How long do (small capacity) SSDs last?

[saradomin]

I plan on getting a WD Green 120 GB SSD to just put Windows and a few programs (like Chrome) on. I just want to know how long an SSD will last if I only put OS and a few programs on it (I'll keep all my games on my HDD). Thanks!

[79wjd]

It will still be working when you throw it out (its official write endurance is 40TB -- meaning that you can completely erase and fill the drive up completely 333 times, and those metrics should be very conservative).

[dizmo]

Don't worry about it, it'll last easily until you upgrade. I've had the one in my laptop for 7 years, and it's still perfectly fine.

As long as it doesn't die prematurely, reads/writes for daily use isn't an issue.

[COUPER MILLAR]

I have two Mushkin 128 gb ssd's running in raid 0 with about 6 tb of write data each and have not had any issue to this point. This should give you some idea of the life span of your drives https://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead

[tJuggernaut29]

if you are really worried about SSD life, which you shouldn't really, look into 3D SSD technology. they are better suited for endurance, and LTT did a vid about them.

also keeping less than 80% capacity of an SSD used gives a much longer life than keeping it over 80% capacity. 

 

in terms of SSD life, the absolute largest factor is just to buy from a reputable brand, not some company you have never heard of, or is not known for making storage. 

your choice of WD (and their child company SanDisk) are very reputable

 

also just an opinion, go with a 256GB drive as a minimum, in my opinion 256GB should be the smallest size drive to buy. you can get flashdrives in 128GB USB 3 for 25$ USD.

[79wjd]

26 minutes ago, tJuggernaut29 said:

also just an opinion, go with a 256GB drive as a minimum, in my opinion 256GB should be the smallest size drive to buy. you can get flashdrives in 128GB USB 3 for 25$ USD.

Flash drives use cheap garbage NAND. 256gb+ is no question better in terms of $/gb, endurance, and performance, but 120gb is still perfectly good option for someone who'd rather save the money.

[saradomin]

13 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

256gb+ is no question better in terms of $/gb, endurance, and performance

May you enlighten me on this, are higher capacity solid state drives generally faster/last longer than smaller capacity ones? thank you

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, saradomin said:

May you enlighten me on this, are higher capacity solid state drives generally faster/last longer than smaller capacity ones? thank you

The 120gb variants tend to be slower than the rest of the lineup, but the 250gb and up are generally fairly similar. Note this is a generalization, so it's not always true. 

 

Endurance also increases since endurance is limited by the number of cells. So a 120gb SSD as 120gb worth of cells while a 250gb ssd has 250gb worth of cells -- and each of the cells has the same number of finite writes. So a 250gb SSD will have double the endurance of a 120gb SSD (all other factors being equal). (and the 240gb WD Green is rated for 80tb of writes, which again, should be conservative)

[tJuggernaut29]

34 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Flash drives use cheap garbage NAND. 256gb+ is no question better in terms of $/gb, endurance, and performance, but 120gb is still perfectly good option for someone who'd rather save the money.

what i meant by the flashdrive comparison is that no one should go with only 120GB. like using floppydrives, too small for the near future

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, tJuggernaut29 said:

what i meant by the flashdrive comparison is that no one should go with only 120GB. like using floppydrives, too small for the near future

120gb won't be too small for a large portion of the population in the working span of the drive/computer. You can fit Windows 4-6 times on a 120gb SSD and most people have the OS, word, chrome, and not much else.