Will a solid-state drive wear out or lose performance over time?

NAND flash memory chips used in USB drives, SD cards, and solid-state drives (SSDs) have a finite lifespan, meaning data cannot be written to them indefinitely. Products based on flash memory chips will eventually wear out; however, features such as wear leveling and reserved space typically allow SSDs to outlast the systems they are installed in. We assess drive durability using TBW (Terabytes Written). Depending on the drive’s storage capacity, hundreds of terabytes or even several petabytes of data can be written. SSD performance remains consistent throughout its lifespan.