Drive writing graph / list software

[+Tyranade Subscriber²]

Is there any free software out there that that will give me a nice simple graph or a list that will show me how much data is being wrote to my SSD and from what source because I have had this SSD for about 8 months now and ive wrote over a good solid 8TB to this drive and I Would like to know what is writing data to my C: drive and when it did it. Granted there has been a Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and a Windows 8.1 UEFI install on this drive but that seems like a lot of data to me and the Samsung Magician software doesn't tell me what wrote what to my SSD and I Would like to be able to see this.

 

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Folder Size (Freeware) - http://www.mindgems.com/products/Folder-Size/Folder-Size.html

 

EDIT: Found screenshots more - http://www.mindgems.com/products/Folder-Size/Folder-Size-Screenshots.htm

 

Sharing image from another site:

 

 

Image Source and Review - http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/folder-size-checks-distribution-of-disk-space-displays-different-charts/

 

Some other Tools

1 - Disktective - http://www.disktective.com/

 

Image

[+Tyranade Subscriber²]

I kind of want a real time list for example it would say "Skype has wrote X amount of data to C:" etc that kinda thing so I can look at it every few hours and be like "ok so ive had 200 MB of data be wrote to that drive and these programs did that or this thing wrote this amount of data to my C: drive". Those programs just look like it gives a break down of what is already on the drive where as I would like something that tells me every time something has been written to the drive.

[Kai Y]

I don't think you will be able to know what wrote what to your SSD.

 

The Samsung Magician software says 8TB written because this value is kept by the SSD - the SSD internally has a counter that increments as you write data to the disk (you can also read the data with other utilities that can read SMART data from your disks).

 

However, this is only a counter - the SSD doesn't store what data wrote that number of bytes (and as you have had win7/8/8.1 installs, most of the written data probably doesn't exist any more!).

 

There *might* be OS-level utilities that keep track of this, but I'm not sure. Windows' Resource Monitor tells you what program is writing how many bytes on a per-second basis, probably there might be a utility to sum this up over time. You might also want to try SysInternals' Process Monitor - it has a "File summary" feature that shows the files written to since the program was started and the bytes written for each file since the program started. While not exactly designed for that purpose, I guess you can run it in the background and check the summary after a while - it does log a lot of other things though, which might have a performance impact... 

 

Although, not sure how long you have had the drive for, but 8TB isn't really a lot. Think there was a recent news article that reported SSD endurance tests, which showed most SSDs last longer than their rated amount of writes.

[+BudMan MVC]

8 months.. My 840 pro has been on for 659 day, 15833 hours /24 and have only written 4.59TB..

 

You do understand they will last quite some time even at that write level..  These are not first gen ssds we are talking about, the life spans are TB and TBs

 

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/uk/html/why/MlcNandFlash.html

 

 

While you have clearly written more than I have.. I don't think your 8TB is even scratching the life of the disk.. I wouldn't worry too much unless you had written like 80TB

 

 

[+Tyranade Subscriber²]

I don't think you will be able to know what wrote what to your SSD.

 

The Samsung Magician software says 8TB written because this value is kept by the SSD - the SSD internally has a counter that increments as you write data to the disk (you can also read the data with other utilities that can read SMART data from your disks).

 

However, this is only a counter - the SSD doesn't store what data wrote that number of bytes (and as you have had win7/8/8.1 installs, most of the written data probably doesn't exist any more!).

 

There *might* be OS-level utilities that keep track of this, but I'm not sure. Windows' Resource Monitor tells you what program is writing how many bytes on a per-second basis, probably there might be a utility to sum this up over time. You might also want to try SysInternals' Process Monitor - it has a "File summary" feature that shows the files written to since the program was started and the bytes written for each file since the program started. While not exactly designed for that purpose, I guess you can run it in the background and check the summary after a while - it does log a lot of other things though, which might have a performance impact... 

 

Although, not sure how long you have had the drive for, but 8TB isn't really a lot. Think there was a recent news article that reported SSD endurance tests, which showed most SSDs last longer than their rated amount of writes.

 

I am not looking for a bit of software to tell me everything from the day it was first plugged in I am just looking for some windows level software that just keeps tracks from now on.

8 months.. My 840 pro has been on for 659 day, 15833 hours /24 and have only written 4.59TB..

 

You do understand they will last quite some time even at that write level..  These are not first gen ssds we are talking about, the life spans are TB and TBs

 

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/uk/html/why/MlcNandFlash.html

 

lifespan.png

 

While you have clearly written more than I have.. I don't think your 8TB is even scratching the life of the disk.. I wouldn't worry too much unless you had written like 80TB

That is good to know so I hopefully shouldn't have anything to worry about. I do seem to do a lot of downloading etc which probably equates to the 8TB data stored so far. Still even if my drive lasted 7 years to me that is pretty good going for a Mechanical Drive let alone an SSD.

[+DonC Subscriber²]

There *might* be OS-level utilities that keep track of this, but I'm not sure. Windows' Resource Monitor tells you what program is writing how many bytes on a per-second basis, probably there might be a utility to sum this up over time. You might also want to try SysInternals' Process Monitor - it has a "File summary" feature that shows the files written to since the program was started and the bytes written for each file since the program started. While not exactly designed for that purpose, I guess you can run it in the background and check the summary after a while - it does log a lot of other things though, which might have a performance impact... 

 

Process Monitor would be my personal choice. You can set a capture filter so that it only captures the events necessary for what you're measuring.

 

You might want to log to another drive though, as writing to the log would generate more relevant events.

[+BudMan MVC]

I do quite a bit of downloading as well, but I just moved my download folder to the hdd is in my box, no reason to write those large linux distro isos to the ssd, etc.  For example just grabbed the 4.2GB iso from ms for the 2k12r2 eval iso, for another thread.

 

But even if on the ssd, even a few of those a day wouldn't be a issue  Would have to pretty much have my download pipe 100% all day every day to  life of the drive..  40GB a day =  7 years   And the other test at that write level shows 20 years.  My download pipe is 60Mbps / 8 = 7.5MBps = now if that was just constantly writing files to disk then sure ok the life is going to be reduced..  But how much do you download in a day?  Really...

 

So your 8TB in 8 months = 1TB per month / 30 days = 33.3GB a day, which is under that 40GB a day mark, so at the one estimate you should get over 7 years, at the other your should have over 20.  Do you think you will still even have this SSD in 7 years?

 

Performance counters would be what your after if your looking to see what is actually doing the most writing to reduce that.  But you could prob get a pretty good idea of your heavy use processes by just calling up the resource monitor and looking at the disk tab

 

 

Leave that running for a day and see what is doing the most..

 

 

 

 

[+Tyranade Subscriber²]

Maybe I am getting worked up over nothing 8TB of data in 8 months is a lot to me and I got worried for a little bit. But to be honest even if I only get 7 years out of the SSD that is good going to me even for a Mechanical Drive so yeah thanks guys : ).