What is the life expectancy of SSDs?
Most SSDs can last more than 5 years, while the most durable ones exceed 10 years. The lifespan of an SSD depends on the number of writes and the time factor.
If you want fast and reliable storage, then you should definitely get a solid state SSD, and if you choose a good one, it can serve you for years. Logically, SSDs don't last forever, and they have a limited number of write and erase cycles, which means that over time, your SSD will fail.
Estimated amount of data
Although the lifespan of an SSD may seem somewhat vague, every SSD has an estimated amount of data it can handle before it is at risk of failure.
When purchasing storage, you'll often see different specifications that estimate how long an SSD should run before things go wrong, including terabytes of data that can be written (TBW), disk writes per day (DWPD), and mean time between failures (MTBF).
Some manufacturers may list only one of these metrics, while others may list all three, which is why determining how long an SSD can last is not precise.
TBW is used as a measure of the total amount of data that can be written to an SSD before it wears out, this is the most commonly used metric that represents the endurance of an SSD, and it is unlikely that you will ever reach this limit.
Many of the best SSDs available today have TBW ratings of 1,200TB and above. Assuming you write 100GB of data per week to your SSD, your TBW will run out after 230 years of continuous use. This is, of course, inaccurate and unreasonable, so this metric is just an estimate. Some SSDs will fail within a year, while others won't fail at all.
Lifespan and signs of disk failure
Determining how long SSDs last is difficult, but on average, many SSDs may perform well for 5 to 10 years before showing signs of failure.
This estimate can change depending on some factors that may lengthen or shorten the life of an SSD such as the workloads it handles, and how frequently and intensively it is used. In contrast, recent studies claim that SSD failure becomes more likely with time than with use.
If your SSD is failing, it is very easy to notice, your computer may slow down to unbearable levels, to the point where Chrome will take a long time to launch, you will experience frequent crashes especially during computer boot, frequent file system errors, data corruption, freezing, and unresponsiveness will occur.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that losing an SSD could cost you all your data, which is why backup is so important. But it is also a good idea to periodically test your SSD for signs of failure, and it is best to act before you notice any signs of failure, as this may give you some time to move your data elsewhere and buy a new SSD.