3 Years of Service
Apart from the SSD killer update KB5063878 for Windows 11, there are a few other things that literally torture your SSDs when you're using Windows (no matter which version), so I decided to share some useful tips with you on how to increase the life of your SSD and prevent its sudden death. These tips I discovered on my own years ago and saved them in a text file, while I was still using Windows. Nowadays I'm "Linux only" but some of these tips still apply, even with Linux. It will still die some day but it won't be as fast and sudden as the case of @ShaddyGames and you won't lose your data, if you know what symptoms to look for.
• Avoid cheap SSDs with large storage capacity. $50 for 1TB or more - there's usually a reason for it to be this cheap and you'll find it the hard way - when you lose your data.
Based on my experience, I recommend (in that order) these brands: Corsair, Western Digital, Kingston. The Corsair SSDs (2.5") were quite expensive when I bought them but all of them outlived not only their warranty but also 2 different PC configurations. The last 2.5 Corsair SSD that I had - it survived 12 years before it became slower, at which point I had to replace it.
• If you're doing a lot of writing on that SSD, you better buy a NAS SSD - "Network Accessed Storage". They're designed to survive the stress of too much writing on them. The NVME NAS SSDs combine both speed in performance and surviving the writing stress, altough with NTFS you won't see the advertised differences. Maybe 30% of that speed, if you're lucky.
Western Digital makes the NAS with red label. Black are even better than red but they're way too expensive for the most people, that's why mostly corporations and large companies can afford them.
• Disable prefetching and file indexing in the Windows settings. You're gonna have to Google these, since I have forgotten almost everything when it comes to Windows settings. The only things I still remember are how to disable the hybernation files and these tips (bc I have them on a text file).
Especially disable prefetching. Prefetching is the Windows' "trade mark" that most often kills SSDs.
• Use the "trim" function or whatever its name is in Windows. That prevents fragmentation and keeps the SSD in good health for a longer time.
The primary symptom you should be looking for is this: increase in time completion for tasks that used to work faster at the beginning. If the SSD becomes slower than before, that's a symptom it's going down - sooner or later, so you better get a new one and move your data while you still can. A secondary, but not any less important, symptom to look for are bad sectors that won't go away after filesystem repairs. Keep an eye on them and check the SSD once a month. If the number of bad sector increases (usually doubles), it's time for you to look for another SSD. The faster the increase of bad sectors, the faster you need to replace it. In that case I'd recommend you to shutdown Windows and disconnect the SSD from the motherboard and only reconnect it when you have a new one and want to copy your files from the old SSD to the new one.
Finally, a tip not exactly on topic but IMO still important: if you want to prevent Windows from erasing your data without your consent (that was the main reason I switched to Linux in 2015), you'd better disable chkdsk at boot. I remember something about digging through regedit to do that but you'll have to Google the details for that too. Or ask an AI how to do it, they know for sure.
If you ever wanna do a filesystem check, better use an external tool for that. I think EASEUS had such a tool. It's probably proprietary and with licenses (as usual) but at least it won't delete all of your data without a warning.
• Avoid cheap SSDs with large storage capacity. $50 for 1TB or more - there's usually a reason for it to be this cheap and you'll find it the hard way - when you lose your data.
Based on my experience, I recommend (in that order) these brands: Corsair, Western Digital, Kingston. The Corsair SSDs (2.5") were quite expensive when I bought them but all of them outlived not only their warranty but also 2 different PC configurations. The last 2.5 Corsair SSD that I had - it survived 12 years before it became slower, at which point I had to replace it.
• If you're doing a lot of writing on that SSD, you better buy a NAS SSD - "Network Accessed Storage". They're designed to survive the stress of too much writing on them. The NVME NAS SSDs combine both speed in performance and surviving the writing stress, altough with NTFS you won't see the advertised differences. Maybe 30% of that speed, if you're lucky.
Western Digital makes the NAS with red label. Black are even better than red but they're way too expensive for the most people, that's why mostly corporations and large companies can afford them.
• Disable prefetching and file indexing in the Windows settings. You're gonna have to Google these, since I have forgotten almost everything when it comes to Windows settings. The only things I still remember are how to disable the hybernation files and these tips (bc I have them on a text file).
Especially disable prefetching. Prefetching is the Windows' "trade mark" that most often kills SSDs.• Use the "trim" function or whatever its name is in Windows. That prevents fragmentation and keeps the SSD in good health for a longer time.
The primary symptom you should be looking for is this: increase in time completion for tasks that used to work faster at the beginning. If the SSD becomes slower than before, that's a symptom it's going down - sooner or later, so you better get a new one and move your data while you still can. A secondary, but not any less important, symptom to look for are bad sectors that won't go away after filesystem repairs. Keep an eye on them and check the SSD once a month. If the number of bad sector increases (usually doubles), it's time for you to look for another SSD. The faster the increase of bad sectors, the faster you need to replace it. In that case I'd recommend you to shutdown Windows and disconnect the SSD from the motherboard and only reconnect it when you have a new one and want to copy your files from the old SSD to the new one.
Finally, a tip not exactly on topic but IMO still important: if you want to prevent Windows from erasing your data without your consent (that was the main reason I switched to Linux in 2015), you'd better disable chkdsk at boot. I remember something about digging through regedit to do that but you'll have to Google the details for that too. Or ask an AI how to do it, they know for sure.
If you ever wanna do a filesystem check, better use an external tool for that. I think EASEUS had such a tool. It's probably proprietary and with licenses (as usual) but at least it won't delete all of your data without a warning.
