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How good are SSDs?

B

B-Eugen

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 26, 2014
66
16
I've seen a few posts on here where people have had bad blocks containing data tagged by Scannerz (http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html).

What do I mean by this? Theoretically a bad block on an SSD is supposed to be caught before it writes data to it and then the bad block get re-mapped. What I'm reading is that a block that's already been written to just decides to go bad even though its holding data, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen.

Are there any real statistics on SSD reliability and testing anywhere that are current?
 
Last edited:
B-Eugen said:
I've seen a few posts on here where people have had bad blocks containing data tagged by Scannerz (http:scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html).

What do I mean by this? Theoretically a bad block on an SSD is supposed to be caught before it writes data to it and then the bad block get re-mapped. What I'm reading is that a block that's already been written to just decides to go bad even though its holding data, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen.

Are there any real statistics on SSD reliability and testing anywhere that are current?
Click to expand...
Usually bad blocks are flagged, so data can't be written to them. This can occur on any drive, whether a HDD or SSD. Unless the drive quality is unusually poor, bad blocks will occur infrequently and will be unnoticeable to the user. Any drive can fail over time, but if you buy a reasonably well-known brand with a good reputation, you should be safe.
 
B-Eugen said:
What do I mean by this? Theoretically a bad block on an SSD is supposed to be caught before it writes data to it and then the bad block get re-mapped. What I'm reading is that a block that's already been written to just decides to go bad even though its holding data, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen.
Click to expand...
AFAIK, that's exactly the same with platter drives, i.e., not an SSD-unique problem.

Based on the SSD reliability and performance I've experienced over the last 3-4 years, I'm never going back to spinners for primary drives.
 
mneblett said:
AFAIK, that's exactly the same with platter drives, i.e., not an SSD-unique problem.

Based on the SSD reliability and performance I've experienced over the last 3-4 years, I'm never going back to spinners for primary drives.
Click to expand...

same for me. ssds are reliable and fast.
 
I think the market as fully embraced SSDs, and have largely killed off the hard drive in consumer laptops. They're fast, large (large enough now), and stable.

I guess the question is, will we see a lot of threads on aging laptops as the SSDs do finally wear out. I guess only time will tell.
 
SSDs seem to have problems highlighted because they're still new. Most of the posts you read about them you also need to check the dates of the posts. When they first started coming out they really were problematic as far as I'm concerned. Now, I think they're much more stable, but they aren't perfect.

Even on iPhones you can get a bad block, which I bet is something few people think of. One guy I know had a video he shot and was playing it on the iPhone and when it got to the exact same spot in the video, the player would just throw in the towel and stop. Everything else worked fine. That video used to work fine. Then one day it didn't. He re-initialized the iPhone and restored from backup, and voila, everything was working again, even the video.

It's too bad there's no easy way to check a log file on an iPhone.

In any case, yes, SSDs can obviously just lose a block out of the blue, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. It's not like it happens every 10 minutes.

Just keep good backups.......on a REAL hard drive!:D
 
I had mine replaced under warranty, so they're not infallible. It kept dropping blocks. I think it was a defective storage chip.
 
they're more reliable than HDDS now (at least the Samsung 840 EVOs are) with far better longevity.

Something like pentabytes have been written to these samsung SSDs and they still go for it which means these latest generation ssds will last 1000 years + on normal usage.
 
ZVH said:
I just took a look at that article, and in there there's a link to what they call their "trusted brands:"

http://www.storagereview.com/buying_an_ssd_the_brands_that_matter

In it, they have lines through all the text for OWC, Patriot, and Plextor.

Any idea why? Are they no longer "approved" by them or something.
Click to expand...

They have their own standards, I guess. Putting lines through a document instead of changing it properly always leaves me with a "why did they do that?" feeling. It just leaves people wondering.
 
B-Eugen said:
I've seen a few posts on here where people have had bad blocks containing data tagged by Scannerz (http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html).

What do I mean by this? Theoretically a bad block on an SSD is supposed to be caught before it writes data to it and then the bad block get re-mapped. What I'm reading is that a block that's already been written to just decides to go bad even though its holding data, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen.

Are there any real statistics on SSD reliability and testing anywhere that are current?
Click to expand...

Losing a bad block can happen with anything. Hard drives, SSDs, RAM chips.
 
mbh said:
Read the updates at the bottom of the page.
Click to expand...

Their comments and judgement seem a little picky to me. A local store here sells Plextor and I don't see them grossly over priced. Not cheap, but not grossly over priced either.

SSDs are still something of an emerging market. Writing off one manufacturer or another based strictly on personal judgement? I don't know if that's a good idea just yet.
 
maflynn said:
I think the market as fully embraced SSDs, and have largely killed off the hard drive in consumer laptops. They're fast, large (large enough now), and stable.

I guess the question is, will we see a lot of threads on aging laptops as the SSDs do finally wear out. I guess only time will tell.
Click to expand...

great point...i replace my laptops every 4 to 5 years and I'm hoping that that's a fast enough replace cycle that I won't ever have to deal with a failed drive.

----------
Samuelsan2001 said:
SSD's are the best thing to happen to computing since multicore processors...
Click to expand...

you ain't lying...I've yet to have any flash storage fail on me but I got plenty of hard disks that have gone caput and have taken my data with it.
 
maflynn said:
I think the market as fully embraced SSDs, and have largely killed off the hard drive in consumer laptops. They're fast, large (large enough now), and stable.

I guess the question is, will we see a lot of threads on aging laptops as the SSDs do finally wear out. I guess only time will tell.
Click to expand...

I think you're right for laptops, mostly, though people with large media libraries (like me) still need external drives.

For desktop systems, HDDs still have a very competitive place for mass storage. The price/GB of good HDDs has been steadily falling, and capacities are rising. My Windows desktop runs on an SSD but I have multiple 4GB HDDs for storage and internal backup, at a price that is irresistible compared even to current SSD pricing.
 
Personally, what I'm afraid of is Apple (or others) soldering the SSD chips right on the logic board thus making drive replacement/upgrades impossible.
 
ZVH said:
Personally, what I'm afraid of is Apple (or others) soldering the SSD chips right on the logic board thus making drive replacement/upgrades impossible.
Click to expand...

That would be in incredibly stupid move because although SSDs are reliable, I question whether their failure rate is really that much better than hard drives. The stats really aren't in yet. However, RAM can fail too and Apple is now soldering the RAM into some of their units.

Because an SSD will eventually fail, it would limit the life of the unit with the only option being to boot externally. That, of course, assumes the system would let you boot with a failed SSD inside the unit.
 
ZVH said:
Personally, what I'm afraid of is Apple (or others) soldering the SSD chips right on the logic board thus making drive replacement/upgrades impossible.
Click to expand...

That won't happen for repairability reasons. All the hardware is already soldered to the motherboard. If something breaks and they have to replace the motherboard, you don't want your customer to also loose all their data.
 
I know. I already addressed that. There are Plextors, several models, readily available at a local store in my area, as well as others. I just think those guys are being waaaaaaaaay too picky.
 
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