your SSD?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi. I need help to understand how this works. For example, when I download 150 MB update on steam for a game. HWinfo says +5GB of writes. How the hell does this work? Why I am angry so much about that? Because my games are installed on SSD

You checked that write value before and after?

A 150MB game update almost certainly is compressed. When the download is finished, it uncompresses, deletes old stuff, writes new.
There is a lot going on.

And "5GB" is trivial. Maybe 0.005% fo the drive warranty lifespan.

 

[Nero1024]

That seems a bit excessive. What is the make/model of your SSD?

It's basically written in my sign. Are you trolling me?

 

[COLGeek]

It's basically written in my sign. Are you trolling me?

Trolling? To ask is even rude. Many, like myself, don't display signature blocks because they are often distracting.

I was just wondering whether you have the SSD tools, like Samsung Magician, installed. I would use that tool to assess the health of the SSD.

In addition, as USAFRet points out, a game update can affect many files in a large game, resulting in a large number of "writes". Understanding when you measured the "before" and "after" of the writes would help to understand if this is a problem or not (likely not).

 

[Nero1024]

You checked that write value before and after?

A 150MB game update almost certainly is compressed. When the download is finished, it uncompresses, deletes old stuff, writes new.
There is a lot going on.

And "5GB" is trivial. Maybe 0.005% fo the drive warranty lifespan.

Yes. It was around 2.3 GB before and 7.5 GB after the 150 MB update. Well, how can 150 MB be decompressed into 5 GB? This is beyond me. I count every write, because my SSD is *** expensive and I can't easily afford a new one

 

[Nero1024]

Trolling? To ask is even rude. Many, like myself, don't display signature blocks because they are often distracting.

I was just wondering whether you have the SSD tools, like Samsung Magician, installed. I would use that tool to assess the health of the SSD.

In addition, as USAFRet points out, a game update can affect many files in a large game, resulting in a large number of "writes". Understanding when you measured the "before" and "after" of the writes would help to understand if this is a problem or not (likely not).

Nope. No such software is used, but I am prety sure AIDA64 is as accurate about my SSD being perfectly healthy

 

[USAFRet]

Yes. It was around 2.3 GB before and 7.5 GB after the 150 MB update. Well, how can 150 MB be decompressed into 5 GB? This is beyond me. I count every write, because my SSD is *** expensive and I can't easily afford a new one

1. 150MB does not uncompress out to 5GB. That 5GB number takes into account all the new files, temp files, deleted files, cleanup.
2. SSD's dying from too many writes is a long dead concept. It was only a thing for the first gen small consumer drives. Unless of course you bought a small 3rd rate device.
3. The 970 Pro has a warranty of 5 years or 1,200TBW, whichever comes first. You will run out of years long long before you get to even 1/2 of that 1,200TBW number.

5GB is 0.0004% of that 1,200.
You could write that amount every day, for 600 years to reach that 1,200TBW number.

 

[Nero1024]

1. 150MB does not uncompress out to 5GB. That 5GB number takes into account all the new files, temp files, deleted files, cleanup.
2. SSD's dying from too many writes is a long dead concept. It was only a thing for the first gen small consumer drives. Unless of course you bought a small 3rd rate device.
3. The 970 Pro has a warranty of 5 years or 1,200TBW, whichever comes first. You will run out of years long long before you get to even 1/2 of that 1,200TBW number.

5GB is 0.0004% of that 1,200.
You could write that amount every day, for 600 years to reach that 1,200TBW number.

This was just an example of today's update. Imagine If I download 10 GB Update? That's why I am worried about that kind of stuff

 

[USAFRet]

This was just an example of today's update. Imagine If I download 10 GB Update? That's why I am worried about that kind of stuff

OK, so then every day for 300 years.

Many systems are SSD only. Like mine.
Whatever happens, it happens on a solid state drive.

2 solutions:
1. Don't use your 970 PRO. Leave it in there as a showpiece.
or
2. Don't obsess over values that are actually trivial.


You have a warranty of 5 years or 1,200TBW. If it dies within that period, replace it.
But it WON'T be from too many writes.

 

[Nero1024]

OK, so then every day for 300 years.

Many systems are SSD only. Like mine.
Whatever happens, it happens on a solid state drive.

2 solutions:
1. Don't use your 970 PRO. Leave it in there as a showpiece.
or
2. Don't obsess over values that are actually trivial.


You have a warranty of 5 years or 1,200TBW. If it dies within that period, replace it.
But it WON'T be from too many writes.

No, you don't understand. 150MB unpacked to 5GB. That means 10GB will be unpacked to 330GB (taking in account everything)? If it doesn't die from writes then what from?

 

[USAFRet]

No, you don't understand. 150MB unpacked to 5GB. That means 10GB will be unpacked to 330GB (taking in account everything)? If it doesn't die from writes then what from?

Yes, I understood perfectly.
And how often would you be doing that?
Also, updates like that don't scale linearly. 150MB = 5GB does not mean 10GB = 330GB.

Electronics die from all sorts of reasons.
With a 970 Pro, too many write cycles is not one of them.

I do a lot of photography. 5-10GB per day is quite typical. And here I am, not obsessing over the write cycles on any of my drives.

 

[Nero1024]

Yes, I understood perfectly.
And how often would you be doing that?
Also, updates like that don't scale linearly. 150MB = 5GB does not mean 10GB = 330GB.

Electronics die from all sorts of reasons.
With a 970 Pro, too many write cycles is not one of them.

I do a lot of photography. 5-10GB per day is quite typical. And here I am, not obsessing over the write cycles on any of my drives.

At least I know all the mechanics behind this **** now))) Too bad I can't do anything to minimize it

 

[geofelt]

Endurance is no longer the issue it was when we had 40gb ssd devices.
Your samsung 1tb 970 PRO has a warranty of 1200 Terabytes update capability.
Your ssd will be long obsolete before you ever run out of updates.
And... if it ever reaches it's update limit, the device can still be read, allowing you to copy it to a replacement.

 

[Flayed]

Just to put in perspective, I have a 5-year-old 1TB Crucial BX100 SSD which is still working fine. It has an endurance rating of 72TB according to the specifications.

 

[USAFRet]

Just to put in perspective, I have a 5-year-old 1TB Crucial BX100 SSD which is still working fine. It has an endurance rating of 72TB according to the specifications.

Another perspective, all 7 of my SSDs combined total about 80TBW. Some of them almost 6 years old, basically running 24/7.
Approx 6.7% of that Samsung 1,200 TBW warranty number.

It is NOT a concern.

 

[Sarthak007]

Hi. I need help to understand how this works. For example, when I download 150 MB update on steam for a game. HWinfo says +5GB of writes. How the hell does this work? Why I am angry so much about that? Because my games are installed on SSD

I Have Understood Your Issue Very Well
So How This Happened I will Try to explain in a easy way

First You Had a game of around 2.5 - 3 GB \
An Update of 150MB occurs (assuming you were correct)

Steam then first of all copies that 2.5gb data as a backup if update fails or pc turns off .
So You Have got 2.5gb data written
Now Steam Installs The 150MB Update to almost all game files so full 2.5GB needs to be rewritten

Finally Steam Deletes the backup as update was successful

Overall A Total of 5 GB Gets Written and that is what is shown in software

Also Dont Worry About Writing to your ssd they are very much made for it and you can also replace the drive if it fails in years to come

 

[ragnarok0274]

I boot off of a 128GB Crucial M4.
Got it in 2010.
I have lost 8GB of space after 10 years of use (many things happened, e.g. power supply deficiency (twice), lack of power for two months, 3 OS installs (Win 7, update to Win 10, Win 10 reinstall), plus lots and lots of program installs and uninstalls, copying to and from, etc.
For 10 years.
And only 6.25% of its capacity gone.
That's 0.00171232877% gone per day with an average of about 1-2 GB written and read per day.
I think your Samsung 970 EVO 1TB will be fine.

 

[USAFRet]

I boot off of a 128GB Crucial M4.
Got it in 2010.
I have lost 8GB of space after 10 years of use (many things happened, e.g. power supply deficiency (twice), lack of power for two months, 3 OS installs (Win 7, update to Win 10, Win 10 reinstall), plus lots and lots of program installs and uninstalls, copying to and from, etc.
For 10 years.
And only 6.25% of its capacity gone.
That's 0.00171232877% gone per day with an average of about 1-2 GB written and read per day.
I think your Samsung 970 EVO 1TB will be fine.

This isn't drive capacity, but rather the TBW (TeraBytesWritten) value.

 

[ragnarok0274]

Don't consider me an expert

 

[mdd1963]

I've used/written 30TB in 3.5 years on a 960 EVO...(as a point of typical 6 days per week/5 hours per day usage)