Flash Memory - Limited write cycles

[Mac Composer]

I keep hearing about this negative aspect of flash memory, a finite number of write cycles. So what is that number when it reaches the limit?

 

[Hellhammer]

Not sure about Toshiba drives but Intel G2 SSDs have life span of up to 15TB of random writes

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3965/intels-3rd-generation-x25m-ssd-specs-revealed

In most cases, people are exaggerating, it's won't make a difference for a normal user as you likely won't write 15TB to the drive.

 

[spinnerlys]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/4

If it is around 10,000 cycles, then you have 27 years to use it if you write data to the SSD from start to the end on a daily basis.

 

[OptamusPriem]

well with a little math you'll actually discover that 10k readcycles isnt 15TB but more like 1500TB
if your SSD is 160GB (like my G2) then it would look something like

(160 GigaBytes * 10.000 cycles) / 1000 = 1600 TeraByte

15TB write wouldnt last many years, depending on usage.

 

[Hellhammer]

15TB write wouldnt last many years, depending on usage.

That was writes, not reads. 15TB means that you would have to completely overwrite the 160GB version for ~94 times. That's a lot data, I doubt an average user ever reaches those numbers, especially for the boot drive (big files such as movies are usually stored in an ext HD anyway).

If you're using it for professional purposes, e.g. as a scratch drive, then you may fill that number as you're writing GBs of data to it, daily.

 

[OptamusPriem]

im sorry buddy, but it seems you dont understand the concept of a write cycle.
also according to this article: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15433

Intel estimates that the 80GB X25-M will last for five years with "much greater than" 100GB of write-erase per day.

so if what youre saying is true, then intel would have done the math horrifyingly wrong as 100GB per day for 5 years is about 182TB,

 

[Merthyrboy]

Wow I never knew flash memory had a limit to how much it could write. It is a high number probably have to be constantly moving movies around from hard disk to flash drive to manage that but still wow

 

[Hellhammer]

im sorry buddy, but it seems you dont understand the concept of a write cycle.
also according to this article: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15433

besides Intel estimates that the 80GB X25-M will last for five years with "much greater than" 100GB of write-erase per day.

so if what youre saying is true, then intel would have done the math horrifyingly wrong as 100GB per day for 5 years is about 182TB,

My numbers are random writes, not sure does that change something.

Anyhow, the limited amount of writes isn't an issue for most people. You can always get a new one if the old one runs out of writes. Besides, SSDs are still fairly young so their real world lifespan is still a big question mark

 

[Consultant]

Wow I never knew flash memory had a limit to how much it could write. It is a high number probably have to be constantly moving movies around from hard disk to flash drive to manage that but still wow

Do you know harddrive life is limited too. Nothing in the world live for ever.

Except naughty pictures on the internet.