Check the service life of the ssd. How long will your SSD last?

Hi all!

Solid state drives (SSD - Solid State Drive) are becoming more and more popular, but many still have some myths and prejudices associated with them. The fact is that at the dawn of their entry into the computer components market, SSDs proved to be expensive, but very short-lived devices. The first models of disks, with average statistical use, died after only 1-2 years of use, which, taking into account their cost, was a clear waste. Much time has passed since those times and technology has developed significantly; SSD drives have become more reliable, more durable and even faster. The cost of a gigabyte of device is becoming more attractive every day.

Briefly about the advantages of SSDs over traditional HDDs:

absence of mechanical parts and noise from them;
for the same reason - high resistance to mechanical stress and overloads, which cannot be said about HDDs, which often fail even with minor impacts or falls;
high speed of reading data and stability of speed characteristics regardless of the location of files and their fragmentation;
orders of magnitude higher values of random I/O operations IOPS, which is most critical for the operation of the operating system and applications;
lower average power consumption, because during downtime, energy is not wasted on spindle rotation or moving heads, as happens in HDDs;
light weight and dimensions.

The biggest drawback with regards to SSDs is its limited resource. This limitation is due to the limited number of cell rewrite cycles used in SSD flash memory. In modern media, this indicator depends on the type of memory used and averages 3000 cycles for MLC and 1000 cycles for TLC cells. We’ll figure it out a little or a lot later, but for now a few words about the types of cells and which ones are better to choose when purchasing.

The most widespread today are the 2 types of cells that I just mentioned - MLC (Multi-level cell, multi-level memory cells) and TLC (Triple-level cell, three-level memory cells). TLC is a newer type of memory and in fact they can also be called multi-level, i.e. MLC, but due to significant differences in characteristics, the name TLC is used, because MLC began to be used earlier for two-level cells. There is also SLC ( Single-level cell, single-level memory cells) with a resource of 100 thousand cycles or more, but due to the complexity of production and, therefore, high cost, they are rarely used in their pure form, mainly for industrial applications. Some manufacturers use a small amount of SLC as a cache in conjunction with the main TLC memory to extend the latter's lifespan.

Why does the newer type of TLC memory have a shorter lifespan and how does this correlate with the “longevity myth”?

There are two main components to the answer to this question: economic and technological. Both of these components are interconnected. The desire of manufacturers to make more capacious devices at more affordable prices leads to a decrease in the resource of flash memory cells. Having opened any site with offers for SSDs, it is not difficult to notice that the cheapest devices are equipped with this particular type of memory.

It turns out that earlier SSDs were equipped with more expensive and durable memory modules, but why then did they serve so little? But it's not just about the type of memory used. An important role is played by the controller used and the firmware embedded into it. The fact is that writing data to flash memory has its own characteristics and nuances. The mere number of cell rewrite cycles does not indicate the reliability and durability of the SSD. There is a concept of a recording multiplier, which on average can be 2-3, although this value is not constant and is little predictable, because depends on the type of data, its size and how often it is written. The presence of a multiplier is caused by the presence of service functions of the disk controller, designed to ensure stable performance characteristics and uniform wear of disk cells.

What is SSD Endurance (TBW)?

In the technical descriptions of modern SSDs you can find information about the amount of information that can physically be written to the disk. Such information is often represented by the number of total information recorded in TB (terabytes) or in the volume of daily recording on a disk during a certain period, usually the warranty period provided by the manufacturer for this disk. For example, for my current Transcend 256GMTS800 drive, the manufacturer claims 280 TBW, which means that the drive can be completely rewritten approximately 1000-1100 times. Where are the 3000 cycles for memory cells? The reason for 1000 instead of 3000 is that in the calculations the manufacturer took into account some of its calculated recording amplification indicator, which was approximately 2.75.

In fact, the value declared by the manufacturer is just a theoretically guaranteed value that the disk will withstand during the manufacturer’s warranty. For most manufacturers, the warranty, in addition to time, is tied to the Endurance value (TDW) and if it is exceeded, the warranty expires, even if the established warranty period has not passed. This gives reason to expect that the actual amount of data may be higher, which has been repeatedly confirmed by real operational tests and reports about which are available on the Internet. Although the final form largely depends on the conditions and type of data being recorded.

At the same time, even based on the TDW proposed by the manufacturer, let's estimate how long the disk can last. I’ll return to my disk and determine the amount of information currently overwritten on it, using the proprietary SSD Scope utility and SMART data from the device.

The highlighted indicator shows the volume of recorded data in multiples of 32 MB, i.e. to get the actual volume recorded on the data disk, you need to multiply the value 70052 by 32 MB. The resulting value is 2241664 MB = 22416 GB = 2.24 TB. Service life is approximately 3 months, i.e. about 700 GB per month, 23 GB per day. I did not perform any special optimizations for SSDs, which I consider harmful, and did not disable the paging and hibernation files. In addition, the latter is used constantly, because I turn off the laptop exclusively during hibernation. The only thing is that I chose the size of the hibernation file to be at least 40% of the RAM, the volume of which I have is 12 GB, therefore the hibernation file is more than 5 GB. In my work I use a traditional office suite of programs, as well as graphic and video editors, which like to create rather large temporary files on the system drive, although a second HDD is used to store media files.

How long will an SSD drive last?

With the mentioned 700 GB per month, it is easy to calculate how many such months there can be. Dividing the declared TBW of 280 TB by 0.7 TB, we get 400 months, which is equivalent to 33+ years. Are you sure that after such a period of time this disk will be in demand even if it is working?

I think that in a couple of years it will probably be possible to replace it with something more capacious and more productive.

To complete the picture, let's approach it from the other side and estimate how much information we can write to a disk, even if it is the only one in our system and large media files are also written to it. To do this, let’s estimate that we plan to use the disk for a maximum of 5 years, which with a TBW of 280 Tb will be equivalent to 150 GB per day. What is 150 GB? This is more than 12 hours of FullHD video in maximum quality, i.e. 6 full-length films merged from Bluray discs. Do you often record such data sets? And here every day for five years.

And we are talking about a budget media, which, although it does not have the smallest resource and is based on MLC memory, is still significantly inferior to professional solutions that have much more impressive characteristics. The main disadvantage of SSDs remains the rather high price per GB of volume. At the same time, technology does not stand still and the price is gradually decreasing, which makes SSD drives more and more popular every day. Every day, more HDDs are relegated to shelves or external pockets to back up data on them.

What conclusions arise?

And such that the resource of modern SSDs is far from the most relevant parameter, which should confuse you. Most likely, you will want to replace it with a faster and more capacious solution before its resource is exhausted. For those who write a lot of information on an SSD, and this is clearly not a common feature, there are professional solutions that have many times more resources at a slightly higher cost.

Buying an SSD is a good investment. But you don't want your SSD to die one day, do you? So it's interesting to increase the lifespan of the SSD drive and see if the game is worth the candle.

How to protect an SSD from harmful influences and not kill the drive in two weeks?

I just received my first SSD. And I have SSDLife monitoring running in the background. After that I installed all the software and tested the SSD. The SSDLife program said that “Total Data written, GB” = 52.1 (40GB used space, 70GB free).

That is, there is about 40 GB of data on the SSD, but 52.1 GB is written?

A feature of a solid-state drive is that data is recorded in blocks. A block can contain 256KB: 256 * 1000 * 8 binary bits. To change even one of these numbers, you must rewrite the entire block. That is, your operating system sees 1 bit, but the SSD wear is equivalent to 256Kb: a difference of 2.048 million times.

This means that the formula (SSD SIZE) * (cycles) = total data written to the SSD before failure

This only for a best case scenario that would allow you to write data 1000 to 1000000 times before failure. But, even in the worst case, this is more likely for all small write cycles on the SSD. This is confirmed in

What is the lifespan of an SSD drive?

SSDs are more durable than hard drives and should last up to 20 years, at least without any performance degradation.

And this is what we might call an average. You can come up with a worst-case SSD lifespan if you want. But I can assure you that they don't look too optimistic!

Let's maximize the lifespan of our precious SSD by wear leveling and minimizing all those little write cycles using simple and advanced technology...

Make sure TRIM is enabled

Firstly, there is no point in checking and trying to enable TRIM if your ssd drive does not support this technology. How do you know if your SSD supports TRIM? The easiest way is to get this information through the CrystalDiskInfo program.

In the Supported Features field you can see whether the SSD supports TRIM:

The next step is to check if your operating system is familiar with the TRIM function. On Windows 7, you can find out this using the fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify command. If the result is zero, the operating system uses TRIM.

In case the system does not recognize your drive as an SSD, you must troubleshoot and fix the problem. Refer to the information contained in Device Manager and SSD Properties. You may need to update your disk controller drivers so that the operating system treats the drive as an SSD.

Disable or move unnecessary OS features

Our operating system provides functions that write to disk when memory can't be used for some reason, along with tricks that speed up your computer if you have a hard drive but no longer need an SSD.

Let's look at the most important features that can cause problems and see if you can disable them.

Disable SSD swap file

The paging file (swap) is necessary to improve the performance of the operating system in resource-intensive applications (graphics packages, video editors, games). In addition, if many “heavy” programs are running and the RAM cannot cope with the amount of data, unused applications are temporarily stored in swap.

The optimal paging file size is approximately 3/2 the size of RAM. If you have more than 8 GB of RAM, there is no need for a page file on the SSD. Try disabling it and testing your computer for a while. It's unlikely you'll notice any performance issues.

You can find out the amount of RAM on your computer and disable it on the SSD in the System Properties window (Win+Pause Break).

Open the “Performance” dialog (My Computer ->System Properties ->Performance Options (see previous topic)).
In the "Advanced" tab, click the "Change" button.
In the virtual memory window, opposite the name of the system disk, the size of the paging file is shown. Select the SSD disk - set the option "Without paging file" - the "Set" button to apply the changes.

Sleep mode (hibernation)

Another feature that can cause problems is the computer's sleep mode (hibernation). If you really don't need this feature, consider hibernating or shutting down, because when you hibernate, the OS writes its memory to the hibernation file, each time the computer enters sleep mode. If you decide not to use sleep mode, you can disable it with the command

powercfg /hibernate off

by running it as an administrator. This will disable the hibernation option and delete the hibernation file. It is not possible to move the hibernation file.

SuperFetch and Defrag services

Manufacturers advise turning off both functions, since your SSD does not need defragmentation at all, it is already fast enough. This makes SuperFetch a useless service.

Disable SuperFetch service
Make sure the defragmenter is not in your scheduler jobs, and disable or uninstall the defragmentation software. However, it is advisable to leave this function for the HDD.

Search indexing

Most people believe that a search indexer is essential because it greatly speeds up searching for data on your hard drive.

If you only have an SSD, you can safely disable the Search Indexer. If you have an SSD and an HDD, you should move the search indexer cache to your HDD. This will avoid multiple writes to disk every time a file is stored in the search cache.

Another way to deal with the indexer is to reduce indexing places to a minimum if you know for sure that you won’t be looking for anything there.

Temporary files, cache and logs

There are a huge number of temporary files, caches and logs stored on your computer. This results in a lot of redundant writes on the SSD! It depends on what browser and other software you are using.

For example, Google Earth stores a cache of images of places you've visited, so every time you use Google Earth, the images are written to the SSD. Let's see in the next chapters how to find the culprits and further use connection points when we cannot move or disable them.

Windows Resource Monitor

Let's take a look at the built-in resource monitor in newer versions of Windows:

Enter "Monitor" Resource in the start menu and run it (or the command resmon.exe via Start - Run).
Go to the "Disk" tab.
Sort the "Processes with disk activity" column into "Write (bytes/s)". This will allow you to estimate the amount of disk writes on your system.

If you want to get more data, you will need the Process Monitor utility.

Process Monitor utility

Download the Process Monitor program from Microsoft Sysinternals and set up a filter on the entries:

Download Process Monitor and run the utility.
Click on the ‘Reset’ button to reset the filter.
Set the filter to "Operation contains WRITE then Include", then click the "Add" button.
Then click the "Apply" button and then click the "OK" button.
Additionally, you can filter the list by your SSD drive.

You will now be able to see the write operations taking place in real time. You can also select an individual item and find out detailed information about the entry. In the "Tools" menu there is "File Summary", this command allows you to view the entire set of records in different tabs.

Don't want to move folders from your SSD? Use connection points!

Junction points tell the system that when file path X is accessed, it will access path Y instead. This is very convenient if you want to access C:\Windows\Temp, but the system will access E:\ instead. Storage\Cache\Temp.

For command line lovers, there is Junction for Windows and mklink for Windows and Linux. The documentation clearly describes which options to use to create, issue commands, and remove junciton points.

What's the best way to copy to an SSD?

You should put files on the SSD that really require fast performance. This is mainly true for programs and games. Placing video files on an SSD will not provide noticeable speedup compared to a hard drive. The same applies to various documents.

Images and photos will load faster in programs and packages such as Adobe Lightroom. Music will be analyzed faster in DJ programs like Traktor Studio. However, the current SSD sizes don't quite fit into these tasks, so that's a bummer.

However, photographs and music are good examples of data. If you save them once and do not plan to edit them, feel free to move this data to the SSD.

Replacing an old one on your computer HDD new solid-state drive, few people will want to return to using a regular hard drive. This reluctance is dictated mainly by the undeniable advantage SSD before HDD in the speed of data access, but at the same time, many remain in the grip of doubts and fears regarding the durability of solid-state drives. As you know, everything SDD have a limited number of rewrite cycles.

And this often encourages users to use all means, sometimes completely unnecessary and even harmful, to minimize recording to disk.

In fact SSD-disks are not at all as short-lived as it might seem at first glance, and even those that are considered least reliable can withstand truly enormous volumes of recorded data. However, to know the approximate lifespan of your SDD not prevent. It is not difficult to approximately determine the service life of a disk; the main thing is to know, at a minimum, its TBW (maximum volume that can be recorded) and the amount of data that has already been written and is expected to be written to disk within the nth time. Approximate lifespan SSD can also be determined by knowing the number of rewrite cycles declared by the manufacturer.

What are SLC, MLC, TLC and TBW

Most solid state drives on the market are based on NAND, which in turn can use three types of memory chips: SLC , MLC And TLC .

The fastest and longest-living disks are NAND SLC, their rewrite cycle life is 100 000 times, but they are incredibly expensive and rarely found on store shelves. Discs MLC much more common. They are much cheaper, but at the same time slower. Rewrite cycle resource MLC-disks is approximately 3000 once. The cheapest, slowest and shortest-lived SSD-discs are made using technology NAND TLC, but even they have a resource that is quite acceptable by the standards of the average user. Number of rewrite cycles TLC-disks is approximately 1000 once.

You can determine the type of drive using the program AIDA64 (Data Storage -> Physical Disks -> Flash Memory Type) , although not always. Knowing the type, we determine offhand the life expectancy of the disk by applying a simplified formula. The method, to be honest, is not particularly suitable, since it does not take into account a number of indicators. Let's say you have TLC- disk volume 120 GB, which is registered on average per day 10 GB data. We multiply a thousand cycles by 120 and divide by 10 , like this:

1000 * 120 / 10 = 12000

12000 - this is the number of days during which we will record on SSD By 10 GB daily. Divide by 365 and we get 32 of the year. In reality, this number is an order of magnitude smaller. To avoid regularly rewriting the same block, which would lead to its rapid death, when writing new data, the controller distributes it evenly throughout SSD. In essence, this means that more data is being written to the disk than is apparent to the user.

But wear leveling is not the only variable that determines life expectancy SSD. TRIM, the type of data being recorded and a number of other factors also have an impact. Therefore, we will correct our formula, assuming that the controller writes to the media in 10 times more data, which was taken with a large and very large margin.

1000 * 120 / 10 * 10 = 1200

Total, a little over three years. It’s not enough, but let’s not forget about the reserve we took, and besides, it’s unlikely that for such a small and "weak" TLC-you will burn the disc using 10 GB daily. Reduce the amount of information recorded to 5 GB per day and the disk will last at least six and a half years, which is quite normal for an average hard drive. With memory chips SLC, MLC And TLC Everything is more or less clear, but I would like more specifics. Needed TBW disk, which, unfortunately, not all manufacturers indicate SSD. Most are limited to mean time between failures (in hours), but is that much use?

So where to look for this very TBW?

If it is not indicated on the disk itself or the documentation accompanying it, go to the manufacturer’s website and try to find it in the technical specifications of the model. Let's look at everything using a disk as an example. KINGSTON SUV400S37240G volume 240 GB. Go to the site www.kingston.com, follow the links SSD -> .

And select the disk with our series - UV400. We hope it’s clear where we got it from. KINGSTON this is the name of the manufacturer followed by the letter S in line SUV400S37240G this is the designation of the series, and UV400- her number.

Click on it and carefully examine the contents of the window.

As you can see, the disk KINGSTON SUV400S37240G has type NAND TLC And TBW 100 TB, which is what we actually need.

Now we find out how much data has already been written to the disk. If your drive supports the new protocol NVM Express, the amount of recorded data will show (see Total Host Records field) .

It turned out to be empty...

Therefore, we used another utility - SSD-Z. The required data is indicated in the field "Bytes Written".

In this example it is 76.22 GB, TBW the same disk is 100 TB, which means that you can still write more to it 99923.78 GB. Let's say that we begin to write to disk using 5 GB in a day.

We divide 99923 on 5 and more on 365 and we get 54 of the year. Knowing the remaining resource and the amount of data recorded daily, it is easy to calculate the approximate lifetime SSD. There is, however, one problem. Does SSD-Z take into account the amount of data increased by the controller? Unlikely. Therefore, it is best to rely on data S.M.A.R.T., which, alas, cannot be extracted from all disk models. Okay, then we'll divide it 54 sky-high 10 and we get 5.4 years- service life of the average storage device. In general, you can safely double it.

When purchasing a flash drive, many people ask the question: “how to choose the right flash drive.” Of course, choosing a flash drive is not so difficult if you know exactly for what purpose it is being purchased. In this article I will try to give a complete answer to the question posed. I decided to write only about what to look for when buying.

A flash drive (USB drive) is a drive designed for storing and transferring information. The flash drive works very simply without batteries. You just need to connect it to the USB port of your PC.

1. Flash drive interface

At the moment there are 2 interfaces: USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. If you decide to buy a flash drive, then I recommend taking a flash drive with a USB 3.0 interface. This interface was made recently, its main feature is high data transfer speed. We'll talk about speeds a little lower.

This is one of the main parameters that you need to look at first. Now flash drives from 1 GB to 256 GB are sold. The cost of a flash drive will directly depend on the amount of memory. Here you need to immediately decide for what purpose you are buying a flash drive. If you are going to store text documents on it, then 1 GB is enough. For downloading and transferring movies, music, photos, etc. you need to take the more, the better. Today, the most popular flash drives are from 8GB to 16GB.

3. Housing material

The body can be made of plastic, glass, wood, metal, etc. Most flash drives are made of plastic. I can’t give any advice here; it all depends on the buyer’s preferences.

4. Data transfer rate

Earlier I wrote that there are two standards: USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. Now I will explain how they differ. The USB 2.0 standard has read speeds of up to 18 Mbit/s and write speeds of up to 10 Mbit/s. The USB 3.0 standard has a read speed of 20-70 Mbit/s, and a write speed of 15-70 Mbit/s. Here, I think, there is no need to explain anything.

Nowadays you can find flash drives of different shapes and sizes in stores. They can be in the form of jewelry, fancy animals, etc. Here I would advise taking flash drives that have a protective cap.

6. Password protection

There are flash drives that have a password protection feature. Such protection is carried out using a program that is located in the flash drive itself. The password can be set both on the entire flash drive and on part of the data in it. Such a flash drive will primarily be useful to people who transfer corporate information to it. According to the manufacturers, if you lose it, you don’t have to worry about your data. Not so simple. If such a flash drive falls into the hands of an understanding person, then hacking it is just a matter of time.

These flash drives look very beautiful, but I would not recommend buying them. Because they are very fragile and often break in half. But if you are a neat person, then feel free to take it.

Conclusion

As you noticed, there are many nuances. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. In my opinion, the most important parameters when choosing are: the standard of the flash drive, the capacity and speed of writing and reading. And everything else: design, material, options - this is just everyone’s personal choice.

Good afternoon, my dear friends. In today's article I want to talk about how to choose the right mouse pad. When buying a rug, many people do not attach any importance to this. But as it turned out, this point needs to be given special attention, because... The mat determines one of the indicators of comfort while working at a PC. For an avid gamer, choosing a rug is a completely different story. Let's look at what types of mouse pads have been invented today.

Mat options

1. Aluminum
2. Glass
3. Plastic
4. Rubberized
5. Double sided
6. Helium

And now I would like to talk about each type in more detail.

1. First I want to consider three options at once: plastic, aluminum and glass. These rugs are very popular among gamers. For example, plastic mats are easier to find on sale. The mouse glides quickly and accurately on these mats. And most importantly, these mouse pads are suitable for both laser and optical mice. Aluminum and glass mats will be a little harder to find. Yes, and they will cost a lot. True, there is a reason for this - they will serve for a very long time. These types of rugs have minor flaws. Many people say that they rustle when operating and are a little cool to the touch, which may cause discomfort for some users.

2. Rubberized (rag) mats have soft sliding, but the accuracy of their movements is worse. For ordinary users, such a mat will be just right. And they are much cheaper than the previous ones.

3. Double-sided mouse pads, in my opinion, are a very interesting type of mouse pad. As the name suggests, these rugs have two sides. Typically, one side is high-speed and the other is high-precision. It happens that each side is designed for a specific game.

4. Helium mats have a silicone cushion. She supposedly supports the hand and relieves tension from it. For me personally, they turned out to be the most inconvenient. According to their intended purpose, they are designed for office workers, since they sit at the computer all day long. These mats are not suitable for casual users and gamers. The mouse glides very poorly on the surface of such mouse pads, and their accuracy is not the best.

Mat sizes

There are three types of rugs: large, medium and small. Here everything primarily depends on the taste of the user. But as is commonly believed, large rugs are good for games. Small and medium ones are taken mainly for work.

Rugs design

In this regard, there are no restrictions. It all depends on what you want to see on your rug. Fortunately, now they don’t draw anything on rugs. The most popular are the logos of computer games, such as Dota, Warcraft, Line, etc. But if it happened that you couldn’t find a rug with the pattern you wanted, don’t be upset. Now you can order a print on a rug. But such mats have a disadvantage: when printing is applied to the surface of the mat, its properties deteriorate. Design in exchange for quality.

This is where I want to end the article. On my own behalf, I wish you to make the right choice and be satisfied with it.
For anyone who doesn’t have a mouse or wants to replace it with another one, I advise you to look at the article:.

Microsoft's all-in-one PCs have been replenished with a new all-in-one model called Surface Studio. Microsoft recently presented its new product at an exhibition in New York.

On a note! I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago where I reviewed the Surface all-in-one. This candy bar was presented earlier. To view the article, click on.

Design

Microsoft calls its new product the world's thinnest candy bar. Weighing 9.56 kg, the thickness of the display is only 12.5 mm, the remaining dimensions are 637.35x438.9 mm. The display dimensions are 28 inches with a resolution greater than 4K (4500x3000 pixels), aspect ratio 3:2.

On a note! The display resolution of 4500x3000 pixels corresponds to 13.5 million pixels. This is 63% more than 4K resolution.

The all-in-one display itself is touch-sensitive, housed in an aluminum case. On such a display it is very convenient to draw with a stylus, which ultimately opens up new possibilities for using a candy bar. In my opinion, this candy bar model will appeal to creative people (photographers, designers, etc.).

On a note! For people in creative professions, I advise you to look at the article where I reviewed all-in-one computers with similar functionality. Click on the highlighted one: .

To everything written above, I would add that the main feature of the candy bar will be its ability to instantly turn into a tablet with a huge working surface.

On a note! By the way, Microsoft has another amazing candy bar. To find out about it, go to.

Specifications

I will present the characteristics in the form of a photograph.

From the periphery, I note the following: 4 USB ports, Mini-Display Port connector, Ethernet network port, card-reader, 3.5 mm audio jack, 1080p webcam, 2 microphones, 2.1 Dolby Audio Premium audio system, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. The candy bar also supports Xbox wireless controllers.

Price

When purchasing an all-in-one PC, Windows 10 Creators Update will be installed on it. This system should be released in the spring of 2017. This operating system will have updated Paint, Office, etc. The price for an all-in-one PC will be from $3,000.
Dear friends, write in the comments what you think about this candy bar, ask questions. I'll be glad to chat!

OCZ demonstrated the new VX 500 SSD drives. These drives will be equipped with a Serial ATA 3.0 interface and are made in a 2.5-inch form factor.

On a note! Anyone interested in how SSD drives work and how long they last can read in an article I wrote earlier:.

The new products are made using 15-nanometer technology and will be equipped with Tochiba MLC NAND flash memory microchips. The controller in the SSD drives will be Tochiba TC 35 8790.
The VX 500 drive range will consist of 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB. According to the manufacturer, the sequential read speed will be 550 MB/s (this is for all drives in this series), but the write speed will be from 485 MB/s to 512 MB/s.

The number of input/output operations per second (IOPS) with data blocks of 4 KB in size can reach 92,000 when reading, and 65,000 when writing (this is all at random).
The thickness of OCZ VX 500 drives will be 7 mm. This will allow them to be used in ultrabooks.

The prices of the new products will be as follows: 128 GB - $64, 256 GB - $93, 512 GB - $153, 1 TB - $337. I think they will cost more in Russia.

Lenovo presented its new gaming all-in-one IdeaCentre Y910 at Gamescom 2016.

On a note! Previously, I wrote an article where I already reviewed gaming monoblocks from different manufacturers. This article can be viewed by clicking on this one.

The new product from Lenovo received a frameless display measuring 27 inches. The display resolution is 2560x1440 pixels (this is QHD format), the refresh rate is 144 Hz, and the response time is 5 ms.

The monoblock will have several configurations. The maximum configuration includes a 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor and a hard drive capacity of up to 2 TB or 256 GB. The amount of RAM is 32 GB DDR4. The graphics will be provided by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or GeForce GTX 1080 video card with Pascal architecture. Thanks to such a video card, it will be possible to connect a virtual reality helmet to the candy bar.
From the periphery of the candy bar, I would highlight the Harmon Kardon audio system with 5-watt speakers, the Killer DoubleShot Pro Wi-Fi module, a webcam, USB ports 2.0 and 3.0, and HDMI connectors.

In its basic version, the IdeaCentre Y910 monoblock will go on sale in September 2016 at a price of 1,800 euros. But the candy bar with the “VR-ready” version will appear in October at a price of 2,200 euros. It is known that this version will have a GeForce GTX 1070 video card.

MediaTek has decided to upgrade its Helio X30 mobile processor. So now the developers from MediaTek are designing a new mobile processor called Helio X35.

I would like to briefly talk about Helio X30. This processor has 10 cores, which are combined into 3 clusters. Helio X30 has 3 variations. The first - the most powerful - consists of Cortex-A73 cores with a frequency of up to 2.8 GHz. There are also blocks with Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.2 GHz and Cortex-A35 with a frequency of 2.0 GHz.

The new Helio X35 processor also has 10 cores and is created using 10-nanometer technology. The clock frequency in this processor will be much higher than that of its predecessor and ranges from 3.0 Hz. The new product will allow you to use up to 8 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The graphics in the processor will most likely be handled by the Power VR 7XT controller.
The station itself can be seen in the photographs in the article. In them we can see storage compartments. One bay has a 3.5" jack and the other has a 2.5" jack. Thus, it will be possible to connect both a solid-state drive (SSD) and a hard drive (HDD) to the new station.

The dimensions of the Drive Dock station are 160x150x85mm, and the weight is no less than 970 grams.
Many people probably have a question about how the Drive Dock connects to a computer. I answer: this happens through the USB port 3.1 Gen 1. According to the manufacturer, the sequential read speed will be 434 MB/s, and in write mode (sequential) 406 MB/s. The new product will be compatible with Windows and Mac OS.

This device will be very useful for people who work with photo and video materials at a professional level. Drive Dock can also be used to backup files.
The price for the new device will be acceptable - it is $90.

On a note! Previously, Renduchinthala worked for Qualcomm. And since November 2015, he moved to a competing company, Intel.

In his interview, Renduchintala did not talk about mobile processors, but only said the following, I quote: “I prefer to talk less and do more.”
Thus, the Intel top manager created great intrigue with his interview. We can only wait for new announcements in the future.

Read research from authoritative sources about the service life of SSD drives. Is their resource really so short and what factors influence it? When the large-scale advance of solid-state flash drives (SSDs) as an alternative to conventional hard drives first occurred, the biggest concern (besides price) was the longevity of the devices. Most people had a pretty good idea of the overall reliability of hard drives, but "SSD drives" were still a novelty.

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SSD technology

But over the years, the SSD market has grown exponentially and we now have a special understanding about it. The good news is that "SSD drives" more reliable than you think and just as good as hard drives in terms of storing data and causing errors. The bad news is that SSDs tend to deteriorate simply with increasing age, rather than with limited read/write cycles as previously predicted.

This means you most likely won't lose any more data using "SSD disk" than using a standard hard drive... but still, it is very important to save "backup copies" all important files.

Before we move on to testing, it is important to mention some technical terms associated with the technology "SSD":

MLC, SLC and TLC: In modern "SSD drives" The three most commonly used types of memory chips are "NAND"

SLC – "Single Level Cell"– single-level memory cell. Has the highest speed and performance, lowest power consumption, highest data write speed and maximum number of cycles "Program/Erase". Memory of this level is usually used to operate various types of server systems, simply because the cost "SSD drives" based on this technology is very large.

MLC – "Multi Level Cell"– multi-level memory cell. It costs much less than SLC, but at the same time it is less durable and is also inferior to SLC in the number of cycles "Program/Erase". It is used everywhere, from commercial, work machines to home PCs. If the block "bad", then it is not available for read/write operations on your PC. This in turn leads to a decrease in the amount of available disk space and the occurrence of read/write errors.

eMLC – "Enterprise Multi Level Cell"– a cell created on the basis of MLC, but its cycle resource "Program/Erase" significantly increased. The reliability of eMLC is at the level of SLC, and the price is slightly higher than that of MLC. Also used on various kinds of workstations and mid-range servers.

TLC – "Three Level Cell"– three-level memory cell. As a plus, it has a higher recording density, but as a minus, it has much less endurance and noticeably slower data read and write speeds. Has fewer cycles "Program/Erase", relative to SLC and MLC. For the most part, this memory was used in "flash drives"(memory cards and flash drives), but is now also used for the production of ordinary "SSD drives".

TBW(Written Terabytes): The total amount of data that has been written and rewritten to a disk over its lifetime, expressed in terabytes.

So how long can SSD drives last?

Suppliers "SSD drives" The reliability of such disks is assessed by three factors: the warranty period (the time allocated by the manufacturer for warranty service), the total TWB that can generally be recorded during the warranty period, and the amount of data written to the disk over a certain period of time. Obviously, the results of measurements and calculations for these three parameters will be completely different for different "SSD drives". But at the same time, all three parameters remain rather average and cannot fully show the consumer what kind of resource a particular drive has. Accurate prediction of how long a particular one will work "SSD disk", it is simply impossible to do. Therefore, we will try to name, rather vaguely, the point of maximum possible data recording on the device. Having passed this point, we consider further use of this disk inappropriate, and this may expose you to the danger of immediate loss of all data stored there.

Recently, several studies have been conducted to determine the lifespan of SSDs more accurately.

Here are a few results:

Research by Google and the University of Toronto

Joint company research "Google" with the University of Toronto, which processed data on failures on the company’s servers over four years. The study concluded that it is physical age "SSD drive", rather than the quantity or frequency of data recorded, is the primary determinant of the likelihood of data storage errors on it. It was also found that "SSD drives" were subject to replacement in Google data centers much less frequently than conventional hard drives, at a ratio of about 1 to 4. But not all the results were in favor "SSD devices": During the four-year testing period, they experienced serious glitches, with critical errors and unreadable memory blocks appearing at a much higher rate than conventional hard drives. The conclusion is that in a high-load environment with many read/write requests, SSDs will last longer than conventional hard drives, but will be more susceptible to critical errors and failures, and, as a result, associated data loss. Old "SSD drives" are more susceptible to malfunctions, regardless of the type of memory used.

Tech Report Research

Study "Tech Report" about durability "SSD drives" with a capacity of 250 GB, which was held between the world's major manufacturers and brands. Among the six tested SSD models, only three passed the test: "Kingston", "Samsung" And "Corsair", after more than 1000 terabytes of data (one petabyte) were written to them. Other drives refused to work from 700 to 900 TBW (terabytes of data). Two "SSD drive", from companies "Samsung" And "Intel", used cheaper MLC technology, at the same time, the solid-state drive from the company "Kingston", which uses the same technology, was among those that successfully passed the test, despite the fact that they underwent the same testing. Conclusion: it can be expected that "SSD drive", 250 GB in size, "will die" before you've written one petabyte of data, although two models have exceeded that mark. It's still wise to back up important data to avoid unexpected situations, even if your drive uses SLC memory.

"SSD drives" larger capacities, due to the presence of simply more memory cells, should work longer, in approximately the same predictable manner. For example, if the disk is 250GB "died" at 900 TBW, then it would be reasonable to assume that a 1TB drive will last 4 times longer, up to a full write of 3.6 petabytes.

Facebook Research

Company "Facebook" published an internal study on the lifespan of SSDs used in enterprise data centers. The findings focused on the environmental conditions of the centers themselves. That is, they came to the rather obvious conclusion that prolonged proximity of the device to high temperatures shortens its service life.

But it also showed that if "SSD disk" did not “die” after discovering the first major errors on it, then it will most likely continue to work. Also in the company's research "Facebook" found that higher data write and read speeds could have a significant impact on the drive's lifespan, although it is unclear whether they controlled for the physical age of the drive itself. Bottom line: Unless it fails early, an SSD will most likely last longer than what is reported by the drive testing software.

Should we worry?

So, summarizing all these studies, what is the general conclusion? Looking at the results, it may seem that your "SSD drive" It will burn out in a year or two. But keep in mind that the two studies were conducted in data centers of huge corporations, where the drives work 24 hours a day and perform countless read/write operations, constantly and for many years. And the study, aimed at the average consumer, was conducted specifically in stress test mode, with constant use of the device. In order for an ordinary user to achieve a reading/writing volume of petabytes of data, under normal operating conditions, it is necessary "to rape" your PC, more or less non-stop, for a decade. Or maybe even several decades. Even professional gamers or IT specialists will most likely never reach the stated maximum amount of data transferred to a single media.

Conclusion: You'll likely have already upgraded your entire PC to failure "SSD drive".