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And yet SSD drive manufacturers warranty their drives for 1 year or some do 3 years . . . except for certain select drives (such as by Samsung) that cover for 10 years (but at a premium price). Souns like they don't have much fatih in the lastingness of their product.
Ridiculous. How long do you think they should warranty them? My car will probably go 5 years with no major repairs, should I think Mazda has no faith in the product? Same with my laptop.
Ridiculous. How long do you think they should warranty them? My car will probably go 5 years with no major repairs, should I think Mazda has no faith in the product? Same with my laptop.
I guess that's why some people choose to buy extended warranties on top of the manufacturer's warranty on varied products.
^ you draw the wrong conclusion from warranty designations. Warranties of any value (i.e. not those "lifetime" warranties that are worthless because they require the original purchase receipt, or are limited to "manufacturing defect") are time limited. Failure curve analysis for most products show a few early failures (what warranties protect against), including out of box, then very few failures until EOL.
It is true that you might extend the live of a SSD by moving page files and caching etc. in theory. In practice, for home use at least, it won't make a difference, and is rather a pain to set up.
You might want to look up some of the solid info on the net. Backblaze regularly publishes HDD survival data, with some interesting conclusions. Others have published SSD torture tests. Here's an example: The SSD Endurance Experiment: Only two remain after 1.5PB - The Tech Report - Page 1 The problem with finding EOL for SSD is that it takes so long, even with constant writing.
If the latter does not give you comfort, and Backblaze some concern, regarding drives........
^ you draw the wrong conclusion from warranty designations. Warranties of any value (i.e. not those "lifetime" warranties that are worthless because they require the original purchase receipt, or are limited to "manufacturing defect") are time limited. Failure curve analysis for most products show a few early failures (what warranties protect against), including out of box, then very few failures until EOL.
It is true that you might extend the live of a SSD by moving page files and caching etc. in theory. In practice, for home use at least, it won't make a difference, and is rather a pain to set up.
You might want to look up some of the solid info on the net. Backblaze regularly publishes HDD survival data, with some interesting conclusions. Others have published SSD torture tests. Here's an example: The SSD Endurance Experiment: Only two remain after 1.5PB - The Tech Report - Page 1 The problem with finding EOL for SSD is that it takes so long, even with constant writing.
If the latter does not give you comfort, and Backblaze some concern, regarding drives........
As a precaution, in any computer in which I have an SSD drive presently (or will in future computers that I am planning on . . . as I intend to get 2 modern-day PC replacment notebooks to replace my 2 earlier-generation less-powerful PC notebooks), the SSD drive is used ONLY as the booting drive and is set up to only contain the operating system, applications, drivers, and the like. Inside the same computer (whether a desktop computer or portable computer), ALL my data files are instead stored on an internal hard drive[s]. My desktop computer's tower case has 3 internal hard drives on which I store my data redundantly and an SSD drive is installed as the booting SSD drive. Yet also with my multiple notebooks (as it is now or is in the process of becoming so), each of said notebooks has or will have TWO drive bays inside them (as detailed in my first posting to this thread), with as SSD drive installed as the booting drive (having only the OS, applications, drivers, et al installed on it) and then a hard drive in the 2nd bay to store all my data.
In summary, however long you or others say a well-made modern-day SSD drive can prospectively last, I don't want to reach that day where the drive just suddenly becomes inaccessible and unusable due to reaching its write capacity. Of course, hard drives can fail after a while too (though not because of a predefined finiite write capacity inherent in their technology, unlike flash-based storage media) but that is why I back up my data throughout each day to multiple local and remote backup destinations. I like to maintain a wide safety net. As I learned many decades ago in my first computer science class: "There is always greater safety in data redundancy" (Translation: backing up your data to multiple backup destinations . . . not just doing one single backup only).
There is no "predefined finiite write capacity" limit with SSD. It's a technology limitation, and not pre-defined. It's a stochastic process too.
Many of us have moved beyond 2 drive bay heavy luggable notebook computers. If those are your thing more power to you. Many of us also use automatic online backup when it matters.
There is no "predefined finiite write capacity" limit with SSD. It's a technology limitation, and not pre-defined. It's a stochastic process too.
Many of us have moved beyond 2 drive bay heavy luggable notebook computers. If those are your thing more power to you. Many of us also use automatic online backup when it matters.
My use of the word "predefined" was meant to implicitly convey that, due to the nature of the SSD technology (i.e., how flash storage works by its very nature), it will have a "predicted" write capacity that will be reached at some point (after which it won't be usable anymore). Whereas magnetic-based storage technology such as spinning-platter hard drives does not have this same kind of technical limitation due to how the technology works (though it has other caveats of its own). Hence I chose to use the word "predefined" . . . for the SSD manufacturer will state something like "XXXXX number of writes predicted before failure". Or at least I think I recall that they did make such "predictions" in such drives' specs with earlier generations of SSD drives. Do they not make such "predictions" anymore but rather it is the case that newer SSD technologies make it so that a modern-day later-generation SSD drive's expected life is "not set at a particular number of writes but is rather 'indeterminate'"? You tell me (you may well know better than I do . . . for while being a many-decades computing and electronics techie/geek type, I have only started using SSD drives the past two years or so and hence may not be as fully studied up on the workings of their technology or as experienced with working with such drives as you are or seem to be).
Like you, I would rather not have a heavier luggable notebook (I'd ideally want as thin, light, and compact as I can get, as long as it has other acceptable-enough specs). But I don't wholly trust an SSD drive to be the sole storage drive in a notebook (based on the issues we are addressing here) and hence I am reluctantly settled to accommodate a notebook with a built-in optical drive so that I can replace the optical drive with a secondary HARD drive (on which I'd keep all my data stored instead of on the built-in SSD drive). If not for that concern, I'd gladly use the thinnest, lightest, most-compact notebook I can get by with.
NOTE (as to the subject addressed in the above paragraph): A computer accessories manufacturer named OWC (Other World Computing) is about to come out (likely in Springt 2017) with an "expansion base" which fits onto the bottom side of the ultra-thin ultra-light 2016 MacBook Pro (of which said notebook does not come with a built-in optical drive . . . so I couldn't pursue the step of removing an internal optical drive to replace it with a hard drive with this particular notebook model . . . and I do want to get a more powerful portable Mac than my MacBook Pro Mid-2009 model). The so-named "OWC DEC Expansion Base" snaps onto the bottom side of the 2016 MacBook Pro and adds a host of new connectivity and expansion options: three USB 3.1C ports, a Gigabit ethernet port, an SD card slot, and an empty drive bay into which you can add whatever capacity of hard drive or SSD drive. It will be made of milled aircraft-grade aluminum and is engineered for a seamless fit onto the bottonm side of the 2016 MacBook Pro (which lacks many ports and expansion options, being ultra-thin and compact). The expansion base increases the thickness of the 2016 MacBook Pro to be about as thick as a 2012 MacBook Pro model.(You can see photos of it and how it looks when attached to the bottom of this 2016 MacBook Pro on various websites: e.g., OWC). My point is this: If there were more "expansion bases" made for varied notebook models by whichever manufacturers such as this one made by OWC (specifically made by them for the 2016 MacBook Pro only), one could use a smaller notebook like 13.3" or 12" or 11.6" and still add "expansion capacity" (if wanted) to it instead of having to acquire a 15.6" or 17" notebook just so that one can remove the built-on optical drive in order to replace it with a hard drive or SSD drive. Like you, I also don't ideally want a larger bulkier notebook to lug around if I could avoid it otherwise.
As to backup: I do not want an online backup service to "automatically" grab ALL my data at set intervals and just upload it to the web "as-is", for I have enough "sensitive data" that I want to encrypt first with my own encryption (not simply just using the online backup service's offered encryption) BEFORE it gets uploaded to the web. I instead use online backup service(s) whereby I choose each time "per instance" exactly when I want to upload my data and I upload said data using third-party file synchronization software (unless I just copy and paste some data from my computer to the web interface for the online backup service). My main online backup service lets one set up their online backup destination as a "network drive" to which you can assign a drive letter (e.g,. under Windows) or a name (such as under Mac OS, Linux, and other Unix-based OS's such as Android and iOS) and hence third-party file synchronization software (such as I use) can be used to get your data mirrored or synchronized to your cloud destination. That is how I choose to do it (for if I had no sensitive data to be concerned with getting first self-encrypted before uploading, then of course I would set up an online backup service to just grab ALL my data at frequent intervals and upload it "as-is").
You really should look at Backblaze data and the link I posted regarding SSD reliability. I think you're handicapping yourself unnecessary.
Most importantly, having a HDD in your portable machine for reliability does not address your biggest risks: losing, having stolen or physically damaging the machine. Add power surges to the list if you like.
That's why external backup, preferably off-site, is so important. These days off-site is usually cloud.
You can configure online backups to only backup selected locations on your computers. If you want to encrypt first, you'd need to do that, then move it to the designated backup location, but for what purpose? More security than end to end encryption by the backup software? So you add risk by putting yourself in the middle. Another potential failure point.
Nothing I say will steer you away from your fear of SSD, online backup security and so forth. I understand that. Just keep in mind that your greatest threat is yourself, same as my greatest threat. We lose things. We drop things. We enter the wrong command. And so forth.
You really should look at Backblaze data and the link I posted regarding SSD reliability. I think you're handicapping yourself unnecessary.
Most importantly, having a HDD in your portable machine for reliability does not address your biggest risks: losing, having stolen or physically damaging the machine. Add power surges to the list if you like.
That's why external backup, preferably off-site, is so important. These days off-site is usually cloud.
You can configure online backups to only backup selected locations on your computers. If you want to encrypt first, you'd need to do that, then move it to the designated backup location, but for what purpose? More security than end to end encryption by the backup software? So you add risk by putting yourself in the middle. Another potential failure point.
Nothing I say will steer you away from your fear of SSD, online backup security and so forth. I understand that. Just keep in mind that your greatest threat is yourself, same as my greatest threat. We lose things. We drop things. We enter the wrong command. And so forth.
See this presently-active C-D thread in this same "Science and Technology > Computers" section as our thread which is titled "Has anyone had an SSD drive crash on them?"
Interesting discussion. As another "decades long" PC guy (I still remember low-level formatting in debug under DOS and the difference between MFM and RLL) I have moved to SSD for everything but RAID or bulk storage needs.
Every desktop, server and laptop in my house boots from a SSD. While I have had very, very few random failures, they are no better or worse than my experiences with HDD failures. But unintended failures due to drops are gone.
If you look at the write specs for most SSDs over a reasonable 5 year life you see that you would have to write TBs a day to wear it out. 99.9% of people will not even come close, and reads don't count against this.
It's no surprise that even enterprises have moved to SSD, albeit usually with MLC or (if you can afford/get it) SLC technology instead of TLC. But for high use systems I go with MLC anyway even at home.
And I agree with BigBear, back up, back up, back up. Local to a nice big and slow HDD, cloud-based with CrashPlan, and also if desired encrypted to Amazon Drive.
.... as I intend to get 2 modern-day PC replacment notebooks to replace my 2 earlier-generation less-powerful PC notebooks),
Yet also with my multiple notebooks (as it is now or is in the process of becoming so), each of said notebooks has or will have TWO drive bays inside them (as detailed in my first posting to this thread), with as SSD drive installed as the booting drive (having only the OS, applications, drivers, et al installed on it) and then a hard drive in the 2nd bay to store all my data.
I want to see your setup. Probably looks like NORAD in there.
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