Today’s Question: Very interesting post [https://asktimgrey.com/2021/07/27/hard-drive-type/]. What are the warning signs for SSD failure?
Tim’s Quick Answer: In general, any “odd” behavior of your computer such as crashes, restarts, or errors during startup could be a warning sign. I would also say that a top warning sign of a possible SSD drive failure is if you receive an error that the drive is read-only or otherwise can’t be written to.
More Detail: In general, with computer hardware, anytime something isn’t working the way it should I would treat it as a warning sign. If the issue doesn’t seem especially severe, such as just having the computer crash or restart on you, then I might confirm that a recent backup has been updated, and just keep an eye on things. If the problem occurs again, then I would get the system tested.
For something more severe, such as a drive becoming read-only or the computer crashing during startup, I would get the hardware tested immediately. Diagnostics can often determine the nature of the problem. In some cases, it could be a software issue, which could even call for reinstalling applications or the operating system.
If the diagnostics indicate a problem, and especially a problem with an SSD drive or other flash-based storage, I strongly recommend replacing that hardware as soon as possible.
As always, a good backup strategy is critical. For an online backup solution, I recommend Backblaze, which you can learn more about here: