• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Used SSD high write count?

S

SRTie4k

Gawd
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
971
I just purchased a used Samsung 840 Evo 256GB mSATA SSD from Amazon Warehouse, saved about $30 by buying used. I was initially hesitant doing so, as I can't help but get the feeling that some people out there buy them with the intention of stress testing and returning them afterward. Unfortunately, I think I may have gotten one of those.

After installing Windows and a handful of drivers and apps, I ran CrystalDiskInfo as well as Samsung Magician and found that the drive has a write count of 763GB with only 16 power ons. Sounds to me like some jerk bought it, intentionally beat the shit out of it (metaphorically) through benchmarking or SQL writes, and then returned it.

Is that what it looks like to you? I'm considering returning it and trying for another...
 
Last edited:
I just installed CrystalDiskInfo and in 1 week and 2 days my SSD has 364GB of write data with 24 power cycles to go with a mobo swap. That is all with moderate usage and a 130gb backup image loaded to it.
Which makes 763GB with 16 power cycles is very possible in a couple weeks worth of use.
 
My Intel 160GB had around 10TB of writes on last I checked it about a year ago. Still works fine. I think the life was at something like 94%.
 
If it was 763 TB I would worry, but 763 GB is almost nothing to a modern SSD.
I have a 840 Pro that was used as VM backstorage and has just accumulated 5 TB during a year with 25 power-ons, the lifetime counter is at something like 98 or 99%
 
763 GB is nothing and why would only 16 powerups be a problem? Many computers run 24/7.
 
Last edited:
I forgot to add, total power on time is only 19 hours, and that's with me having left the system on for ~9 hours last night. almost a gig of writes in 10 hours? Still sounds like benchmarking/database testing to me.
 
yeah Samsung Magician is pure magic allright... according to it I have 4 TB/s read speeds. I've had the 840 PRO 250GB(?) for around a year or so and it supposedly has had 5120 hours of power on time... and 348 power cycles......yeah,no... not even close. Oh and 2.73TB written.
 
I guess I'll give it a shot. I can't really complain too much buying used. I suppose someone could have bought it, tried loading Windows several times, then piled games on to it and realized that it wasn't going to be big enough to hold their library and sent it back.

And after reading the Anandtech review of the 840 Evo, I feel a lot better. They estimated that the drive would last 15 years in a 50GB writes per day environment, which is way beyond what I'll be using it for already.
 
If it works and passes SMART, I don't think you have anything to worry about.
 
Sounds like multiple installations of windows perhaps and maybe installing some programs a few times. I wouldn't worry about it. I highly doubt anyone intentionally tried to harm the device, and if they did, they failed as that write amount is nothing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top