(SSD) "Lifetime Writes" - What does it mean?

[testsob109]

Hi,

I did a search before posting but couldnt find an answer so please forgive the question.

I have a 2 year old SSD as my OS HDD and a month ago I saw the Lifetime Writes number was 600GB and opened today is down to Lifetime writes: 508.22GB

I've read the in-built help guide, site FAQ and forum and can't find an answer to what the Overview -> Lifetime Writes means for an SSD. Does it mean my SSD can only have another 500GB
of data written to it before it fails and I should panic or...? If it could be confirmed if Lifetime Writes is a countdown to expiration plesae. Estimated remaining lifetime: more than 1000 days also shows.

[hdsentinel]

The "Lifetime Writes" counter shows the total amount of data written to the SSD itself.
I can confirm that this is not a count-down, does not indicate expiration or similar.

This counter should always increase with writes initiated by you (for example if you copy / create a file on the SSD) or any software or Windows itself.

It is really interesting that you saw decrease in this number. The SSD should always increase this counter, there should be no decrease.

Can you please use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option? Then I can examine the SSD model, reported complete status information, counter and can check what may have happened.

[testsob109]

Hi,

Thank you so much for the reassurance. I've just sent the developer report as requested. The SSD is one of two hard drives connected. It is a 'PLEXTOR PX-512M6S' for easy finding.

[euthymie]

Hi,

Same issue here.
The lifetime writes descreases over time.


Hard Disk Summary
Hard Disk Number,0
Interface,NVMe
Disk Controller,"Standard NVM Express Controller (PCI\CC_010802) [VEN: 144D, DEV: A804] Version: 10.0.14393.206, 6-21-2006"
Disk Location,"Bus Number 0, Target Id 0, LUN 0"
Hard Disk Model ID,SAMSUNG MZVLW512HMJP-000H
Firmware Revision,CXY70H1Q
Total Size,488382 MB
Power State,Active

Properties
NVMe Standard Version,1.2
PCI Vendor ID (VID),0x144D (Samsung)
PCI Subsystem Vendor ID (SSVID),0x144D (Samsung)
IEEE OUI Identifier,38-25-00
Recommended Arbitration Burst (RAB),2
Multi-Interface Capabilities,0
Maximum Data Transfer Size,1 (0)
Abort Command Limit,8
Asynchronous Event Request Limit,8
Number FW Slots Support,3
Maximum Error Log Page Entries,64
Total Number Of Power States,5
Admin Vendor Specific CMD Format,1
Submission Queue Entry Size,"Max: 64, Min: 64"
Completion Queue Entry Size,"Max: 16, Min: 16"
Number of Namespaces,1
Stripe Size,0
Current PCIe Link Speed,0
Negotiated PCIe Link Speed,0
Maximum Power,760

NVMe Features
Namespace Management,Not supported
Firmware Activate Download,Supported
Format NVM,Supported
Security Send Receive,Supported
Firmware Activation Without Reset,Supported
First Firmware Slot Read Only,No
Command Effects Log Page,Supported
SMART Information Per Namespace,Supported
Reservations,Not supported
Save / Select Fields,Supported
Write Zeroes,Supported
Dataset Management Command,Supported
Write Uncorrectable Command,Supported
Compare Command,Supported
Compare and Write Fused Operation,Not supported
Cryptographic Erase,Not supported
Secure Erase All Namespaces,Not supported
Format All Namespaces,Not supported
Volatile Write Cache Present,Supported
Autonomous Power State Transitions,Supported
Atomic Compare And Write Unit,Not supported
Scatter Gather List (SGL),Not supported

[hdsentinel]

Thanks, this sounds really interesting

Generally the lifetime writes recorded in the SSD, Hard Disk Sentinel reads and displays that value.
It should never decrease, as all writes only increase the total amount of data written.

Please contact the manufacturer of the SSD (Samsung in this case) as they may give information what could cause that the recorded value decreased (which should never happen).

If you use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option, I can examine the complete status of the SSD any time (including the self-monitoring data).
Generally the S.M.A.R.T. page contains the details, including the total amount of data written. If you select that attribute, on the bottom it is possible to examine how it changes with time.