SSD MTBF - Seems Like Nonsense?

Ignitionnet · 22-11-2011, 12:38

Collective,

Considering getting a PC based around a Kingston HyperX SSD. The Kingston website quotes the following:

Quote:

MTBF — 1,000,000 Hrs

I find this absolutely absurd. Anyone have any experience of these drives reliability wise? I work with hardware that uses SSDs and we quote a lower MTBF for SSDs than spinning disks. I find it hard to believe that Kingston's hardware is mysteriously good for 114 years while the SSDs we use are good for about 110 years less than that.

I do, of course, welcome correction. I just know that historically SSDs haven't been the most reliable beasts despite having no moving parts.

dilligaf1701 · 22-11-2011, 12:54

My ssd drive (ocz) says 1.5 million hours and has a three year warranty, but I had also heard they don't last all that long.

I have heard of people who have had problems but as of yet I haven't.

**Kymmy** · 22-11-2011, 13:05

I'd have thought that SSD would have MTBF units of write/read operations rather than hours of use??

I'd though expect 5 years to be more than optimistic.

---------- Post added at 13:05 ---------- Previous post was at 13:01 ----------

Moved to the IT forum

heero_yuy · 22-11-2011, 13:28

It's the write operation that stresses the part, that having been said if they've incorporated some error detection and correction "intelligence" such as Hamming code in the device then the reliability improves dramatically.

MTBF of say 1m hours doesn't mean all devices will last that period of time though.

damien c · 22-11-2011, 15:36

I have had 3 ssd's all from Corsair, and 2 of them failed within 6 month's but the 3rd drive is only about 3 month's old now and is fine.

Generally it is the write part of the cycle on ssd's that cause them to fail, and if they are just in a server with a few databases on them being read by a few people they will last a fair while.

Ignitionnet · 22-11-2011, 17:19

Hmm consensus seems to be to roll with it and make sure I keep backups

Waldo Pepper · 22-11-2011, 20:37

My Cosair is coming upto 12 months of daily use. No problems but I followed well documented use from:

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...egistry-tweaks

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=82516

I have posted these links previously and a quick search will find them.

Ignitionnet · 24-11-2011, 20:59

Thank you for that, I will obey those.

The beast has been ordered anyway. It's a ridiculous machine.

**Hugh** · 24-11-2011, 21:44

Go on ~ show us the spec...

Ignitionnet · 24-11-2011, 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

Go on ~ show us the spec...

Oki - I'm putting a fast 1TB drive I already have in as a spinning disk to ease write load on the SSD, here's the beast anyways.

Case PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
2nd Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER
Fan Controller NZXT Sentry 2 System Fan Controller + 5 Fitted Fans For Your Case
Sound Card Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

Gavin78 · 24-11-2011, 23:52

That guide is for vista? would the same rules apply to windows 7? tis ok I found the windows 7 one in the next link you gave

Fawkes · 27-11-2011, 14:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

<snip>
Case PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
2nd Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ HD6970 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply CORSAIR 1050W PRO SERIES™ HX1050-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR
Processor Cooling TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER
Fan Controller NZXT Sentry 2 System Fan Controller + 5 Fitted Fans For Your Case
Sound Card Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

Nice rig, got one simlar from http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk about three months ago. Looks like you're shopping at the same place.

My SSD is an OCZ Vertex 3 but touch wood, no problems so far.
As Kymmy says, SSD life span is based more on read/write operations than hours, so I guess it depends on how much you use it.

EDIT: Never defrag and SSD; 1. It's completely unnecessary. 2. It shortens the drives life (lots of read/write operations).

downquark1 · 27-11-2011, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin78

That guide is for vista? would the same rules apply to windows 7? tis ok I found the windows 7 one in the next link you gave

Windows 7 *should* not need tweaking

**Graham M** · 27-11-2011, 18:31

Yep Windows 7 detects the SSD and makes its own tweaks compared to an HDD install, I've been running my SSD about 6 months so far, it's an OCZ, I had some odd problems to begin with but after updating the firmware, it seems AOK. Technically they should be more reliable than a HDD as there's no moving parts to break/wear out.

Ignitionnet · 02-12-2011, 17:00

If I ever actually receive the thing I'll let you know how it rolls.

Stock is now due in on 07-12-2011