SSD as storage HD?

I have been planning on picking up a Lenovo T420 and throwing in an Intel 320 160GB SSD to replace the HDD. However, I recently came across some discussions about the lifespan of SSD. Between the limited write cycles and the supposed fact that NAND flash cells will die out after 10 years, I'm having second thoughts about this "upgrade."

The latter issue is not that bad since I will probably upgrade to a new computer within 3-4 years, but the limited write cycles have me worried. This thread suggests that various steps need to be taken to prolong an SSD's life, and that's with the SSD only handling the OS and some applications. Now, if I'm using my SSD as my only drive (i.e. also for personal data storage), I imagine that I will use up those write cycles very quickly. Am I freaking out over nothing? Or is using an SSD for storage a bad idea?

I don't know if this is relevant, but I am the type of person that only fully shuts down his laptop when it's absolutely necessary (i.e. crashes). Otherwise, it's either on or in sleep mode.

 

Intel says that if you do 20GB of writes every single day of the SSD's life, it will last for 5 years, so basically you shouldn't have to worry about write cycles. You should use the SSD as a boot drive and put your OS/applications on it (which will have less writes than a "storage SSD" anyway).

 

intel ssds are internally rated for living for 80 years. it's just for their lawyers, they lowered the numbers drastically to "just be sure".

and seriously, do you care about anything of your laptop in 10 years? can't you, in 10 years, maybe buy another, better one (or at least another, better ssd) for much less money?

don't care about it, really don't. because it won't ever matter AT ALL. it's just an internet drama pushed up by all those who try to rectify that they still didn't buy one.

 

That's just it, though. I was planning on having that SSD as the only drive on my laptop. And at only 160GB, I would probably end up using up most of the blocks. It doesn't help that some applications apparently like to perform a ridiculous number of writes.

 

you're way off with your guessings on the number of writes you have. way off. as said, it's no problem. never.

i use ssds as my only drives in all of my systems btw. 40gb ones, 80gb ones, 160gb ones, 120gb ones. some nearly full. some since years by now.

it simply does not matter at all.


nothing lasts for ever. not even me, or you. we all die one day. so does the ssd. so does the rest of your laptop. so does your hdd. it's normal.

 

I understand that it won't last forever. However, the thread I posted earlier suggested pretty extreme measures to baby an SSD that was only being used for the OS and some applications. It also appears that a significant number (majority?) of SSD users also have a HDD for storage duties. Heck, most articles about SSD I come across only really talk about using the SSD for the OS and applications. I want to use an SSD for the everything, including storage. Accordingly, I want to know if I'm playing a dangerous game.

If you don't mind me asking, what SSDs are you using? I heard that the newer SSDs actually have fewer write cycles.

 

i have NO hdd for storage duties. and storage = one time write. using it means more writes => storage duties really don't harm.

intel ssds. all sorts of generations. some samsung ssds. some mtrons. and one.. well the one before the m4.. no clue from who right now (my brain loses more data than my ssds lose writes).

you don't play a dangerous game. or, say it differently: if you don't have backup, you ALWAYS play a dangerous game. a hdd can die you any second from any kind of vibration it can't react on (and they did, rather often in my case). anything that is not stored at two different places is not save for ever.

so get a backup plan up and running, and enjoy your ssd. it will last for years, and will bring you tons of joy.

about stuff i store on my laptop ssd: the private one is full with projects i work on, and lots of music (much of it in wav form) for djing. used for programming, producing music, djing, entertainment stuff, browsing the web. work laptop is filled with work data, work apps, and used with 10-30 apps in parallel about all day. nearly full with data. doesn't matter at all.

etc..

just enjoy it. there is no risk in having a device you know it will die one day. anything does. this one has a low chance of randomly die, unlike a hdd => it's actually better.

 

I have the Intel 160 GB G2 drive - been using it for about 18 months now - is my OS and storage drive. has on average about 50 GB of data on it - of that 50 GB 10-12 GB get updates/synch about every two weeks. Just like daveperman suggests - buy it, use it and enjoy it. Best upgrade for your system bar none.
BTW - do the same process on my netbook with a Kingston SSD (120GB) both still working great.

 

Life expectancy is a non existence issue for SSDs. No matter what you use it for it will be there to serve you through the lifetime of the other hardware.
Only people who would have to worry about it is people who are using it for server and such.

 

This. Unless you are doing insanely large quantities or read/write cycles (like a database server), it is a non-issue for a 5-10 year life cycle of most computers.

 

if you're using a ssd for server then you're looking at an enterprise ssd. then we're talking about ssd's that cost more than laptops.

 

Thanks guys! I ended up ordering my T420 with the 160GB SSD.