SSD Flash Memory - MLC, TLC, and SLC

What's the difference between SLC, MLC, and TLC SSDs?
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[@0M9H4X_Neckbeard]

This video lasted longer than my TLC SSD

[@xamnition]

Bad joke

[@Cygnus0lor]

XamN Better than a bad sector...

[@TassieLorenzo]

But Samsung Evos are TLC, aren't they? So how can they be bad? I don't get it.

[@Sonicrush007]

Samsung Evo 860 seems to be pretty great for a TLC SSD. The 860 Evo now offers performance similar to the pro (just 10 MBps slower) and much higher endurance than the 850 Evo. The warranty for the 1 TB 860 Evo lasts for 5 years or 600 TB while the Pro lasts over a petabyte. I just got the 1 TB 860 Evo and it seems pretty good so far. TLC SSDs are getting better now. If you think TLC was bad, look at QLC. Samsung is starting to mass produce QLC SSDs this year. They are supposed to be pretty cheap. The problem with QLC SSDs is that the endurance is so bad that Samsung is only producing them in 4 TB capacity, just enough endurance for the average user.

[@System-br1tx]

@@Sonicrush007 evo 860 is NOT a tlc ssd. I own one. Its mlc

[@mihneamanta8636]

2020: Laughs in QLC

[@MrProtopopescovici]

SAMSUNG 980 pro 2TB NVME: laughs in MLC xD

[@ДмитроПрищепа-д3я]

@@MrProtopopescovici *laughs in an elaborate and scumbagy marketing scheme of calling TLC a "3bit MLC". Fixed that for you.

[@MrProtopopescovici]

@@ДмитроПрищепа-д3я hey at least it aint QLC you know what im saying :))

[@JoshuaG]

No kidding my QLC intel 512gb 660p SSD in my laptop already lost 2% of its life writing 9,878gb in total😒😑💔 while my dad's old boot drive in his PC which has Corsair Force LS 120gb 2.5 inch SSD still has 100% health , even though it had 19,340gb total writes ❤️

[@MrProtopopescovici]

@@JoshuaG idk why ppl don't buy crucials 1TB mx500 m.2, it's TLC but it's great value, paid 65 euro's for 1TB and at least it ain't QLC, it will last 5 years minimum.

[@ExtremeMetal]

Surely MLC (Multi Level Cell) should be renamed DLC (Double Level Cell) Just for the sake of simplicity.

[@aakarsh1280]

Earlier there were only SLC and MLC, hence it was called Multi. They never expected TLC to be a thing.

[@DanielAbreu1984]

Not long ago, I purchased a Sandisk SSD Plus 1TB SLC for my Dell Optiplex 7010/9010DT; after watching this video, I realized I hit a Home Run on the first pitch. I also upgraded the RAM to 16GB Kingston Hyper-X Fury; which paired with the Sandisk SSD Plus 1TB SLC, make a lethal combination as to speed, performance, and reliability. Thank you for the information. :)

[@lordjeferson693]

I ran to check my ssd to see what kind were, fortunately all are MLC ... Today I learned something new , I appreciate your work thank you very much!!!

[@Q_QQ_Q]

lol

[@swissbit-ag]

It's important to remember that the longevity of a NAND Flash is heavily dependant on the controller it is coupled with. Be sure to check your SSD or storage device and see what controller is used as it is what is responsible for complex algorithms such as error correction coding, wear leveling and garbage collection.

[@dgurevich1]

Actually, you don't need to perform more writes on MLC or TLC flash to store the same amount of data. The reason NAND flash wears out is electrons getting stuck in the floating gate, and skewing the output voltage of the cell. The moment the controller can't distinguish between a 0 and 1 because of this, is when the cell is worn out. Think of a NAND cell as a glass, and electrons as water. in SLC flash, the glass will be either empty or full. in MLC, there will also be empty and full state, but there are also 1/4 and 3/4 full, so 00 = empty, 01 = 1/4 full, 10 = 3/4 full 11 = full. Same principle applies to TLC, but with 16 levels. Now, let's say that instead of water, there is vodka in the glass, and you must drink it every time you determine the binary value in the glass... You can do that for much longer when you just need to see if the glass is empty or full, then with a glass that can have 16 different levels.

[@TheAbdo210]

Processing Units and CUDA Cores As Fast As Possible

[@jameseverett9037]

Well done! Good, clean explanations, avoiding the unimportant details we have to wade through on other channels.

[@_who_cares_1123]

You forgot the MLG Version

[@jeffrydemeyer5433]

Different type of technology and irrelevant to the purview. If they were to make a video on the different types of solidstate memory they could include it

[@jeffrydemeyer5433]

MLG would be the type that works on the magnetoresistive principle we see used in mram

[@_who_cares_1123]

I ment the MLG in Games XD

[@EnKaii5733]

@@_who_cares_1123 360 no scope

[@ivtiazahkam9568]

RPG also

[@SCRedstone]

omg I was literally just wondering about this when this video appeared on KZbin. Thanks, Linus!

[@Adrian-ic4cd]

He always does a fast on possible on whatever is on my mind o.o

[@droidzhunterz6861]

+newbjumper Gives Linus Media Group name a whole new meaning

[@yaserhumeid3922]

well, "benchmarking" is on my mind i hope he do a vid on it soon.

[@thekickbot7309]

KZbin always knows...

[@kylehagertybanana]

google watching and listening thru ur phone

[@LA_MotorWorks]

Dude you're so good with these videos! Always leave me well informed and entertained. Please don't stop, keep it up! Cheers!

[@MasterEdge7]

I'm glad you dropped the fast as possible caveat. I really absorbed the info you presented in this episode and it all made sense. Thanks Linus!

[@nO_d3N1AL]

One of the best Techquickie videos of recent times. Very informative and useful.

[@GOURAVSHARMA.]

I don't know why but this video is going to blowup in everyone's YT Suggestion

[@ilovefunnyamv2nd]

2 years later, still super useful. Still contemplating that cheap 3d TLC SSD for $30.00

[@6iaZkMagW7EFs]

lol I often watch one of these before reading the relevant chapter in my OS textbook. These videos serve as a good introduction.

[@PierreAndersson85]

Great video. Thanks for that. I bought my Samsung 840 Evo 500Gb 2,5" ssd new for around 198$ in Sweden in 2014 and have used it regularly since then and still works great. Today i bought a SSDSC2BX012T4 Intel S3610 1,2Tb for 113$ and it has been run for only 18 hours and only a bit more than 1 Tb of data have been written to it. So it's practically new. And my Samsung SSD is TLC while my Intel SSD is of the much better MLC.

[@joshuahall3622]

Every one of these videos I've ever seen has been clear, entertaining, and useful. Subscribed

[@ticktock8751]

thanks for the video, my wd Black M.2 health dropped 1% in just 144 days and i was looking for info to replace it, and found your video

[@saskiavanhoutert3190]

Techquickie is a teacher in computertechnology, thanks again and kind regards.

[@_nofridge]

When you realise, TLC isn't actually Tables Ladders Chairs

[@HermanWillems]

When you realise that TLC on TV means "The Learning Channel".

[@qdom1081]

When you realise, TLC is actually Tomato, Lettuce & Cheese.

[@Niko-zl5hn]

those bastards lied to me

[@deepaknarayan3713]

Shouldn't MLC be named DLC? :D

[@whosthatguy2345]

Technically, it should be, but it is what it is.

[@AlexRolandHuszar]

I wish then I could also download more ssd and not just ram

[@weasle2904]

The reason why it's called MLC is because MLC was created when SLC was the only Cell technology. At first, SLC was the only Cell type. Adding more bits per cell makes it much more cheap and easy to manufacture, which is why they were later created. So when the multiple bits per cell concept was made with 2 bits per cell, they called it Multi-Level Cell, MLC.

[@HermanWillems]

@@weasle2904 Sounds like a Multi-Level Marketing scam to me!!!

[@laupoke]

did u actally watch the vid

[@YogeshSingh-qd7rk]

I was searching video on the same and you included all the important points. 👍

[@aldionsylkaj9654]

The way he introduced Lynda was smooth.

[@nictheperson6709]

I love how these videos don't actually desbribe it as fast as possible.

[@abdulahad04]

And now we're getting QLCs!

[@johndevadhas4787]

Which is extremely bad lol

[@abdulahad04]

John Devadhas damn this was two years ago

[@abdulahad04]

I cringe reading my comment

[@johndevadhas4787]

@@abdulahad04 it's chill :)) we all make mistakes haha

[@maxh6979]

@@abdulahad04 you have my respect you replied on such an old comment lol

[@chris-dd6uq]

I love the time length of this video. 5:56

[@imreloadin]

+Wowthatsfail Since you knew the reference doesn't that make you a crazy gun but too?

[@Henrix1998]

5:57*

[@BenGHD]

5:56....that's the size of a round for the A2 bull pup rifle.

[@chris-dd6uq]

Wowthatsfail I'm a gun nut? Explain?

[@chris-dd6uq]

Ioshu Yutani I never said it wasn't a reference to the ammo. I just asked how does that make me a gun nut because liking that ammo doesn't equate to me being a gun nut.

[@MaugzSR]

This helps out a lot. I'm going into software development and I plan on investing in a Chromebook for when I go to conferences or do traveling... I'm also building a PC that has an SSD

[@jacobspeeds]

1:10 are u pulling that text out of ur ass, Linus?? 😂

[@AceOfROMs]

You know what Linus? I wouldn't mind becoming like you.

[@soigothazed]

I usually never laugh really hard in these but this was really funny guys gj.

[@jmlinde]

I bought a 256GB kingston SSD when SSD's were pretty new. It was so fast at the time and also cost me almost $500. I recently upgraded to a 512gb 850 evo and holy crap it makes the kingston seem like a mechanical drive.

[@TALHA-hr6xf]

How can you dislike this video? What you don't like ssds and prefer hard drives or floppy disks? 😂

[@lukeef]

Na it's all about them rom laser disks

[@trulygg]

I carve my data into stones, no data loss ever.

[@famous-op8dc]

No, gotta make sure that it's safe from the elements, otherwise erosion will have erased all of your data in 10000 years

[@almorik]

Or maybe you don't like the video.

[@isuckatlifemutechannel6050]

In Africa they are called stiffies

[@DanielJenkinsP]

Funny to see when Linus is in good mood. He explains even what a bit is...

[@chrisu_XD]

@Techquickie This guide is outdated. QLC SSD are available everywhere and mostly okay, but a closer look is needed. The Amazon 5 Star strategy may backfier in regards of QLC SSDs.

[@Juraikken]

You gotta admit, Linus does great transitions to their ads lol

[@paintboy131]

anyone else see the fly 2:04

[@sake5140]

yeah me too,i though I was the only one who saw that

[@sneedmyseedsnogger]

bottom left

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

Devinr.131 I saw it fly in and out real quick.

[@network_king]

I got my first SSD a year or so ago I looked at all this stuff I saw TLC and thought no way I want it to last. SLC was way more $ so that ruled that out ended up with a 128GB Kingston SSD.

[@sake5140]

Man im liking this TechQuickie series,especially my computer subject is now a major subject(not a special program)and we are focusing on hardware mostly.My squad including me got a head start because we watched A LOT OF TECHQUICKIE and LinusTechTips so probably we are gonna get high grades because of this,ill be surprised if we can beat out the 2 top students in Grade 8/2nd year high school.

[@bunnybag]

So did you?

[@MedalionDS9]

This is actually VERY informative and helpful... hey, you get a thumbs up!

[@TacticalShazli]

My time machine seems to be broken, but I've learned a lot, thanks Linus.

[@Olfan]

Linus might have added two things: • That the difference in cell longevity hardly matters for average home users: If you're a gamer and download one new 30Gig game every week, a TLC drive will last you forever (that is, until you buy a larger one some five years down the road) • That the difference in performance really only impacts write accesses, reading is comparably fast across the various cell types (the SATA interface really is the limit here). So, home users, go and buy 2TB TLC SSDs. They hold a lot of data and are every bit as fast and reliable as you need them. Just don't build RAIDs out of them, don't run mail, news or database servers on them and you'll be set for years and years.

[@worldhello1234]

" That the difference in cell longevity hardly matters for average home users: If you're a gamer and download one new 30Gig game every week" The weasel word being here average home consumer. A Gamer is not an average consumer, rarerly just loads 30 GB a weak and MLC cells are faster. "They hold a lot of data and are every bit as fast and reliable as you need them." Longevity is not a guaranteed number. There is no need to compromise it, unless you are willing to take a risk or upgrade your ssd regularly etc. "So, home users, go and buy 2TB TLC SSDs." Average home users, not gamers, probably have no need for 2 TB ssd storage so since they ain't gamers so , there is little need to pay arround 500 bucks for storage.

[@Olfan]

Yes, MLC cells are faster, but it doesn't matter for as long as they're attached to a bus that can't handle that extra speed. A SATA drive maxes out at 600MiB/s not because of its cells but because that's the bus limit. As for reliability/longevity/weaseling: look at this: www.anandtech.com/show/7173/samsung-ssd-840-evo-review-120gb-250gb-500gb-750gb-1tb-models-tested/3?_ga=1.120601544.1916196961.1481536121 Then tell me why you'd want your storage device to last any longer than 15years. 15 years ago I ran on a 8GiB drive and it was fine. Today I wouldn't buy a USB stick that small. So again, buy the biggest SSD you can afford even if it may be "slower" than others, don't pay attention to internet panic mongers telling you of slowness and early failure, they're just wrong. You can't discern between 10k or 20k IOPS unless using software that can queue requests that fast, you don't feel the difference between 400MiB/s and 600MiB/s, and it doesn't matter whether the drive fails after 20 or 15 years because by then you'll no longer want to write to it. Don't panic, it'll work just fine.

[@walidtouati8593]

the video is 6 years old, but just found it and i learned very useful informations from it maybe you can make one that show's us how to know the type of the ssd we have (from outside on the physical ssd itself) i mean some sort of chip or something like that on LLT ❤

[@MuhammadAli-jd2ut]

This guy is smart. Both physically and mentally. :p

[@samead4689]

sing it: "Dont go chase the waterfalls..."

[@pedromvuus]

I have 4 years with my 256gb MLC Vertex 4, and their program says it still has 99% of life and I even use it for Hibernation, If you are fine with the TLC performance there is no need to worry about it's longevity, if anything buy a lower capacity one just to have a fast OS, and then in 5 years if you are worried SSDs would be much cheaper so it would be easy to upgrade anyway.

[@pedromvuus]

@Iubire Romaneasca It is, but not on my main computer, so I haven't seen the % of life recently Wow that was my first SSD, didn't realize it was almost 10 years ago when I got it

[@drabberfrog]

It's funny how outdated this video is nowadays. SLC and MLC are pretty much non-existent in the consumer space and TLC is for high-end ssds and QLC is for budget ssds.

[@mtcuppers]

That's just where the market moved towards. I'm pretty certain that there was a possibility to revolutionise the server storage industry with SLC chips but the consumer market easily settled for the convenience of acceptable speeds at a low price and quite small die

[@drabberfrog]

@@mtcuppers yeah, I'm sure the longevity of TLC and QLC NAND has improved in the last 10 years and the price vs speed vs practicality definitely makes TLC AND QLC popular.

[@dswp872]

This is what I need to know. Thank you Linus :D

[@aakarsh1280]

**Laughs in PLC**

[@georgez.7278]

Thank you man, You are simply "THE BEST"

[@henry3397]

when the ad hits you out of nowhere its like getting Rickrolled by Linus

[@caseyzduniak632]

Linus you just earned me 6 points on my homework

[@sharfazhameed6382]

Thanks a lot mate, a lots informations n very easily explained

[@marmanlive]

Awesome, these guys really save the nerves and a life time :) thnx a lot!

[@TexelGuy]

Linus bringing in the good videos. Appreciate it

[@dogood8661]

3:03 Linus scratching his ass

[@ThFnsc]

You guys always say that SSDs don't last as long as an , but how long it actually lasts?

[@TheSenate_]

Long enough, just google SSD endurance. You could write a full 500GB drive per day and it wouldn't die in 10 years. Your HDD is more likely to die during that time.

[@AllAccessConstruction]

I agree...

[@imreloadin]

I can't remember who it was but someone ran a bunch of consumer SSDs through a constant write test to see how long they'd last and quite a few hit the pettabyte mark I believe.

[@HazewinDog]

idk, longer than a hard disk anyway

[@user-fc4so8of8o]

Very learnful and interesting video!

[@jootai]

linus do a test with the new sli bridges ppl are confused

[@fall170]

You realize its just two sli bridges stuck together, right?

[@jootai]

there is talk about 400 mhz bridges and 600 mhz and i just saw a revew at gamers nexus that clearly stated that it was not 2 flexy bridges next to eachother!

[@fall170]

jootai hmmm.... I... Don't... Know... What... You.. Are talking about.

[@jootai]

just youtube gamers nexus and check out the 1070 sli review and get back here!

[@LiquidZero_]

we learn something new every day..

[@meghandenny6922]

I wanna be like Linus so that I can get cool new stuff from tech companies

[@اللهمصلِعلىسيدنامحمدوآله-ت1ث]

What is the name of the companies that provide the SLC?

[@amansahani2001]

Wd blue

[@meltedcheese1908]

This was a very informative video!

[@blgdinger3]

As someone who just bought a QLC drive, I am both satisfied and bummed now lol. It's going to house exclusively video games, so if it dies I don't lose any crucial data that can't be recovered, yay.

[@metalzonemt-2]

I bought my first SSD few months ago, and it's like having a super computer.

[@leart78]

and now that drive is dead long time ago instead the good old Hdd its still spinning

[@metalzonemt-2]

@@leart78 Wow, you couldn't find any older comment to reply to? But no, it's still works like a charm.

[@PlanetDip]

holy shit man some esoteric hidden knowledge here

[@Led....]

the 34 people that have disliked have hard drives...

[@midknight3350]

What product would you recommend for the fastest M.2 drive? I want to use it as my boot up drive

[@xxnike0629xx]

So what’s a good SSD to put into a PS4 Pro? Samsung Evo or Samsung Pro?

[@DanielMonsanto]

Linus, I've never seen much difference in performance between tlc and mlc because I'm still on sata. they all have roughly the same speed until you decide to get nvme ssds.

[@Blazz20]

Hey linus, I was wondering if you could do a top 5 or suggestion video on computer chairs, that would be awesome, great vids btw. :)

[@c0pyimitati0n]

I'm building my first PC, used for video editing and possibly VR. Anyway, I think I'm going ALL SSD!!!! I will probably use a standard hdd for external backup, but I'm throwing in three m.2 nvme drives.

[@teemuve]

You guys should check the color temperature settings. The studio material is way too blueish. p.s. liked anyway :)

[@thanatos8938]

You forgot QLC.yeah, i know those thing but i am still watching this because i like to see this funny face.

[@thetinusnl8834]

2:04 dat fly is such a rebel

[@Ozored1]

What about Samsung 850 EVO ? It is TLC, but is considered to be a very good drive. Also it has 5 year warranty or up to 75TB write(which is more then a regular user will use during 5 year warranty period.

[@yosyp5905]

You made memory type the most important thing in an SSD and the component which determines the performances... but I know there are memory controllers and a few other components that really matters in an SSD. You could have at least named those...

[@SkateboardK9]

Thanks for the explanation!

[@JoemcFlo]

I prefer to wait for the Earth's erosion to carve my data into the earth

[@Blafard666]

" we close to a million subscribers now"

[@ShadowRaxx]

3rd time im watching this for a recap :P Thanks Linus

[@urbanws1234]

Brink Back the 4.5" Floppy! Those were the days.

[@dallase1]

NewEgg.com has a 3DNAND SLC 1TB Drive for 93 bucks and Amazon has it for 90 bucks. How things have changed in 3 years. Best Buy has a Samsung TB SSD that is MLC V-NAND.

[@plebiu]

Question: can MLC and TLC be considered analog data storage since they rely on varying transistor resistance to represent the data?

[@joelmirreyes3092]

this video has something different... don´t know what it is, but I kind of like it...

[@missameliafrancis]

Yes my aspirations are to be just like you Linus

[@emmanueltapia1392]

Nice video man, but as you said there are different types of SSDs, such as SLC, MLC, and TLC. SLC being the superior SSD. How would the latest iMac's flash storage compare to the SLC SSD. Or is the flash storage in the latest iMac much more similar to the MLC? And between the MLC SSDs and flash storage, which one is much more durable?

[@chrisharper2658]

Why did you skip over the 3D-NAND SSDs? While some say they won't last as long, Samsung gives the Evo SSD a 5 yr warranty.

[@obedlucksom5636]

linus bro really like your videos, its very informative and easy to learn and understand, really a big fan bro....always rommel, from gangtok, sikkim, if you have time do google my location and see where you fan's from

[@Parmetheus]

How is Linus so cool?

[@SAMILDK]

so where i can find my SSD memory flash type ?

[@amitsharma-lt6lp]

Hey linus.. Make a video on Universal Flash Storage (UFS) memory

[@MrTHORN888]

which one the best brother ?

[@EndUser-yu7gg]

Good and simple break down ... I hate trying to keep track of acronyms ... now there is V-NAND ... which is probable just rehashed 3d nand for stacking - UGH - seriously the people who exist solely to make these acronyms need to get a better job!

[@atmacafurkan]

Do we have any linguists who thought linus was talking about Minimal Link Condition ?

[@Shabasky1]

Does TLC perform slower because it has to do some tricky repetitive read & write operation to get to that third cell? What exactly makes it "slower"?

[@funnyflap]

Its extremely complicated as to why and im really not going to go into heaps if depth but long story short when a string is being read it basically has to shut down other bits sectors in the cell and then applies an intermediate voltage and measures current coming through the wire to register uf its binary state is a 0 or a 1 and when it is mlc or tcl there is three voltages per cell so that means it has to do it 3 times at different voltages and measure current and compare it to the binary state of the cell. But in short it is because it has to do stuff 3 times per string one one cell. There is higher density but lower speeds. This may be a really bad explanation and is really simplified but i hope you understand.

[@Shabasky1]

I get it. Sounds like a cheep marketing ploy for someone who wanted to be the first to sell 100GB ssds or something. If it wears down the hardware that much I'd rather get a classic hard drive with their terabytes of storage. :/ Thanks for the explanation.

[@drink15]

Don't go chasing waterfalls....unless you burned down a house.

[@nick92065]

If it's too old it will not have the correct connection, and sometimes the right connection, but the bus is not fast enough .

[@mediumfast]

I just realized that I understood all of that but my regular non techy family didn't get a fucking word