Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Rapid Falcon II degradation

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Rapid Falcon II degradation

    My 128GB Falcon II is rapidly losing drive life.


    For every 2-3GB of data written (SMART value C7*512), the average erase count (D0) increases by 10. The remaining drive life is dropping by 1% every 10 days.

    Given it is a 128GB drive, the write amplification seems absurdly high and will kill the drive within a year.

    Is there anything I can do to avoid this pathological usage?

    Log files, swap files and any application/Windows service with large write behaviour have been moved to a separate drive. No drive benchmarks have been run in months. Wiper has been run.

    GSkill Falcon II 128GB
    Windows 7 x64 SP1
    AHCI
    Intel RST 10.8 drivers
    Last edited by Mortius; 11-27-2011, 08:31 PM.

  • #2
    try to update the firmware to the latest 4.2 version (do it again if you already using 4.2), and let us know about the result.

    Comment


    • #3
      The sticky note suggests that the 4.2 firmware is limited to the Phoenix/ Phoenix Pro/Sniper models.

      My drive is an Indlinix based Falcon II.

      Would the firmware still work, or did want me to install the 2030 firmware instead?

      Comment


      • #4
        sorry, i was typing wrong firmware, it should be 2030 not 4.2!!

        really sorry about this mistake

        Comment


        • #5
          Firmware 2030 has been applied. It will be a few days before I can determine if it was successful.

          Preliminary numbers
          Data Written (C7*512) 41.2GB (mostly from reimaging)
          Maximum Erase Count: 261
          Average erase count 5

          All in decimal), and all reset to 0 after the firmware update.

          Comment


          • #6
            sure, let us know about how it works!!

            Comment


            • #7
              In the 24 hours since my last post:

              Data Written: 43.3GB (+2.1GB)
              Maximum Erase Count: 273 (+12)
              Average Erase Count: 17 (+12)

              No change in the erase count increase was observed. (10-12 are typical values)

              Computer usage was limited to web browsing and long periods of idle. Swap file is on a separate disk, hibernate is disabled


              As a side effect of the new firmware, Maximum PE Count Specification (CD) halved from 10000 to 5000.
              This is noteworthy for two reasons.
              1) Before the firmware flash, the average erase count (D0) was 5723 and the maximum erase count (CF) is 7427. This is well beyond the new 5000 PE specifications. By using both old and new SMART values, I estimate remaining drive lifespan at -15%. My drive is effectively operating beyond specifications and could fail at any time.

              2) At 10 erase cycles per day, a brand new drive will only last 500 days before operating beyond specifications. This is roughly 16.6 months, well short of the 24 month warranty period.

              All numbers are decimal.
              Last edited by Mortius; 11-30-2011, 09:42 PM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Remaining drive life just ticked over to 99%. (-16% including stats before the firmware flash).

                Average erase count is still increasing rapidly. It seems that the only way to improve the drive's lifespan is not to use the computer at all.

                Are the erase counts/drive life indicators an accurate measure of the drives health?

                Should I ignore them and instead watch for an increase in the various failure block counts (C3-C5)?

                Comment


                • #9
                  if you have no problem with daily using, you can ignore about that counts,
                  because flash will getting failure block by daily usage, that's normal.
                  but don't forget backup all of the important data as well, in case once the drive can't be detect.
                  all the data will not be recoverable.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X