Every few months a headline claims Windows 11 is quietly “killing” your SSD. One recent example is an XDA Developers piece on default settings that wear drives. With SSD prices rising, it is a fair worry. We went through the original article and the wider research to separate what is real from what is noise. To ensure your SSD’s longevity, performing an SSD health check can be beneficial.
The short answer
Windows 11 does write to your SSD in the background, and a few of its defaults add writes you may not need. For most drives in normal use, though, wear is unlikely to be what ends the drive’s life. The better question is not which setting to blame. It is what condition your drive is actually in.
Regularly conducting an SSD health check will help you monitor the condition of your drive and address any potential issues early.
What Windows 11 does to your SSD behind the scenes
- Fast Startup. It is enabled by default on most systems. When you shut down, Windows saves the kernel and drivers to a hidden file called hiberfil.sys, then loads that state at the next boot.
- Hibernation. It uses the same file, but stores everything in memory. By default the file is 40% of your installed RAM, about 13GB on a 32GB machine. A reduced version for Fast Startup alone is about 20%.
- Search indexing. Windows keeps a database of your files up to date so searches are fast. The design dates from the hard-drive era. A healthy index is usually a few hundred MB, though some users report far larger ones that Microsoft has not confirmed.
- TRIM and Optimize Drives. This is the housekeeping that tells the SSD which blocks are free. Windows does not defragment an SSD the way it does a hard drive. It sends TRIM instead, and that is a good thing.
What the research says about SSD wear
The strongest evidence on how long consumer SSDs last comes from long-running endurance tests, where drives are written to until they fail.
| Evidence | What it found |
|---|---|
| Tech Report endurance experiment | All six consumer drives wrote hundreds of terabytes. The most durable passed 2.4 petabytes. |
| Same experiment, failures | The four drives that failed did so between 728TB and 1.2PB, well past their rated endurance. |
| German c’t magazine test | A Samsung 850 Pro reached 9.1 petabytes written. Samsung’s suggested figure for that drive was 150TB. |
| XDA’s own drive | About 38TB written in over three years on a Samsung 970 EVO Plus rated for 600TB. |
| Search indexing estimate | Even 5GB of extra indexing writes a day comes to under 2TB a year, a small share of a typical rating. |
Two honest caveats apply. The big endurance tests used drives from around 2013 to 2016, with small samples, and drive designs have changed since. And a worn-out drive is not the only way an SSD fails. Controller faults, firmware problems and power loss can end a drive long before its flash cells wear out.
The XDA article itself is also contested. Readers pointed out that hibernation is not always switched on by default, while Fast Startup usually is, and that some of the claims are overstated. The sensible reading is that these settings are worth understanding, not that your PC is in danger.
Why guessing at settings is risky
Every tweak that saves a few writes costs something somewhere else:
- Switching off hibernation also switches off Fast Startup and removes hibernate from the power menu. That suits some desktops and is a poor idea on a laptop that relies on hibernate.
- Switching off search indexing makes everyday searching in Start and File Explorer slower.
- Switching off TRIM, or running the wrong maintenance job, can leave an SSD slower and less healthy than before.
The right answer depends on the machine: how big the drive is, how full it is, whether it is a laptop or a desktop, how it is used and how old it is. Two identical tweaks can help one PC and hurt another. That is why the sensible first step is to measure, not to guess.
What a CompFix SSD health check covers
An SSD health check replaces guesswork with facts about your drive. It typically includes:
- Reading the drive’s built-in health data, including how much has been written and how much life is estimated to remain.
- Comparing that against the drive’s rated endurance.
- Reviewing startup, power and search settings against how you actually use the PC.
- Confirming that TRIM and storage maintenance are working properly.
- Checking free space and whether your files are backed up.
- A plain-English summary: leave it alone, tune it, or plan an upgrade.
It suits small drives (256GB or 512GB), older PCs, machines that have become slow, and business computers where a failed drive means lost working time.
Talk to CompFix
If you would like to know where your drive really stands, CompFix can check it for you, remotely or on site. Get in touch at compfix.co.za, on 082 469 4575, or at info@compfix.co.za.
You can also book your device in directly through our website, or use this link: compfix.co.za/book-in.
We also help with computer repairs, remote IT support, websites and hosting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Windows 11 killing my SSD?
No evidence suggests that for normal use. Windows writes in the background, but endurance tests show consumer SSDs handling far more writing than typical home or office use produces.
How long does an SSD last?
The rating on the drive is a conservative guide. Real life depends on the drive, the workload, heat, power quality and firmware. The only reliable way to know is to read the individual drive’s health data.
Should I turn off Fast Startup or hibernation?
It depends on the PC. Both use the same hidden file, and turning one off affects the other. The right choice depends on whether it is a laptop or a desktop, how much free space the drive has and how the machine is used.
Can CompFix check my SSD remotely?
In many cases, yes. Remote support lets a technician review your drive’s health and settings without you bringing the PC in.
Does an SSD health check mean replacing my drive?
Not usually. Most checks end in either leaving things as they are or a small adjustment. A replacement is only recommended when the data says it is needed.
