PNY has reduced the lifespan of the XLR8 CS3030 SSD series. The endurance of some models has fallen by almost 80%, reports Tom’s Hardware.
The XLR8 CS3030 series includes devices with 250 GB and 500 GB capacities, as well as 1, 2 and 4 TB. In the new batch of drives, the TBW metric has been significantly reduced.
Depending on the variant, the guaranteed amount of written data is reduced by almost 80%—the 2 TB model saw this figure fall from 3,115 TB to 660 TB.
Data: PNY.
The company attributes the decision to surging demand for solid-state drives used in Chia mining.
The write operation necessary to produce the Chia coin can wear out typical consumer SSDs within a few weeks. Because of this, PNY changed its TBW policy under the SSD warranty. For consumers using PNY drives for their intended purpose, the warranty period is likely to expire before they reach TBW thresholds, the company said.
Another reason for the reduced write endurance is a shortage of electronic components. In drives released after May 17, 2021, PNY stopped listing the type of NAND memory used. The publication suggested that the manufacturer had moved from 3D TLC (three bits per cell) to four-bit QLC solutions.
At the same time, the warranty on the XLR8 CS3030 drives remains five years.
Experts estimate that Chia mining reduces the lifespan of a 512 GB SSD from five years to two months. Bram Cohen, the creator of the coin, says this does not apply to enterprise SSDs or hard drives.
The Chinese company Galax has refused to service under warranty SSD that were used to mine Chia.
In early May, Team Group announced the release of SSDs designed for mining the coin. The devices carry a record warranty — 12 years.
Sabrent plans to release a specialized series of SSDs with a write endurance of up to 54 petabytes.
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