Intel SSD Media Wearout

[idata]

Dear users,

I would like to know what the lowest media wear out level anyone has experienced using his / her Intel SSD (please also state the lifetime of your drive; this will give me a good indication). Furthermore I would like to use the drive for some research which involves large data sets (usage of max. 10TB a day). Would it be advisable to buy a SSD?

In this video (/community/tech/solidstate http://communities.intel.com/community/tech/solidstate), someone from Intel stated: "That if the number is approaching zero, you should be really careful". What does approaching zero means in this context? Should like 20 be stated as approaching zero or should it really be like <10?

Thank you for your answers.

[ZStan]

here you go..

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?271063-SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?271063-SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hello Blanket,

There are leaked Intel SSD roadmaps on the web that talk about "Lyndonville". According to this website, this may use enterprise-MLC Nand to dramatically increase the Nand flash lifetime. This may be ideal for your usage model:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/20100615213913_Intel_to_Use_Enterprise_MLC_in_Next_Gen_... http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/20100615213913_Intel_to_Use_Enterprise_MLC_in_Next_Gen_...

[idata]

Does TRIM work correctly on an OS software raid

whose members are set to AHCI mode e.g. for dedicated data partition(s)?

As a general rule, should MLC SSDs be assembled in RAID 0 arrays,

in order to spread the wear?

In other words, is this theoretically correct and can this be confirmed experimentally ...

50% reduction per drive w/ 2 x SSDs in RAID 0? (half as much per drive) 67% reduction per drive w/ 3 x SSDs in RAID 0? (one-third as much per drive) 75% reduction per drive w/ 4 x SSDs in RAID 0? (one-fourth as much per drive)

Lastly, has Intel done any research using SSDs with Windows NTFS compression enabled?

(in drive letter Properties, see: "Compress drive to save disk space" and a check box)

Thanks!

MRFS

[idata]

The more data written to a SSD, the more wear occurs regardless of RAID or not. So yes, there is an about 50% reduction in writes on a single member of a 2xRAID0.

As for NTFS Compression: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx

Is NTFS Compression of Files and Directories recommended on SSDs?

Compressing files help save space, but the effort of compressing and decompressing requires extra CPU cycles and therefore power on mobile systems. That said, for infrequently modified directories and files, compression is a fine way to conserve valuable SSD space and can be a good tradeoff if space is truly a premium.

We do not, however, recommend compressing files or directories that will be written to with great frequency. Your Documents directory and files are likely to be fine, but temporary internet directories or mail folder directories aren't such a good idea because they get large number of file writes in bursts.