Flash read/write (was Card problems Alexa Mini / Angelbird C-Fast 2.0)
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Andy,
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I’ve just taken delivery of a new MacBook Pro with a 2TB SSD. I went for a larger SSD as I’ve read that the new unified memory architecture means you could edit with footage on the system drive - something that’s previously been frowned upon. But from what you are saying, to minimise read/write cycles it would be best not to use it as a scratch drive except in emergencies. Michael Michael Sanders: London based Cinematographer/Director of Photography. reel/credits/kit: www.mjsanders.co.uk direct email: michael@... m: +44 07976 269818 On 15 Dec 2021, at 21:39, Andy Jarosz <andy@...> wrote:
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Jan Klier
Michael,
I think it’s important to understand those parameters, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Lifetime values are reported via SMART status on all SSD drives. There is a very handy utility for MacOS called DXDrive that will show you all these values and will show the life remaining as a percentage that decreases over time. You can monitor that over time.
On regular system you should get a good number of years out of most SSDs, like Apple. The SSD on my old 2013 MacPro is I think now down to 50% on the Wear Leveling Count.
The individual blocks have a finite number of write cycles before the become unusable. But each drive is made with a certain number of spare blocks that are substituted by the drive itself once a block needs to be taken out of service. Of course, once you exhauste these spares, that’s when the whole drive becomes read-only. The drive also re-balances blocks that are frequently written (data files) with blocks that don’t get changed much at all (installed application executables). An SSD is much more active behind the scenes than a good old HDD.
This is a good overview of some the aspects: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/210492-extremetech-explains-how-do-ssds-work
All that together means you probably don’t have to worry too much unless you plan on filling up and deleting your entire Macbook SSD daily, considering that if it were to wear out, as it is soldered to the mainboard, it would be an expensive repair.
That is of course different for camera cards, whos entire purpose is to be over-written from beginning to end on a regular basis. I would assume special design considerations go into camera cards for that reason, but I don’t know all the details. Maybe someone else on the list can add perspective on that front.
Jan Klier DP/Colorist NYC
Using an SSD as a render drive where a large number of blocks get rewritten regularly
Andy,
I’ve just taken delivery of a new MacBook Pro with a 2TB SSD. I went for a larger SSD as I’ve read that the new unified memory architecture means you could edit with footage on the system drive - something that’s previously been frowned upon.
But from what you are saying, to minimise read/write cycles it would be best not to use it as a scratch drive except in emergencies.
Michael
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Jan Klier
(Apologies for replying to my own email)
Just for additional context on that old SSD in my MacPro (and I’m sure modern SSDs have improved) – it’s a 256GB SSD and has been powered up for 35,616 hours and power cycled 8,387 times. Over its lifetime it has has seen 266TB written to it and has now reached 50% on the wear level.
That is the equivalent of having been filled up and erased 1,064 times. Of course, quite unevenly as it’s the main drive and only ocassionally used as a render drive.
But those numbers should give you some perspective.
If this were a camera card, and you wrote/erased it once a day, 5 days a week, this would last you 4 years (and it’s still going). Now, as was pointed out by Art, camera cards get exposed to different stresses and heat than an SSD in a computer. But some correlation does exist.
Jan Klier DP/Colorist NYC
> On regular system you should get a good number of years out of most SSDs, like Apple. The SSD on my old 2013 MacPro is I think now down to 50% > on the Wear Leveling Count.
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Thanks Jan, that’s super helpful.
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I’m definitely not planning on filling it up and wiping it daily :-) Michael Sanders: London based Cinematographer/Director of Photography. reel/credits/kit: www.mjsanders.co.uk direct email: michael@... m: +44 07976 269818 On 18 Dec 2021, at 14:09, Jan Klier <jan@...> wrote:
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Shaul Pollack
Hi all,
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On this topic, can someone recommend an easy to use Windows program to check the health of multiple sd cards. We have about 60 256gb and 128gb sandisk cards that I am now realizing should probably be checked before one of them fail. It would also be nice if the software is easy to understand so that I can show my boss exactly what the issues are. Thank you. Shaul Pollack V2, Eagle Production Co. Brick, NJ On Dec 18, 2021, at 9:16 AM, Michael Sanders <lists@...> wrote:
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Bob Kertesz
Hard Disk Sentinel.
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-Bob Bob Kertesz BlueScreen LLC Hollywood, California Mostly Retired Engineer, Video Controller, and Live Compositor Extraordinaire. High quality images for almost five decades - whether you've wanted them or not.© * * * * * * * * * * On 12/18/2021 3:04:19 PM, Shaul Pollack wrote:
Hi all, |
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