Delkin Blog

When you’re selecting an SSD, or solid state drive, endurance is likely to be one of the parameters with which you are most concerned. The endurance level of an SSD depends on several different factors, including how it is used and the type of flash memory it contains. The good news is that you can easily choose an appropriate high endurance SSD by learning about the differences between drives and picking one that aligns with your needs. Here are the facts you need to know.

SSDs are more reliable than HDDs.

All things being equal, SSDs and hard disk drives, or HDDs, tend to have the same level of endurance. However, SSDs are much more reliable. Because HDDs have moving parts, they are prone to early failure. This vulnerability can significantly shorten the lifespan of an HDD. An SSD, on the other hand, does not have moving parts, so it is much less likely to experience an early failure. If you have an industrial application that is frequently exposed to shock or vibration, an SSD will almost certainly offer a longer lifespan, since movement can’t disrupt any mechanical operations, as can happen with an HDD.

The number of read versus write cycles matters.

SSDs that perform significantly more read operations than write operations tend to last longer than those that are used in write-heavy functions. For example, a gaming SSD that has to be programmed once and then reads over and over as the game is played is likely to have a longer lifespan than a drive that is constantly recording new data. This factor is not something that can be changed—after all, a device needs to perform the operations for which it was designed. However, understanding this notion will help you have a better understanding of the endurance you can expect.

Single-level cell flash offers the highest endurance.

SLC, or single-level cell, flash has the highest endurance of all grades of flash. As such, drives with SLC flash typically offer the longest lifespan. With SLC flash, only one bit of data is written per cell, which limits the necessary P/E cycles. Fewer P/E cycles means better endurance.

For a high endurance SSD with SLC flash, choose Delkin. Reach out to our customer applications team today for more information.

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