# Are SSDs really that bad?



## TivoRocks193 (Aug 10, 2005)

Speaking as someone who has owned multiple Bolts and *never* had one of their 2.5" drives last more than 2-3 years.. are SSDs really that bad? I know the risks of using an SSD (write cycles!) but the magnetic 2.5" drives seem equally as bad given their failure rate. Anyone know what the expected lifespan of an SSD would be when used 24/7 on a Bolt? If it's at least 3 years, I'd rather stay with the SSD.

Short story: My magnetic 3TB (Tivo installed) drive failed and since the wait to get a new one was a week or two, I threw in an 2TB SSD I wasn't using just to get it up. The system seems fine and wondering how long I can leave it in there before it uses up write cycles.

I wish Tivo had stuck with 3.5" drives. My Roamio has been running fine for like a decade.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

link TL;DR Go for it!


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## zombiephysicist (Sep 22, 2017)

TivoRocks193 said:


> Speaking as someone who has owned multiple Bolts and *never* had one of their 2.5" drives last more than 2-3 years.. are SSDs really that bad? I know the risks of using an SSD (write cycles!) but the magnetic 2.5" drives seem equally as bad given their failure rate. Anyone know what the expected lifespan of an SSD would be when used 24/7 on a Bolt? If it's at least 3 years, I'd rather stay with the SSD.
> 
> Short story: My magnetic 3TB (Tivo installed) drive failed and since the wait to get a new one was a week or two, I threw in an 2TB SSD I wasn't using just to get it up. The system seems fine and wondering how long I can leave it in there before it uses up write cycles.
> 
> I wish Tivo had stuck with 3.5" drives. My Roamio has been running fine for like a decade.


As long as you don't let the TiVo do the 24/7 constant recording, it seems to work fine, at least for me, it's been well over 2 years with less problems than the spinning rust drives:

5TB Bolt Drive to 7.68TB SSD Upgrade, Best Approach?


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## TivoRocks193 (Aug 10, 2005)

1.5 years later update!

TiVo bolt (6-tuner) running perfectly fine with SSD 4TB Samsung EVO (2,400 TBW)
Performance (especially on startup) is noticeably better/faster
Power Saving = ‘Low’ (sleep after 4 hours of no use, tivo suggestions recorded)
Current Terabytes Written = 193 TB
Estimated Harddrive lifespan based on TBW = 18+ years
Pretty awesome if you ask me. Drive is currently on sale on Amazon for $299 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08QBL36GF


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## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

Wow, anyone try a SSD in a TivoHD? It'd like to switch to one.


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