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[K1QQQ]

Not really off topic but --

I am no computer wiz..too old...


BUT..all new computers now have SSD Hard Drives. (most all) The reported downside is/was you can only write/read of whatever so many times before the drive is dead. TRUE ?

I have used old hard-drives usually for years with no problems and it was not that expensive to put a new one in. Mostly used Toshiba laptops but they probably have the same thing in them as others. ACER..have 2 sitting here now DEAD after short usage. As to USB hard-drives good luck but have had one fail.-- probably my cause but do not usually write/re-write that much....

I was thinking of getting another 'new' laptop before thee old hard-drives are gone. DUMB ? I think one might end up with things too slow to keep up with the internet.

If the new SSD Drives can only be used so many times ways to save them ? Run from an external drives. Woul;d it save on anything ? Partition ?

I tend to use a computer 24/7/365 and hate to think all expires and going to leave me in the cold.

Dumb Post ?

o-what got me thinking... I found some old and not so old USB 'flash drives' I had things stored on. Very Convenient. Besides some .jpg pictures looking terrible and total failure of any computer to recognize them !! Good name brand ones also. (I think they are of different material than SSD Hard Drives)

[AA6YQ]

Not really off topic but --

I am no computer wiz..too old...


BUT..all new computers now have SSD Hard Drives. (most all) The reported downside is/was you can only write/read of whatever so many times before the drive is dead. TRUE ?

I have used old hard-drives usually for years with no problems and it was not that expensive to put a new one in. Mostly used Toshiba laptops but they probably have the same thing in them as others. ACER..have 2 sitting here now DEAD after short usage. As to USB hard-drives good luck but have had one fail.-- probably my cause but do not usually write/re-write that much....

I was thinking of getting another 'new' laptop before thee old hard-drives are gone. DUMB ? I think one might end up with things too slow to keep up with the internet.

If the new SSD Drives can only be used so many times ways to save them ? Run from an external drives. Woul;d it save on anything ? Partition ?

I tend to use a computer 24/7/365 and hate to think all expires and going to leave me in the cold.

Dumb Post ?

o-what got me thinking... I found some old and not so old USB 'flash drives' I had things stored on. Very Convenient. Besides some .jpg pictures looking terrible and total failure of any computer to recognize them !! Good name brand ones also. (I think they are of different material than SSD Hard Drives)

Take a look at this article: 

Why Do Solid State Devices (SSD) Wear Out

[K0UA]

Well the estimated life span of a SSD in normal use is about 10 years so.......

[VE3YF]

The SSD has far greater lifespan than a HDD. SSD have no moving parts to fail, and a lot less heat buildup inside which creates failures.

Google search says 3-5 year life expectancy of a HDD, where a SSD has over 10 year lifespan.

Actually most of the new motherboards are built to accept NVME Drives which are the latest SSD. These drives fit right on the motherboards so no bottlenecks etc, very fast..

Still doesn't hurt to do a backup of your computer on a weekly basis. I back my computers weekly.

[NA4M]

Don't be concerned about SSDs exceeding their R/W durability in normal use. 

HDDs are reliable and economical -  but I'll never purchase another HDD except maybe for replacement of the drives in my NAS used for archival/backups and don't get accessed that much.

As this article shows SSD life in a typical scenario is a loong time. The example lifespan was 300+ years.

https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/hardware/ssd-lifespan-how-long-will-your-ssd-work/

[KB1NO]

SSDs have intelligence, including error correction just like hard drives.   There are extra cells included in the SSD Flash memory array.   When a cell is detected to be wearing out from writes,  the controller moves the data in that cell to a new cell and the cell is remapped.   This is completely transparent to the user. 
SSDs are optimized for reads, writes or balanced.  Enterprise Class SSDs have more extra cells.   In a laptop,  you are likely to get a balanced one I suspect. 
The manufacturers provide tools to check the SSD periodically.  While SSDs are very reliable in general, it's still a good idea to back up important data periodically as others have advised.
Personally,  I wouldn't want to go back to spinning drives in a laptop or desktop.     
 GL,
John, KB1NO

   

[G4AON]

The article by Dell, linked to by AA6YQ, basically explains the harsh reality of storage drives.

My Dell Optiplex desktop had an SSD failure, it was around 7 years old. Removing the drive, fitting an SSD I had spare, re-installing the whole system and files, took only 30 minutes from turning off the desktop!

My backup software is by Acronis. You can also backup logbook files, “office” documents, etc. to cloud storage for safe keeping off site. You can typically get a few GB of storage for free. With the high fire risk in some areas, cloud storage of important documents is cheap insurance.

Expect all storage drives to fail at some stage, regardless of whether they are heavy duty 5,400 rpm “CCTV” hard drives, or lightning fast SSD drives in a laptop.

A Dell Optiplex is a business grade desktop that is easy to dismantle without needing tools, couple that with a weekly backup routine and you can replace a failed drive in a matter of minutes. The time of 30 mins from power down to being fully back working is no exaggeration, but relies on having regular full backups.

I wouldn’t consider using a “spinning rust” drive, unless it was for a very specific purpose, such as continuous recording for a CCTV system. SSD technology is so much faster, uses less power and is generally more reliable.

73 Dave G4AON

[G8FXC]

Have the best of both worlds! Large SSDs are still a lot more expensive than spinning disks of the same size and there are question marks over the number of read-write cycles that they can achieve. Small - as in a couple of hundred GB - SSDs are very cheap. I generally fit a mechanical drive of 1TB or more and front it up with a 250GB SSD - neither costs more than £50. A copy of PrimoCache for less than £30 and I have SSD performance at mechanical disk prices and the best of both reliability. PrimoCache automatically tracks the frequency of usage of each disk block and mirrors all frequently used blocks on both disks. More than 90% of all disk reads on my shack PC come from the SSD - which can support read-operations ad-inifinitum with no degradation. Disk writes are directed straight to the physical disk - via a 1GB write cache in RAM that I have configured also in PrimoCache. The only writes to the SSD are those chosen by PrimoCache as it promotes a physical disk block to SSD after it has determined that usage justifies it.

Martin (G8FXC)

[AI5BC]

I am no computer wiz..too old...

An SSD will outlive you and an HDD.

[AC2EU]

I cloned one of my computer's drives to SSD may years a go (about 12??) . It still runs well with no errors.
The SSD is much , much faster than the standard HD. It will make an old computer perform almost like a new one!
It reduces the seek and swap bottleneck times.

If you ate going to make the transition, get a good quality SSD. Cheap price may result in quicker mean time to failure.