SSD Endurance (TBW) Calculator

Work out ssd endurance (tbw) instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About SSD Endurance (TBW) Calculator

SSD endurance is quoted as terabytes written or drive writes per day over the warranty. What matters is writes reaching the flash, which is host writes multiplied by write amplification — filesystem journaling, RAID parity and the drive's own garbage collection all inflate it. Dividing the TBW rating by that figure gives the real service life.

Formula

SSD endurance

flash writes per day = host writes x amplification; life = TBW / daily flash writes; DWPD required = daily flash writes / (capacity x warranty days)

Worked example

With the default values below, SSD Endurance (TBW) Calculator returns Years until endurance is exhausted of 4.56. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Drive endurance ratingminimum 0.1 TBW: 1,200 TBW
Host writes per dayminimum 0.001 GB: 400 GB
Write amplification factoraccepts 1–20 x: 1.8 x
Warranty periodaccepts 0.1–15 years: 5 years

Results

Years until endurance is exhausted: 4.56 years
Effective writes to flash per day: 0.720 TB
Drive writes per day this workload demands: 1.10 DWPD
Assessment: Drive will exhaust its endurance before the warranty expires - choose a higher DWPD model

Step by step

1Values used
2SSD endurance
3Years until endurance is exhausted= 4.56 years
4Effective writes to flash per day= 0.720 TB
5Drive writes per day this workload demands= 1.10 DWPD
6Assessment= Drive will exhaust its endurance before the warranty expires - choose a higher DWPD model

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or fees or charges into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What write amplification should I assume?

Around 1.1 to 1.5 for large sequential writes, and 2 to 5 for small random writes on a nearly full drive. Overprovisioning reduces it substantially.

Does a nearly full SSD wear faster?

Yes. Less free space means garbage collection must relocate more valid data per erase block, which raises write amplification sharply.