Can an SSD notify the hosting OS that its wear level is getting high

ssdwindows-server-2008

I read a lot about SSDs and I am interested in them for server use. My biggest concern is their reliability. A lot of writes shortens their life span. I can mitigate this problem if I can run some kind of diagnostics on a regular basis on the SSD or if the SSD can automatically warn the OS that its reliability is reaching a critical level. Think of this as S.M.A.R.T or software like SpinRite for SSDs.

Does anything I mentioned exist now? Which kind/brand of SSD does this?

I don't mind swapping out a tired SSD for a newer one once a while. I am pretty sure that SSDs life is calculated in years and not in few months? For me, the improved performance will pay for the SSD over and over. I am planning to use plenty of RAM as well.

Best Answer

Intel SSDs (and others) offer wear information via SMART

smartctl -a /dev/ssd

results in something like:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH 
...cut...
232 Unknown_Attribute       0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail
233 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age

with Intel SSDs, 232 is available space (0-100) and 233 is the wear indicator (0-100, lower is worse)

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