Small technical feat from an SSD specialist who switches the QLC NAND of his Crucial to SLC mode to boost its endurance.
In the world of SSD, there are several generations of units that are most or often shared depending on the technology of the on-board memory chips for storage.
An enthusiast decided to pass off the QLC of his Crucial BX500 SSD as SLC with the aim of improving write endurance, a weak point of QLC technology.
From SLC NAND to QLC NAND
When SSDs were launched, we actually had so-called SLC memory, for “single-level-cell”. To put it simply, each SLC cell has only two electrical states and can only store one bit of information.
The advantage of this technology is that it allows high performance, low power consumption and tremendous write endurance. In reality, such a level of endurance is even useless for ordinary mortals. We are talking about 100,000 erase/write cycles. MLC (multi-level-cell) technology therefore first appeared to designate DLC (double-level-cell) memory, which allows two bits of information.
Slower, this MLC was still quite sufficient, with a write endurance of 10,000 cycles. Manufacturers have therefore set out to further reduce costs with TLC (triple-level-cell) and even QLC (quad-level-cell). TLC is widely used, but QLC has been less blamed with an endurance three times lower than TLC, at around 1,000 cycles.
Firmware changes
Gabriel Ferraz, graduate in computer engineering and responsible for the SSD database of TechPowerUp, has launched a new challenge. After overclocking an SSD to boost its performance, this time he wanted to improve the endurance of a Crucial BX500.
This SATA SSD with an initial capacity of 512 GB integrates QLC memory with reduced endurance of only 900 erase/write cycles. Gabriel Ferraz looked into his case, and using the MPTools software from the USBdev.ru site, he managed to modify the firmware so that the QLC chips were forced to use SLC mode.
If he explains all the steps in his video, Gabriel Ferraz here carries out a manipulation which is clearly not within everyone’s reach. In his case, it worked perfectly, and he estimates the endurance of his “new” SSD at 4,000 cycles with, of course, a notable flaw: the capacity of the BX500 was most logically divided by four, at approximately 120 GB.
Beyond the “beauty of the gesture”, the work of Gabriel Ferraz is interesting to the extent that it confirms the SLC/DLC/TLC/QLC link and, even more, that the operation is technically possible. Who knows, maybe one day SSDs will be sold with a capacity and endurance of the user’s choice?
Source : TechPowerUp
Having fallen into video games at a time when it took a great imagination to see here a football match, there a tank fight in these few bars represented on the screen, I have followed all the developments for forty years. Loyal to the PC, but a fan of all genres, I only have trouble with JRPGs. Otherwise, from the driest turn-based strategy to the most spectacular FPS, including sports simulations or musical games, I can do it all... with a preference for management and games combining several styles. My video game pantheon would consist of three series: Elite, Civilization and Max Payne.
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