Switching between SLC and TLC

[Nike_486DX]

you can just use optane memory as high endurance ssd, they state the 32gb model (enough for the os at least) is 365TBW, which is pretty high and comparable to some 500gb ssds. Also thanks to 3dxpoint tech they (really) dont need dram, and outperform even the fastest traditional ssds in random io. (there are 64 ad 128gb capacities as well)

 

[GabrielLP14]

you can just use optane memory as high endurance ssd, they state the 32gb model (enough for the os at least) is 365TBW, which is pretty high and comparable to some 500gb ssds. Also thanks to 3dxpoint tech they (really) dont need dram, and outperform even the fastest traditional ssds in random io. (there are 64 ad 128gb capacities as well)

such a shame intel killed the lineup

 

[Pickles Von Brine]

I was reading the manual of my Micron 1100 SSD and was surprised to read (P9):
"Recent advances in Micron NAND technology enable the SSD firmware to achieve acceleration through on-the-fly mode switching between SLC and TLC modes to create a high-speed SLC pool that changes in size and location with usage conditions."

I wonder if one can take a worn TLC drive and turn it to SLC to yield a smaller drive with lots more life.

If you had access to the firmware somehow then I don't see why not. Though for high endurance applications I just buy enterprise class SSDs. You can get them pretty cheap used on Ebay. Be surprised at how little use some of them have. Though you can buy new ones for about 30% more than consumer drives. Just picked up a Micron 7450 3.84TB for about 400 all in.

 

[chrcoluk]

You actually can make a "pseudo-SLC" drive, like for example, turning a 2TB QLC into a 512GB SLC, but you need proprietary tools usually called MPTools, o Mass production Tools, i use them a lot for a number of reasons such as finding information on the drives to put on my database, run diagnostics, overclock SSDs, yes its possible, mess with SLC Cache as well hahaha

Would be amazing if this was an option on official tools. Gives people their own choice, best of both worlds.

 

[Athlonite]

Right... but if its not a cache, what exactly is lost?

Remember the master file table (MFT) on HDDs well that's basically what's stored in the Dram cache, it's a map of where each file piece is on the NAND because SSD's don't write files in contiguous blocks like an HDD does it makes for faster finding of files because it's right there on the SSD next to the controller. Whereas a Dramless SSD can use a small amount of system ram to do the same job making it slightly slower to access files on the SSD (but that's only a few milliseconds at best).

The SLC Cache your talking about just makes writes to the SSD seem faster aslong as it is within the SLC Cache size limit (otherwise write speeds drop considerably) that data is then written to slower TLC NAND blocks in the background clearing the SLC cache for further writes when needed.

In order to do what you want which is turn the entirety of SSD's TLC NAND into SLC NAND you'd need to hack the firmware to tell it that all the NAND is SLC and not TLC so yup good luck with that.

 

[Shrek]

Would be amazing if this was an option on official tools. Gives people their own choice, best of both worlds.

Even better, use just the first 1/3 (or 1/4) of the drive for SLC and one then still has the option to use the rest if one so wishes.

 

[chrcoluk]

Even better, use just the first 1/3 (or 1/4) of the drive for SLC and one then still has the option to use the rest if one so wishes.

If you stop writing at that point, the data gets moved to the native format in the background.

 

[Wirko]

If you had access to the firmware somehow then I don't see why not.

Even with an open firmware, you wouldn't get far without complete documentation. The ARM cores in the controllers may have custom instruction set extensions and absolutely do have coprocessors/accelerators such as this one by Phison.

 

[GabrielLP14]

Would be amazing if this was an option on official tools. Gives people their own choice, best of both worlds.

It would indeed specially for SSDs that are on the edge.
Also i'll be posting an article in english at my website showing how to turn ANY Silicon Motion based SSD into a pSLC Cache SSD, which was quite simple "IF" you managed to get the correct MPTool and Correct Controller + NAND config on your SSD

 

[Shrek]

If you stop writing at that point, the data gets moved to the native format in the background.

Which begs the question as to what happens to the free space that results, I imagine it is run as SLC

 

[Wirko]

It would indeed specially for SSDs that are on the edge.
Also i'll be posting an article in english at my website showing how to turn ANY Silicon Motion based SSD into a pSLC Cache SSD, which was quite simple "IF" you managed to get the correct MPTool and Correct Controller + NAND config on your SSD

Hm... Did you run any benchmarks, and did you achieve good performance in random reads, seq reads, everything?

 

[GabrielLP14]

Hm... Did you run any benchmarks, and did you achieve good performance in random reads, seq reads, everything?

Oh yes, I did a full review comparison.
Crystaldiskmark
Atto
3dmark
Pcmark10
Final fantasy benchmark
Windows 11 boot
File copy
Power testing
And a bunch of other testings.

Soon will be published

 

[chrcoluk]

Which begs the question as to what happens to the free space that results, I imagine it is run as SLC

It will yes.

 

[iameatingjam]

Remember the master file table (MFT) on HDDs well that's basically what's stored in the Dram cache, it's a map of where each file piece is on the NAND because SSD's don't write files in contiguous blocks like an HDD does it makes for faster finding of files because it's right there on the SSD next to the controller. Whereas a Dramless SSD can use a small amount of system ram to do the same job making it slightly slower to access files on the SSD (but that's only a few milliseconds at best).

The SLC Cache your talking about just makes writes to the SSD seem faster aslong as it is within the SLC Cache size limit (otherwise write speeds drop considerably) that data is then written to slower TLC NAND blocks in the background clearing the SLC cache for further writes when needed.

In order to do what you want which is turn the entirety of SSD's TLC NAND into SLC NAND you'd need to hack the firmware to tell it that all the NAND is SLC and not TLC so yup good luck with that.

This was a while ago but if I recall correctly, we were talking about dram 'cache', Shrek was saying it was dangerous, I was saying it was not, due to it being not really a cache, and just mapping data.

 

[Athlonite]

This was a while ago but if I recall correctly, we were talking about dram 'cache', Shrek was saying it was dangerous, I was saying it was not, due to it being not really a cache, and just mapping data.

It is only mapping data it's not actually a cache per se like a cache in a CPU and it's not dangerous really as the mapping data is also stored on the NAND