An SSD worth it?

[Waco]

*Sigh* You guys are the worst

 

I'm picking up an Agility 3 this weekend

Make sure it has the latest firmware on it before you install Windows (though the flash isn't destructive it's good practice to be safe).

[VaporX]

I like that onboard analogy

 

How do you all feel about the wear leveling on these drives? I know it could be years before the drive itself fails, but it sort of feels like I have a ticking time bomb (so to speak) in my PC, as I get the mentality that the SSD will be one of the first things to fail in there.

 

Well first think about what we are discussing, we are talking about the limit, which ic based on the number of writes an HD does. HD access much like the internet is 95% download and 5% upload, which means most of your usage will be reading files not writing them. I have an OCZ Solid 2 that we got in March 2010. Since that time this SSD has been reformatted at least 10 times been in solid use as the primary drive of a laptop for well over 18 months and since then has been servicing as a STEAM drive for one of my gaming systems. During this time I have never had an indication of a drive failure. However your post has made me curious so I have sent a request to my contact at OCZ to see if I can get a piece of software that can tell me the life expectancy that has been used to date.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Well, it is the writing to the SSD that causes wear, not reading. Pretty sure it works like this:

When trying to read a bit, a certain amount of voltage is needed to pass through it.. This voltage is pretty low and won't harm the bit, like the stock voltage of a CPU.

To write to a bit though requires more energy by the nature of physics, so a higher voltage is used. There is still some resistance though, so the bit gets heated by the increased voltage. Eventually this heat leads to the failure of the bit.

 

Just thought of a decent analogy for how reading is safer than writing! Imagine a piece of plastic that you can bend one way or another. One bend means it is a 0 and the other bend means it is a 1. To know what it is, you just need to look at it, which won't damage the plastic. To change it though, you have to bend it another way. Over time, the plastic will break under the stress of the bending.

[aaron6581230]

Well, it is the writing to the SSD that causes wear, not reading. Pretty sure it works like this:

When trying to read a bit, a certain amount of voltage is needed to pass through it.. This voltage is pretty low and won't harm the bit, like the stock voltage of a CPU.

To write to a bit though requires more energy by the nature of physics, so a higher voltage is used. There is still some resistance though, so the bit gets heated by the increased voltage. Eventually this heat leads to the failure of the bit.

 

Just thought of a decent analogy for how reading is safer than writing! Imagine a piece of plastic that you can bend one way or another. One bend means it is a 0 and the other bend means it is a 1. To know what it is, you just need to look at it, which won't damage the plastic. To change it though, you have to bend it another way. Over time, the plastic will break under the stress of the bending.

 

You all have such awesome analogies .

 

I guess that takes away my worries with getting an SSD.

[ir_cow]

it's read and writes that cause wear, just reads is a lot less wear

[El_Capitan]

I just updated my blog, finally, which is about a quick look at SSD's and how to pick one, in case anyone's interested.