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    Long term SSD usage and life.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Xion350, Feb 1, 2012.

  1. Xion350

    Xion350 Notebook Enthusiast

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    How exactly does the life expectancy of a SSD compare over a traditional HD? I've read of SSDs becoming bad over time due to rewriting over cells.

    I'm on the fence of buying an SSD over a HD and this could be the deal breaker for me as I quite honestly don't need 500 GBs of space and could be just fine with 120-300 GBs.
     
    Xion350, Feb 1, 2012
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  2. Syberia

    Syberia Notebook Deity

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    Longer than you care about.

    To put things in perspective, I have been using the 128gb SSD in my desktop since last July. I just recently moved the user folder off the drive to free up some space, but other than that, I haven't done any "tweaks" besides disabling defrag. Using the computer as a normal computer, I just hit 99% remaining life, and this includes re-imaging the entire drive at least 3-4 times.

    Based on the program SSDLife, this drive is expected to last 20 years. Given that the drives in the test listed above have lasted well beyond their estimated lifetime, I don't think I or you or any non-enterprise SSD user has to worry.
     
    Syberia, Feb 1, 2012
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  3. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    You will almost certainly replace your laptop before the SSD dies. So no worries...


    --
     
    ramgen, Feb 2, 2012
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  4. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    compared to hdds? longer. on average. chance for a death soon is much lower, though, due to much less randomness.

    hdds can die tomorrow or last centuries (well, not yet), an ssd typically has a very consistent lifetime.

    in laptops, tablets, phones, etc, hdds are a no-go due to too much mechanical possibilities of failure (dropping, vibration, etc.. try to use a laptop in a car.. that's terror for the hdd). ssds fix all those possibilities. which is the reason phones and tablets only have ssds, and always did. and so will laptops in the future.

    so far my longest use of an ssd is a first gen intel and an mtron, both still going strong after 2? 3? years?? and i don't care about them at all (nor about the laptops.. i just use them everywhere on the go, drop them accidentally from time to time, etc)
     
    davepermen, Feb 2, 2012
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