topic Re: Limited write (erase) cycles in Archive

Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:43:01 GMT

Hi, I would like to know how many write cycles typical MLC flash memory can sustain. Is it around the endurance of 10,000 cycles?

Re: Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:24:12 GMT

When the intel ssd toolkit is available for release, one can see the S.M.A.R.T attribute "Media Wearout indicator". This count goes from 100 down to 1, where 1 is when it reached the max number of erase cycles. My officemate who is using his Gen1 SSD for 8 months now (heavy user), the wearout indicator is at 96. This means that only 4 wear-indicator units got used in 8 months. This translates to a useful life of 16 years. Intel did a good job on wear-levelling and write amplification algorithms.

Re: Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:11:37 GMT

A little bit more information... informal, not from Intel

Specific attributes possibly used by Intel

232 - Endurance Remaining aka "Media Wearout indicator".

233 - Unknown

and Reallocated Sector Count used as non-standart implementation (no RAW data, parameter grows up) to count used "spare flash"

More information is not avaible for public today

Re: Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:38:08 GMT

Intel product Manager quoted that the mlc cells used in the intel ssd can go up to 100,000 erase cycles. http://blog.laptopmag.com/intel-product-manager-talks-ssds

Re: Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:49:25 GMT

JFYI, an Intel representative said on September 12 in Akihabara that Intel would release "Intel SSD Toolbox" hopefully in Q4, until public release of Windows 7. He showed a screenshot of the "SSD Toolbox" and touched on three SMART attributes related to SSD end of life, namely E1: Host Writes ("LBA's written" in the screenshot), E9: Media Wearout Indicator and E8: Available Reserved Space. The screenshot can be seen in http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/hotline/20090912/image/ssd6.html a Japanese site.

So, I think information on Intel SSD's remaining life time can be checked in very near future.

Re: Limited write (erase) cycles

idata — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:09:05 GMT

So it's just HEX, we can convert it to decimal and use any S.M.A.R.T. tool to check it now

E1=225=Host Writes "LBA's written"

E8=232=Available Reserved Space

E9=233=Media Wearout Indicator

Message was edited by: w00thisButtonDo