Re: News : ARM Trying to Buy AmperComputing

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

 
 
On Wed, 22 Jan 2025, Rich wrote:
 

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

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On Wed, 22 Jan 2025, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
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On 21/01/2025 19:56, Rich wrote:

For SSD's, writes occur to an "erased" flash block (typically
much larger than a "disk sector" size used by the host) and given
enough writes over a short enough timeframe the SSD controller
can run out of "pre-erased" blocks to use, and when that happens
write speed slows down to the rate that can be done when a "block
erase" has to occur before the actual writes can hit the media. 
Note that this "block erase" can also invove moving any partially
used data sectors out of the block into another block, creating a
"write amplification" situation as well.

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One of the best ways to gain speed and longevity is to buy an SSD
that is way larger than you need.  So it always has empty blocks
available.
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And can do the block erases in background

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Indutrial ssds do have spare space exactly in order to prolong lifetime.

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Even consumer SSD's have "spare space", for the same reason.  They
just, typically, don't have as much spare space as the "server class"
drives do from the start.

 
Interesting! Didn't know they did this in the consumer space.

Well, you do have to buy decent brands.  If one buys the Shenshen
knockoffs, one is likely to get an SSD that says it stores 1TB, only to
find the flash chips inside store 64MB.  All the extra writes just get
"thrown away" for you.  Effectively a Write Only Memory.

I think when ssds first came out, there was one vendor, STEC, if
memory serves, that manufactured vastly over engineered drives in
the beginning.  They seemed to last forever.  Then they learned of
course, and started to reduce quality and lifetime to industry
standards and of course the price as well.

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Yes, the race to the bottom on price.

 
I read somewhere that the expected point of convergence between
spinning and ssd in terms of dollar/GB is around 2030.

That will be interesting to see.  Not there yet, but certianly can
happen.