SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?

Ocman76 · 20 Mar 2021

Hello,

I have a 180GB Intel SSD which I pulled from an old laptop (around 2014 I believe). The drive health is shown in crystaldiskinfo as 10% which seems to be coming directly from the Media Wearout Indicator:

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-intel-ssd-health-crystaldiskinfo.png

From this Ten Forums post, it looks like this SSD may be approaching its Nand erase cycles maximum:

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-image.png

The Total Nand Writes is 223 TB. Is this drive getting close to end of life? Is it still safe to use?

Thanks!

zbook · 20 Mar 2021

Any drive can be used until the terminal event as long as:
a) important files are backed up to another drive or the cloud
b) there are backup images

Macrium Software | It's our Business to protect your data
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

Before the terminal event there may be performance problems:
a) slow read or write
b) hangs / freezes
c) unexpected shutdowns and restarts
etc.

Run HD Tune (free version) (all drives)
HD Tune website
Post images into the thread for results on these tabs:
a) Health
b) Benchmark
c) Full error scan

Run Sea Tools for Windows
long generic test
Post an image of the test result into the thread
SeaTools for Windows |
Seagate
How to use SeaTools for Windows | Seagate Support US

Chrysalis · 21 Mar 2021

I dont think failure is imminent but I would be planning replacement at this point.

TairikuOkami · 21 Mar 2021

If I understand it correctly, it means, that you have lost 10%, thus 18GB.
Mine SSD is worn out at 6%, it is 512GB, so I have only 482GB writeable.

Ocman76 · 22 Mar 2021

zbook said:

Post an image of the test result into the thread

Here are the test results. For some reason I get an error message when trying to run the write test in HD Tune:

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-health.png

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-read.png

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-write.png

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-error-scan.png

Seatools doesn't appear to provide much in the way of results unless I am missing something:

SSD Media Wearout Indicator at 10%, is drive still safe to use?-seatools.png

zbook · 22 Mar 2021

Download and install: Macrorit (free)
[Official] Macrorit Partition Managers | Bootable Portable Partition Manager

Run: Macrorit partition expert > Disk Surface Test (run overnight) > post images into the thread

Steve C · 23 Mar 2021

What does Intel's SSD utility report? See Download Intel(R) Memory and Storage Tool (GUI)

Fabler2 · 23 Mar 2021

I'm surprised that Crystaldiskinfo is showing only a yellow warning at 10% health instead of red. Personally I would replace as soon as possible. This is my results.

LMiller7 · 23 Mar 2021

The wear indicator isn't an actual measurement of wear. That isn't possible with current technology. It is just a calculation based on the number of erase cycles and the nominal rating. Some drives may take other factors into account. A drive can fail for many reasons and media wear out is only one.

Some months ago I had an SSD failure. It was about 5 years old and drive heath about 96%. After failure it wasn't seen by the BIOS. As I had an image backup I did not investigate further. Any drive, new or old, can fail at any time, and often does with no warning or apparent cause.

SMART was an attempt to predict failures in hard drives. In my view it isn't very accurate. It can be useful but never rely on it. The lack of warnings does not necessarily mean all is well.

"Safe" is a relative term and highly subjective. I would replace the drive.

sdowney717 · 24 Mar 2021

Replace or backup frequently. if you can install 2 drives, clone to the second new one and dual boot the potentially failing drive till it dies. When it dies, switch to booting the second new drive in the PC