Do SSDs have an inherent or "built-in" failure date?

[stockhausen]

Four years or so ago I bought a pair of Vertex OCZ 120GB SATA II SSDs. One was installed in a laptop. The other was also meant to be installed in a laptop but for various reasons, never was.

After a couple of years, in order to clear clutter, I was asked to reload Windows 7 on the laptop with the SSD in it. For simple reasons of convenience, I loaded Windows onto the previously unused SSD and put the removed and still working SSD to one side.

Just before Christmas, the laptop failed to boot and I was asked to have a look at it and if possible to download the data. Despite buying a SSD caddy and trying to mount it on other systems using Windows and Linux I was not able to read the thing. I took the previously working SSD, put it into the laptop and that no longer worked. The symptom with both drives is that the laptop continuously restarts without ever actually getting anywhere near Windows - or Linux.

I put a traditional 2½" SATA II disk into the laptop and that works absolutely fine.

What puzzles me is why two Vertex OCZ 120GB SATA II SSDs should appear to fail at exactly the same time?

Is there some sort of inbuilt life limitation on these devices and does it apply to other SSDs?

ps - an afterthought on this is that SSDs may include a battery which will inevitably fail after a number of years?

 

[stockhausen]

To respond to comments / questions from various posters:

I don't believe that either of the ocz Vertex SSDs have suffered any sort of mechanical damage.

I believe that the OCZ Vertex 2 (which is what I am discussing here) was somewhat tempremental. I know that it uses a 1st generation SandForce controller which seems to be a wee bit "fussy". It definitely doesn't work with the Gigabyte Z97-SLI motherboard and Intel i7 4790K CPU. I was told (by OCZ support) that it is incompatible with one or more of the Intel LGA1150 or the Haswell chipset, or the Intel Z97 Southbridge.

I am always reluctant to update firmware on anything unless there is an obvious compelling reason to do so; I certainly haven't done so on either of these SSDs.

I wouldn't expect it to work without a rebuild due to the natural accumulation of errors over the years.

I'm not sure what to make of this comment but I don't think that it is in any way relevant in my case.

 

[stockhausen]

So one has failed with use, which is expected. The other is unreadable? If it's not had any power to it in a long time, then the old data on it will have degraded, power is required to keep the charge on the memory cells. Does it work after a format/reinstall to the previously working, but not recently used drive?

The symptom with BOTH drives is that the laptop continuously restarts without ever actually getting anywhere near Windows - or Linux. Formatting / reinstallation is not an option.

 

[stockhausen]

Thanks for replying. However, as I have said in the post immediately above yours:

The symptom with BOTH SSDs is that the laptop continuously restarts without ever actually getting anywhere near any OS.

If the SSD is plugged in, I can't even boot Linux off a DVD.
For whatever reason, both SSDs have failed - apparently terminally.