SLC stores 1 bit of data per cell. MLC stores 4. Because of this, the MLC silicon will degrade substantially faster than the SLC drives do (around 10x).
This isn't a major issue for most people as defraging is 100% pointless on an SSD and the firmwares use even wear algorithms to ensure all cells are evenly worn down......you get about 10,000 writes per cell on MLC drives, that will take a very long time to start causing issues. -----Original Message----- From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Thane Sherrington Sent: 23 July 2009 11:20 To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: [H] Question of solid state drives I was reading a review of the new Intel MLC drive, and he says "The real strength of the Intel drives is in its random, small file, read/write performance. Here we see a 10% improvement in random read performance over the 1st gen drives, putting the new X25-M ahead of even the X25-E. Now there are obvious lifespan benefits you get from an SLC drive that the G2 can't match, but for a desktop user this thing is even better than the X25-E. " I know nothing about SLC vs MLC - what does he mean buy "obvious lifespan benefits?" T This message and any attachment are confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, please telephone or email the sender and delete this message and any attachment from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy this message or attachment or disclose the contents to any other person. Clifford Chance LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales under number OC323571. The firm's registered office and principal place of business is at 10 Upper Bank Street, London, E14 5JJ. For further details, including a list of members and their professional qualifications, see our website at www.cliffordchance.com. The firm uses the word 'partner' to refer to a member of Clifford Chance LLP or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications. The firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Authority's rules can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://www.sra.org.uk/code-of-conduct.page Clifford Chance as a global firm regularly shares client and/or matter-related data among its different offices and support entities in strict compliance with internal control policies and statutory requirements. Incoming and outgoing email communications may be monitored by Clifford Chance, as permitted by applicable law and regulations. For further information about Clifford Chance please see our website at http://www.cliffordchance.com or refer to any Clifford Chance office.
