My internal (2) drives are SSD. I often leave my computer on all day and put it to sleep at night. I'm wondering if my drives will wear out faster because my computer is on for so many hours per day. Thank you.
The SSD will likely be slowly damaged if it remains turned on 24/7, standby rather than reading/writing operations. It is best to turn off your computer while it is not in use.
No they won't. In the microscopic world of electronics, the worst damage is done when you turn a computer on and off.
Think of it like plumbing. All those little right angle bends in the copper pipe that distribute the water throughout your house.
When you turn the water to the house... ON, the water slams into all those right angle elbows, and weakens them.
It's pretty much the same with electricity and the zillions of PN junctions in the billions of transistors. PN (positive-negative) junctions deteriorate the same way when you turn the electricity on and off.
As long as there is no reading/writing done on the SSDs, being on 24/7 will not hurt them or shorten their lifespan.
You want electronic components to last forever... keep them cool and on.
Well, I wouldn't do that for a laptop. But for anything from a desktop up to a huge mainframe, it's pretty much the industry, rule of thumb.
I was not only taught that (Electronics Tech in the service - 7 years), but have SEEN it over and over in the field (civilian).
My previous computer (still working flawlessly), has been on, 24/7 for 7 years. The 4-5 before that, same thing. Zero hardware issues. And I never use sleep or hibernate.
Obviously, for things that run on batteries, there is a trade off.
/edit I DO have my 30" monitor set to sleep after 5 minutes. The thing has the old CCFL back-lighting and is a veritable space heater.
For an SSD, according to Google... sleep is the best choice. It causes the least amount of read/writes.
As for electronics in general... that argument has been going on for ages. There is NO doubt whatever that turning an electronic device on and off, is harder on the PN junctions in the zillions of transistors in our modern devices.
Whether that's enough to shorten these devices lifespans, is STILL being argued about.
Do I want to debate an issue that has been going on for decades and decades, with you? No.
I can only tell you what I was taught, and what I have experienced.
Now if I was going on vacation for a week or something... I would turn the computer off. Other than things like that, I leave it on.
/edit I was also taught that Pluto was a planet, so just watch out!
By the time you need to worry about wear you'd of already replaced the drive. Anyway this is sort of worrying about replacing your at 200,000 miles when you barely have 900 miles on it. Relax. Enjoy.
BTW I have 5 SSDs in my system and just let the PC go into sleep mode. I rarely shut down unless it's for maintenance.
My reality is different as I said above - I rarely power off my PC; Instead I use sleep mode (even overnight) unless bad weather is around or I'm going out of town for a couple of days.
I'm also one who believes cycling a PC on and off all the time also wears out electronics thus one should develop a "balanced" plan. I typically use sleep mode unless I'm going out of town for a few days where I power off.
Quote