SSD Longevity

[hargil]

SSD Longevity

What is the best way to improve the life of an SSD?

It seems common sense to reduce the read/write cycles to what is necessary.

But how do you do this?

Firefox will write lots of stuff to a temporary cache, as will any browser.
And Firefox empty the cache after when it exits, via an add-on utility.
You don’t want to leave on-line banking data hanging around.

Windows will use a temporary cache, page files etc.

Can/should these be moved to the second HDD or left alone?

Is there any other ‘precautions’ that should be taken?

OR, is this already done, automagically by the OS?

Will win 7 know it’s on a SSD so take precautions automatically?

Or is it best to just leave things be?

 

[vanthus]

Even though SSD's have a limited read write capabilty It would take a phenomenal amount to reach that,some sources reckon if you write 20GByte per day to them they could last five years,so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Buzz]

could have a look here, I posted some tips while back.

SSD-Management

 

[hargil]

thanks for the link, that is very useful.

I have been looking at the Spec sheet for the Intel 520 series of SSD at

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/ssd-520-specification.html


does anyone understand the difference in the numbers between the 120 GB and the 180 GB?

Are they significant in terms of noticeable speed or reliability/longevity?

2.2 Performance
The data compression engine in the Intel SSD 520 Series controller optimizes
performance based on the data pattern of the workload.
This section provides both compressible and incompressible Input/Output Operations
Per Second (IOPS) and sustained

Table 2
Random 4 KB Read (up to) IOPS 120 GB = 25,000 180 GB = 50,000

Random 4 KB Write (TYP)2 IOPS 120 GB = 40,000 180 GB = 60,000

Notes:
1. Random 4 KB write performance measured using out-of-box SSD.

2. Performance measured using Iometer* with Queue Depth 32. Measurements are performed on
8 GB of Logical Block Address (LBA) range on a full SSD.

3. Performance measured using Iometer with Queue Depth 32.






Table 3. Incompressible Performance


Random 4 KB Read (up to) IOPS 120 GB = 24,000 (1) 35,000 (2) 180 GB = 46,000 (1) 56,000 (2)

Random 4 KB Write (up to) IOPS 120 GB = 13,000 (1) 42,000 (2) 180 GB = 13,000 (1) 54,000 (2)

Sequential Read (up to) MB/s 120 GB = 550 (1) 515 (2) 180 GB = 550 (1) 485 (2)

Sequential Write (up to) MB/s 120 GB = 150 (1) 170 (2) 180 GB = 170 (1) 240 (2)

Notes:
1. Performance measured using Iometer with Queue Depth 32. Measurements are performed on
8 GB of Logical Block Address (LBA) range.

2. Performance measured with incompressible data using AS-SSD* benchmark,
where MB/s = 1,048,576 bytes/second.

 

[Buzz]

difference in the numbers in the red boxes

Red boxes??

The higher the IOPS the better (IOPS = Input/Output operations per second)
IOPS numbers are primarily dependent upon the storage device's internal controller and memory interface speeds on an SSD and from what I believe the sandforce controller for SSDs have a higher sustained write performance that matches the read speed

 

[hargil]

Red boxes??

I have removed that comment now, i thought i had removed it in the first place.

I tried to put screen shots (jpg) of the two tables in the post bit it didn't work for some reason so i typed the data into the post instead.


so the 180 GB is the better buy then?

 

[Noble]

Honestly, they are both good SSDs to get, they probably have minor differences between them but they both perform great. The differences are most likely due to the fact that the 180GB is larger then the 120GB, don't take my word for it though because I don't truly know the reasons for the differences between them.