High Endurance M.2 (NVMe not sata) SSD?

[Spartacus]

Are there any high endurance M.2 NVME pcie (up to 110mm length) drives out there? I'm looking for something at least 1PB write endurance to use as cache drives ~ (my current drives are at 60TB already after <6 mo).
Size doesn't really matter as long as its at least 150GB but want to be as cheap as possible (ideal size would be 240gb or so and under $150).

Debating whether I need to sacrifice 2 of my 3.5" bays for SAS SSD if theres nothing reasonable.

 

[alex_stief]

There are a few, but write endurance in that market segment mostly seems to scale with storage capacity.

Solid State Drives (SSD) mit Schnittstelle: M.2 (PCIe), TBW: ab 1PB Preisvergleich geizhals.eu EU

Preisvergleich und Bewertungen für Solid State Drives (SSD) mit Schnittstelle: M.2 (PCIe), TBW: ab 1PB

geizhals.eu

The amount of options increases if you don't need PLP

 

[Spartacus]

Thats what I was afraid of, I have a pair of the corsair force mp510 240gb atm and they should have a 400 TBW rating.
I snagged them on sale for $45 each new from amazon.

I guess I'll sit on them for a couple of years and see how they do, those Transcend MTE220S dont look too bad though, even the 256gb model is 550TBW.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Samsung's 980 Pro m.2 NVMe is still MLC, so based on this study: The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
TL;DR: Its cousin 840 PRO SATA 256GB drive was still functional after over 2PBW
150TBW is likely to be an extremely conservative rating.

 

[Spartacus]

Samsung's 980 Pro m.2 NVMe is still MLC, so based on this study: The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
TL;DR: Its cousin 840 PRO SATA 256GB drive was still functional after over 2PBW
150TBW is likely to be an extremely conservative rating.

Thanks, but if 150TBW is their cutoff for warranty replacement, I'll stick with corsair that offers 5y and high TBW spec rating.
I love Samsungs drives for my primary drives in all my low write usage rigs, they're rock solid, but I prefer a garuntee or replacement vs a 'it should last'.

 

[realtomatoes]

Look up BPX Pro. Their 960GB has a TBW of 1665. Not as fast as Samsung though. I got several of these btw and they are solid since i got them.

 

[Spartacus]

Yeah if I wanted to go up to 1TB the corsair mp510 force is 1700 TBW at that size and $15 less than the BPX (at least on amazon).
Thats my dilemma I cant find anything much cheaper than what I'm using and/or extremely high PBW for the higher cost.

The 2.5" HGST SAS SSD I have in my encoding box have something stupid like 2.5PBW for 400GB in size and got them for $90 ea (be it may they're not NVME speeds).
I was hoping there might be something comparable, but guess not, too much compactness I assume to put all the extra chips the HGST probably have in them for that write rating.

 

[acquacow]

Samsung's 980 Pro m.2 NVMe is still MLC, so based on this study: The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
TL;DR: Its cousin 840 PRO SATA 256GB drive was still functional after over 2PBW
150TBW is likely to be an extremely conservative rating.

Keep in mind you're comparing a study of 2d planar nand to newer 3d nand... they don't really compare, but in most all 3d nand lithographies, there's more longevity than on 2d planar MLC.

 

[RichieLAX]

I am using 970 evo plus NVMe drive in mb861u31-1m2b

 

[Spartacus]

I am using 970 evo plus NVMe drive in mb861u31-1m2b

It is a great drive, I have one in my main gaming rig and my wife's, just not relevant for this conversation since it has 1/3 the TBW compared to the others mentioned.

 

[BoredSysadmin]

Keep in mind you're comparing a study of 2d planar nand to newer 3d nand... they don't really compare, but in most all 3d nand lithographies, there's more longevity than on 2d planar MLC.

Not sure what's exactly is your point, except to agree with me.
I said planar 2d MLC from Samsung (840 Pro) was an exceptionally resilient drive, ergo V-NAND 3D MLC 980 PRO will likely to be also very resilient, if not more. As OP mentioned, he's more focused not on actual endurance, but on guaranteed & warrantied endurance.

 

[Spartacus]

Not sure what's exactly is your point, except to agree with me.
I said planar 2d MLC from Samsung (840 Pro) was an exceptionally resilient drive, ergo V-NAND 3D MLC 980 PRO will likely to be also very resilient, if not more. As OP mentioned, he's more focused not on actual endurance, but on guaranteed & warrantied endurance.

Correct I care less about speed at long as its at least 1gb write to max out my 10g connection (which pretty much most/all NVME are)

That said, V-NAND 3-bit MLC is actually TLC (hence the 3-bit notation) its pretty misleading IMO not quite as good endurance rating as the previous MLC (2-bit).
Samsung has alot lower TBW rating than many others out there and is a higher cost so not really an option I prefer for this use case.

 

[Markess]

That said, V-NAND 3-bit MLC is actually TLC (hence the 3-bit notation) its pretty misleading IMO not quite as good endurance rating as the previous MLC (2-bit).

Well, Samsung will tell you that the "M" in MLC is "multi" ...and multi is anything over 1. So their opinion is that they are being exacting by letting you know its more than 1...and specifically 3.

I think that the high endurance, low capacity, NVMe drive is going to be hard to come by. When Seagate announced the 510 series release this spring, they claimed industry leading endurance and they only list 435 TBW for the 240GB model.

 

[Markess]

Debating whether I need to sacrifice 2 of my 3.5" bays for SAS SSD if theres nothing reasonable.

So are these going in your Antec 1200(s)? If you've got any ports to spare, could you just stick 2.5" drives somewhere else in that case? Its pretty spacious so you could shove 'em somewhere right? Celephane tape and zip ties I

f you stayed away from SAS12G and other space heaters you could even wedge them in between the case's front drive cage and the side panel on the window side. Or be boring and fasten them down with some sort of legit bracket. If nothing else, there's additional choice in the 2.5" form factor.

 

[Spartacus]

I have 20-3.5” slots total so 2 isnt the end of the world im using about 55TB atm though with 8tb drives im at 50% max capacity slot wise. I could temporarily take that those slots up fine probably.

The sas heaters are the only ones with the endurance I really want at an affordable price seems like. They need solid airflow for sure, I considered the redneck mounting but I like the nvme speed so wanted to exhaust that option if at all possible .

 

[Markess]

Plus I suppose that pesky desire for a warranty is an issue too. If it weren't, there's stuff out there like Intel S4500, which you can still get new in 480GB for around $125 on eBay. They run cool enough to shove in a tight corner, and have a 900TB endurance. But I'm sure they must be OEM, so the warranty would be dodgy at best.

 

[pyro_]

Maybe keep your eye open to see if you might be able to snag a cheap optane Drive

 

[pyro_]

One other possible option if you have a 2.5” bay available is look at a U2 nvme drive and use a u2 to m2 cable on it

 

[Markess]

...but I like the nvme speed so wanted to exhaust that option if at all possible .

Me too. If you find something good, please share, I'd like some too.

 

[Waterkippie]

Samsung's 980 Pro m.2 NVMe is still MLC, so based on this study: The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead - The Tech Report
TL;DR: Its cousin 840 PRO SATA 256GB drive was still functional after over 2PBW
150TBW is likely to be an extremely conservative rating.

No it's not, the new 980 Pro has TLC, unlike it's predecessor 970 Pro which was MLC.
(And EVO series always were TLC)