NVMe Lifespan (2024)

Originally Posted by abirkhan75

Hi,
I recently got a dedicated server from a reputable company, and I've been a satisfied customer for several years with almost no problems with them.

However, the most recent server I received is equipped with an NVMe drive that displays "Data Units Written: 1.44 PB" on smartctl. This is a SAMSUNG MZQL2960HCJR-00A07 NVMe drive with a capacity of 960GB.

I'm interested in understanding if it's advisable to use this drive as the primary one and what its lifespan might be. Could you provide insights into the longevity of NVMe drives?

HTML Code:

=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSEDSMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02)Critical Warning: 0x00Temperature: 30 CelsiusAvailable Spare: 100%Available Spare Threshold: 10%Percentage Used: 34%Data Units Read: 1,614,099,232 [826 TB]Data Units Written: 2,830,249,263 [1.44 PB]Host Read Commands: 4,543,066,955Host Write Commands: 10,992,635,510Controller Busy Time: 39,627Power Cycles: 35Power On Hours: 8,814Unsafe Shutdowns: 28Media and Data Integrity Errors: 0Error Information Log Entries: 0Warning Comp. Temperature Time: 0Critical Comp. Temperature Time: 0Temperature Sensor 1: 30 CelsiusTemperature Sensor 2: 40 Celsius

See Also

Top 6 Reasons to Upgrade to an NVMe SSDTypes of SSD form factors - Kingston TechnologyNVMe vs. M.2 Drives: Which SSD Is Right for You?NVMe vs M.2 vs SATA vs PCIe: What are these SSDs?

Percentage used: 34%

Meaning there's 66% of the total write capacity still remaining. Looking at the specs, it seems like a good quality drive. It should be fine.

Personally we set aside SSDs with less than 50% wear remaining as "grade B", we don't give them to customers, to ensure that even if someone uses the same drive for several years at high intensity, it is unlikely to wear out while they are using it.

Depending upon the model of drive (enterprise drives are better about this than consumer grade drives), you also can see reduced performance as the wear remaining decreases, which is another reason we set our cutoff at 50% wear remaining.