Intel SSD 530 NAND Write Problem

[fZhan14]

Hello, everyone:

I bought an Intel SSD 530 120G for my laptop several days ago. It worked well with the OS Win8.1 Pro x64.

When I paid attention to the NAND writes, something make me confused.

The situation is as follow:

The SSD with the OS is the first(primary) Disk, and the HDD is the second one. I have moved the cache of IE, chrome and Firefox to the Hard Drive using IE setting or mklink command, and verified it correctly. With the explorer working, the written data stream from cache is produced in the HDD partition theoretically, also I have got this conclusion through the System's Resource Monitor and the Diskmon from Microsoft website. When I cached several Movies embedded in any explorer without other operation separately, there are lots of written data traffic produced in the HDD partition, and just little data wrote in system disk(SSD), it's no doubt. Finally, each test(using one kind of explorer) improved less than 200Mb in Total Host Writes which is normal for system operating, but this process also consumed about 3Gb SSD's Total NAND writes in total in the CrystalDiskInfo 6.0.1. Also I have got the same result with the newly Intel SSD Toolbox, AIDA64 3.20 and CrystalDiskInfo 6.0.1. In fact, this written data traffic produced by explorer's cache in HDD is calculated into the SSD's total NAND writes.

Actually I'm not care of the SSD's wear, and I'm sure it couldn't reach the limited lifespan with normal usage until next generation product arrives. This accidental discovery confused me now, and the result above make me suspect the theory, Putting IE/Chrome or System cache into other medium/drive saving your SSD's wear.

Q:Here, I want to know what makes this strange condition happen, the drivers, system's bug, bad support for old mainboard, the system's setting&config or the special system log?

Testing condition:

Thinkpad R400(GM45 motherboard)/P8700/8Gb RAM/Intel 530 SSD+Hitachi 7k500/Intel 5300 AGN/Win 8.1 Pro X64 with the Win 8.1's Default config and drivers, except trunning the service Superfetch off mannually.

I could make sure the location of explorer cache(IE, Chrome, Firefox) in HDD, also the written data traffic in HDD, and the vast imprived NAND writes in SSD simultaneously.

Thanks for your help.

[佳佳_郭]

已经更新固件DCV2，看接下来是否解决写入放大问题，非常非常希望intel530 480G能够与自己的intel520 120G一样耐用。

[MBrod]

Thanks for the firmware update, but my 6 month old SSD (535 480GB) already lost around 10% of its life because of this problem.

Host writes is around 2TB, while NAND writes is a crazy 84TB. It has lost more of its "Estimated Life" in 6 months then SSDs I've had for 5 years!

[idata]

Hello all,

Thanks for your inputs, the FW fix we've provided will help you address your concerns. Please bear in mind that our drives are covered by a 5-year warranty period. You can always contact Intel Customer Support at any time for further questions or concerns at https://customercare.intel.com/?lang=en-US https://customercare.intel.com/?lang=en-US

Regards.

[DVaro]

I'm having the same problem

[AlexisSalt]

Looks like they finally dealt with it

The post

My Intel SSD have high NAND writes

Weird non searchable firmware

Download SSD Non-Searchable Fixes and Misc Tools (intel.com)

Dug out my old 530 to scrap together a system for a friend, was shocked to see the write amplification in crystaldiskmark, led to me finding this.  Neither the old Intel Toolbox or the new Memory and Storage manager tool automatically download the real fixed firmware, instead claiming DC32 was up to date, it should be DCV2.

This should be fixed.   

It wasn't minor write amplification, but 30 times on a drive that was only lightly used!