What SSDs use SLC or MLC

A&P211 · Jan 31, 2023

I am trying to find what SSDs use either SLC or MLC. I will be using this SSD for major writes, not storage, just writing.

sLowEnd · Jan 31, 2023

Have you considered Optane?

mechtech · Jan 31, 2023

SLC consumer drives were the first to market, then MLC, then TLC, then QLC.

SLC pretty hard to find now unless looking for enterprise or military grade gear. Enterprise MLC typically has good write ratings. Just look up micron/intel enterprise stuff.

Most if not all consumer SSD usually list the write ratings on the drive.

Super Firm Tofu · Jan 31, 2023

The two consumer drives I know of with extreme TBW warranties are:

Teamgroup 2TB SATA drive with 10000 TBW warranty for $550

https://www.amazon.com/TEAMGROUP-T-Create-Creators-Internal-T253TE002T3C701/dp/B08HPM9B7W/

PNY LX2030 2TB m.2 nvme also with a 10000 TBW warranty for $1000

LX2030 M.2 NVMe SSD

PNY CS900 is the ideal solution for a mainstream solid state drive (SSD) upgrade from a hard disk drive (HDD)

www.pny.com

evernessince · Jan 31, 2023

Super Firm Tofu said:
The two consumer drives I know of with extreme TBW warranties are:

Teamgroup 2TB SATA drive with 10000 TBW warranty for $550

https://www.amazon.com/TEAMGROUP-T-Create-Creators-Internal-T253TE002T3C701/dp/B08HPM9B7W/

PNY LX2030 2TB m.2 nvme also with a 10000 TBW warranty for $1000

LX2030 M.2 NVMe SSD

PNY CS900 is the ideal solution for a mainstream solid state drive (SSD) upgrade from a hard disk drive (HDD)

www.pny.com

Just take note that the LX2030 has an or clause in it's warranty, so it's 10000 TBW or 1 Year, which is worse then most other consumer product warranties.

Super Firm Tofu · Jan 31, 2023

evernessince said:
Just take note that the LX2030 has an or clause in it's warranty, so it's 10000 TBW or 1 Year, which is worse then most other consumer product warranties.

Good catch - I had forgotten about that and after reading the warranty closer, it's only 10,000 TBW for Chia plotting. Only 3000 TBW for regular use.

evernessince · Jan 31, 2023

Super Firm Tofu said:
Good catch - I had forgotten about that and after reading the warranty closer, it's only 10,000 TBW for Chia plotting. Only 3000 TBW for regular use.

The other drive you linked is amazing, never seen a drive with a 12 year warranty.

Super Firm Tofu · Jan 31, 2023

evernessince said:
The other drive you linked is amazing, never seen a drive with a 12 year warranty.

Me either - I can't think of a use case for me, but I'm sure there's an application where long life was critical.

Also, I linked the wrong drive from PNY. The one I had meant to link was this one:

2TB nvme, 5 Year warranty, and 20,000 TBW for standard use, and 54,000 TBW (!) for Chia for $395

LX3030 M.2 NVMe SSD

PNY CS900 is the ideal solution for a mainstream solid state drive (SSD) upgrade from a hard disk drive (HDD)

www.pny.com

The 1TB version is only a 2 year warranty though.

mplayerMuPDF · Jan 31, 2023

I think 3D TLC is on par with planar MLC. Swissbit has pSLC and MLC SSDs (and other flash storage devices such as SD and CompactFlash cards): https://www.swissbit.com/en/products/nand-flash-products/ I came across them by chance yesterday while researching CFast (SATA CompactFlash) cards; I am sure they have competitors that manufacture similar products.

A&P211 · Jan 31, 2023

sLowEnd said:
Have you considered Optane?

I'm not sure if my laptop supports it, its going inside a laptop to video/security cameras.

mechtech said:
SLC consumer drives were the first to market, then MLC, then TLC, then QLC.

SLC pretty hard to find now unless looking for enterprise or military grade gear. Enterprise MLC typically has good write ratings. Just look up micron/intel enterprise stuff.

Most if not all consumer SSD usually list the write ratings on the drive.

I dont mind if its an older SSD like a samsung 840 pro. And I'm fine if its a small storage SSD, 500gb.

chrcoluk · Jan 31, 2023

Might be best to just look for a drive with high TBW rating, e.g. a recent purchase of mine was an Intel DC SSD, it uses 3D TLC yet has a massive TBW rating.

There is many factors that affect durability not just the nand type, such as and not limited to, node size, stacking, firmware, over provisioning, write flushes (enterprise drives e.g. ignore flush requests), onboard dram.

A&P211 · Jan 31, 2023

chrcoluk said:
Might be best to just look for a drive with high TBW rating, e.g. a recent purchase of mine was an Intel DC SSD, it uses 3D TLC yet has a massive TBW rating.

There is many factors that affect durability not just the nand type, such as and not limited to, node size, stacking, firmware, over provisioning, write flushes (enterprise drives e.g. ignore flush requests), onboard dram.

which model did you end up getting.

Wirko · Jan 31, 2023

The last consumer MLC drive was the Samsung 860 Pro, I think. While it can still be found in retail, it seems nothing out of ordinary today (512 GB, 600 TBW, 120 €).

chrcoluk · Jan 31, 2023

A&P211 said:
which model did you end up getting.

Its a DC P4600 2TB, wasn't planned, someone let me know it was been sold at a ridiculously low price so snapped it up.

Note Intel in their usual abandonware fashion have pulled all downloads for it, so i cant grab the official tool for it now (for firmware, turning off led etc.).

Wirko · Jan 31, 2023

chrcoluk said:
There is many factors that affect durability not just the nand type, such as and not limited to, node size, stacking, firmware, over provisioning, write flushes (enterprise drives e.g. ignore flush requests), onboard dram.

What are write flushes and why don't consumer drives ignore them as well? Actually, if you mean flushes from DRAM write cache, consumer SSDs don't have it but datacenter SSDs possibly do, so I'd expect the opposite to be the case.

lexluthermiester · Jan 31, 2023

A&P211 said:
I'm not sure if my laptop supports it, its going inside a laptop to video/security cameras.

You really shouldn't be using a laptop for video surveillance purposes. However, if you must, the following drives are your best options;

Intel DC S3610 SSDSC2BX800G401 2.5" 800GB SATA III MLC Business Solid State Drive - Newegg.com

Buy Intel DC S3610 SSDSC2BX800G401 2.5" 800GB SATA III MLC Business Solid State Drive with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Intel S3710 Series Internal Solid State Drive SSDSC2BA012T401 (2.5", SATA 6Gb/s, 1.2TB Storage Capacity) - Newegg.com

Buy Intel S3710 Series Internal Solid State Drive SSDSC2BA012T401 (2.5", SATA 6Gb/s, 1.2TB Storage Capacity) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

SAMSUNG SM863 MZ-7KM1T9E 2.5" 1.92TB SATA III MLC Enterprise SSD - Newegg.com

Buy SAMSUNG SM863 MZ-7KM1T9E 2.5" 1.92TB SATA III MLC Enterprise SSD with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

There are many options to choose from, if you know where to look;

enterprise ssd | Newegg.com

Search Newegg.com for enterprise ssd. Get fast shipping and top-rated customer service.

www.newegg.com

Wirko · Jan 31, 2023

lexluthermiester said:
You really shouldn't be using a laptop for video surveillance purposes.

Right - and it's not just true of video surveillance but anything that requires running a computer 24/7/365.

I used to have a plan to turn an old laptop into a NAS box. As soon as I started googling for some practical advice, I realised that everybody's advice is to not do it. Fans fail, heatsinks with small gaps between fins get clogged with dust. The battery is of little use, you must either remove it if you can, or else the constant 100% state of charge will destroy it early. My Synology NAS ... I can barely remember where I put it, it's a set-and-forget thing.

Apart from those enterprise SSDs that you listed, there's also some newer and cheaper stuff: Micron 5400 Max, Solidigm D3-S4520, Samsung PM897. Maybe I'm too biased towards newer but I'd rather choose those.

chrcoluk · Jan 31, 2023

Wirko said:
What are write flushes and why don't consumer drives ignore them as well? Actually, if you mean flushes from DRAM write cache, consumer SSDs don't have it but datacenter SSDs possibly do, so I'd expect the opposite to be the case.

They dont because of built in power loss protection they dont have the risk of losing cached data on a power cut, and it contributes to their increased endurance.

Assimilator · Jan 31, 2023

A&P211 said:
I am trying to find what SSDs use either SLC or MLC. I will be using this SSD for major writes, not storage, just writing.

There are no consumer SSDs manufactured with either SLC or MLC, and there haven't been for a number of years. If you are willing to pay through your *ahem* you can find enterprise drives using SLC or MLC, but all consumer drives nowadays are TLC or QLC. And honestly the underlying NAND doesn't actually matter, it's the TBW rating that is the most important factor. So I'd suggest finding a well-reviewed TLC drive with a high TBW.

A&P211 · Jan 31, 2023

I got it all, thank you everyone who posted on here.

Panther_Seraphin · Jan 31, 2023

An SSD for CCTV is a little.....excessive?

Unless your hooking up a DSLR as a CCTV camera most CCTV systems are currently moving over towards H.265 and even with decent frame rate and up to 4K resolution most cameras are happy with around 4Mbps per camera for respectible footage capture.

Shrek · Jan 31, 2023

Super Firm Tofu said:
Teamgroup 2TB SATA drive with 10000 TBW warranty for $550

5,000 writes... most impressive.

lexluthermiester · Jan 31, 2023

Panther_Seraphin said:
An SSD for CCTV is a little.....excessive?

How so?

Panther_Seraphin said:
Unless your hooking up a DSLR as a CCTV camera most CCTV systems are currently moving over towards H.265 and even with decent frame rate and up to 4K resolution most cameras are happy with around 4Mbps per camera for respectible footage capture.

You do realize that camera arrays exist, right?

Panther_Seraphin · Jan 31, 2023

lexluthermiester said:
You do realize that camera arrays exist, right?

Yes I do, I currently work in CCTV at the moment and if we are talking about using 32/64/128 channel NVR setups then HDD space will be far more important than any SSD will.

A decent 128 Channel NVR trying to keep 24/7 recordings at the settings above will need a hell of a lot of storage. Currently we are equipping our 32 channel NVRs with ~30Tb of storage for ~30 days recording. Once you start including Logging/Motion Detection data/audio/Sub streams etc etc etc you will be crying for more and more storage.

lexluthermiester · Jan 31, 2023

Panther_Seraphin said:
Yes I do, I currently work in CCTV at the moment and if we are talking about using 32/64/128 channel NVR setups then HDD space will be far more important than any SSD will.

That depends on the needs of the user and their use-case-scenario. They didn't come here looking to be told to use HDDs. They came here asking what the best SLC/MLC SSD models were.

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