Gaming enthusiasts and professional creators are always looking for the fastest performance to handle the latest games and high-resolution videos. At the same time, storage needs continue to increase. Where 1TB was previously considered sufficient, now a mere 4-5 AAA games will fill your drive to bursting. For example, popular games such as Baldur's Gate 3, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and Modern Warfare 3 each require 100 to 150GB of space. Coupled with DLC and game progress, and it really gets people thinking about upgrading to a larger SSD! This article discusses the benefits of large-capacity SSDs by dividing them into factors such as "the basic storage unit of flash memory," "wear leveling algorithm," and "terabytes written (TBW)."
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1. The basic storage unit of NAND flash&nbsp;
Firstly, the component that determines the capacity of a SSD is the NAND flash chip. The greater the number of chips, the greater the capacity of the SSD. A NAND flash chip is a package of "Dies" cut from a wafer. Each Die is composed of Plane, Block, Page, and Cell units of different sizes. Cells are also divided into SLC, MLC, TLC and QLC based on the number of bits that can be stored.

🡇 The diagram below illustrates the hierarchical relationship of Plane, Block, Page, and Cell.

Let us first talk about P/E Cycle (Program Erase Cycle), which refers to the number of erase and write cycles available to flash memory. One data write plus one data erase is counted as 1 P/E Cycle. Theoretical SLC , MLC, TLC and QLC P/E cycle can be seen in the figure below. With this concept in mind, you can purchase a SSD based on your own data organization habits.

🡇 The diagram represents the storage size indications for SLC, MLC, TLC, and QLC.

2. Wear Leveling
Since each Die in the SSD has a fixed limit on the number of times it can be erased and written, once this limit is exceeded, it can no longer function. In order to improve durability, a "wear leveling algorithm" ensures that data is written to less used blocks first, so that all blocks can be written evenly. A larger SSD capacity means more erase blocks, thereby reducing the frequency each block is erased and, thereby, increasing the life of the SSD.
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On the other hand, as the number of writes increases, the SSD will slow and its lifespan will shorten. Therefore, some SSDs will allocate a part of storage space as a "SLC Cache". As the name implies, no matter what kind of storage unit type, the SSD can simulate a SLC writing mechanism to improve performance, but this is only temporary. When the cache is full, SSD speed will return to original levels. SSDs with larger capacities usually have a larger SLC Cache, for example a 1TB SSD may have a 300GB SLC Cache.

🡇 The difference in results when using NAND flash with and without Wear leveling.

Nowadays, improvements in the picture quality and details of games, movies, and TV shows require more storage space. For example, high-resolution games and 4K/8K video files are quite large. Large-capacity SSDs are convenient for gamers and creators, allowing them to store more content and reduce the need to manage and move files, instead freeing users to focus more on creating or gaming.
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3. Terabytes Written (TBW)
According to JEDEC's definition, TBW describes the total amount of data that can be written to an SSD. Taking the ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX as an example, its 3,120TBW means that it can write 3,120TB of data. As such, the higher the TBW, the longer the implied service life. For users who frequently encounter large amounts of data, such as gamers and creators, SSDs with large capacities and high TBW are very attractive.

🡇 A higher TBW (Total Bytes Written) often implies a longer lifespan of use.

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Gaming enthusiasts and professional creators are always looking for the fastest performance to handle the latest games and high-resolution videos. At the same time, storage needs continue to increase. Where 1TB was previously considered sufficient, now a mere 4-5 AAA games will fill your drive to bursting. For example, popular games such as Baldur's Gate 3, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and Modern Warfare 3 each require 100 to 150GB of space. Coupled with DLC and game progress, and it really gets pe