Playstation 5 soldered 825 GB SSD puts a hard limit on the lifespan of each retail unit

[Redaktion]

What will happen when the internal SSD inevitably dies? We're not so sure. Whereas the primary drives in the PS3 and PS4 could all be easily replaced, the fixed SSD in the PS5 could be an issue far into the lifespan of the system.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Playstation-5-soldered-825-GB-SSD-puts-a-hard-limit-on-the-lifespan-of-each-retail-unit.497370.0.html

[splus]

SSDs never die, this will never be an issue. The first SSDs, long time ago, had a shorter life, but the modern ones last decades with normal usage! The CPU in PS5, and especially its liquid metal paste are more likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

The regular HDs don't last long on the other hand. Almost every portable USB HD I've ever owned (started from 20 GB to 2 TB) have died eventually, with below average usage.

[Mmick]

SSDs never die, this will never be an issue. The first SSDs, long time ago, had a shorter life, but the modern ones last decades with normal usage! The CPU in PS5, and especially its liquid metal paste are more likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

The regular HDs don't last long on the other hand. Almost every portable USB HD I've ever owned (started from 20 GB to 2 TB) have died eventually, with below average usage.

I have a lot of HDDs from Seagate, 1x 3TB 3.5", 2x 5 TB 2.5" on a NAS, 1x 3 TB 2.5" and 1x 2 TB 2.5" and zero issues now and with old ones (several in laptops from 320 up to 500 GB) also no issues. The only ones that went south were hdd from the 40 - 80 GB era...

On the ps5 though, most data on games will be saved one time + updates. What could damage the ssd are the "fast resumes " which will save constantly the ram on the ssd.

[Lucas]

If those are only one-time writes then it will be fine, but the OS will do constant operations and if you want to move games between the main and other drives that can use up the ssd endurance. There os also the matter or a simple failure which will require a new motherboard entirely so an out-of-warranty repair may be very expensive.
To me this is a deal breaker as the disc drive should always be replaceable as that is one of the first things to die, especially when the warranty period is over and you are left with a big living room decoration (if it can be called that). A mitigation would be the ability to replace it with an external drive.

[sadsadas]

SSDs never die, this will never be an issue. The first SSDs, long time ago, had a shorter life, but the modern ones last decades with normal usage! The CPU in PS5, and especially its liquid metal paste are more likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

The regular HDs don't last long on the other hand. Almost every portable USB HD I've ever owned (started from 20 GB to 2 TB) have died eventually, with below average usage.

I have a lot of HDDs from Seagate, 1x 3TB 3.5", 2x 5 TB 2.5" on a NAS, 1x 3 TB 2.5" and 1x 2 TB 2.5" and zero issues now and with old ones (several in laptops from 320 up to 500 GB) also no issues. The only ones that went south were hdd from the 40 - 80 GB era...

On the ps5 though, most data on games will be saved one time + updates. What could damage the ssd are the "fast resumes " which will save constantly the ram on the ssd.

I have had a few HDDs of my own and frankly the Seagate ones were the worst and most of them failed miserably or had issues in accessing data after ~3 years of use.
On the contrary I have 6+ years ssds that are still top notch and in those 6 years i have written about 40TB of data, so 600TB of data with new ssds is PLENTY enough for 10 years+ of usage.
I like when a random journalist that hasn't got a clue about software/hardware makes an educated guess article and thinks he discovered something that Sony engineers didn't think of.

[Anonym]

I find it strange (even ironic) that a website specialized in laptop reviews has missed years of opportunities to write such a piece about any modern Macbook Pro or the few other laptops that do the exact same thing.

If it's not a concern for the machines where we do our precious work, why is it suddenly so important for gaming consoles? NBC is going down the drain with all these opinion pieces that are not labeled as such, nor should be such an highlight in the main page.

[A]

Import tax ruins al price.

[Awk]

Apparently ps5 is using dram cache, which actually extends the usability of ssd:
@ant_uk15 - cant provide link here...

[L]

Extending is one thing but providing an alternative whould be much better as eventually it will die.

[xpclient]

I find it strange (even ironic) that a website specialized in laptop reviews has missed years of opportunities to write such a piece about any modern Macbook Pro or the few other laptops that do the exact same thing.

If it's not a concern for the machines where we do our precious work, why is it suddenly so important for gaming consoles? NBC is going down the drain with all these opinion pieces that are not labeled as such, nor should be such an highlight in the main page.

I think Notebookcheck is great to point out these flaws such as soldered SSDs but yes I agree they should point them out for MacBook/Crapbooks too. In those reviews, the cons pointed out in PC laptops are omitted often.

[Mochamad Aris Zamroni]

Sony should put information of the ssd wear level in the software, just like the ssd status samsung magician.

[Michael Olson]

Uhh solder in a new one if the problem arises.

[Citrus]

The PS3 had soldered nand flash as well, it's known to fail on occasion but this isn't new, just new for system storage.

[Can]

It is not true, the device has a m2 ssd slot which is empty. You can increase the storage capacity anytime.

[Nytebyrd]

The way the test ssds gives a very inaccurate perception of their longevity. There isn't currently a better way, but most ssds far out-live their expected write count.

They tend to test them by repeatedly writing until they fail. That's an inaccurate representation of actual useage. You're not going to continually write and rewrite 600tb of data on an ssd in a single sitting. This tends to produce excess heat which is typically what kills electronics in general. Worst case data at least tends to be useful though.

The spacing of the memory modules and controller is far greater than you'd tend to see on a typical m.2. This should allow for more stable thermals even under periods of extended writing.

As someone who uses liquid metal, I'd be far more worried about its long term application. Typically you'll see a galvanic reaction with copper and nickel. You'll see the hard metal seeming to absorb the liquid and leave behind a stain and crusty residue the first couple of applications. Which means the liquid metal can have a very short life span of a few months to a year initially. I'm a fan of how they decided to prevent it from bleeding, but nothing was said about what was done to extend its usefullness past a year, let alone 6-7 years. And few people are comfortable applying it themselves, for a good reason.