A 16-year-old SanDisk P4 64GB SSD survived writing one petabyte of data in an endurance test, outlasting its official manufacturer rating by 25 times. The test, conducted by the YouTube channel WolfyTech, ran the SATA II drive continuously despite its 60,000 power-on hours. The results show that older flash storage hardware can be far more durable than conservative manufacturer warranties indicate.
Manufacturers define solid-state drive warranties using Terabytes Written (TBW) to set coverage limits. However, crossing this threshold does not trigger automatic drive failure or chip self-destruction. The TBW value serves as a guideline for return policies rather than a hard indicator of hardware lifespan.
Also read: SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD 8TB Review and Specs
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Exceeding the TBW rating can lead to gradual performance slowdowns or minor instability due to cell wear. In this experiment, the drive logged over 1,100 power-up cycles and showed no signs of catastrophic failure. Users are still advised to back up data regularly once a storage drive moves past its official endurance limit.
Source: WolfyTech
