When evaluating SSDs for server deployment, the Total Bytes Written (TBW) metric is crucial for predicting drive longevity. Manufacturers typically specify TBW ratings (e.g., 72TB for Crucial C400), but real-world monitoring requires Linux-native solutions.

Modern SSDs report wear indicators via SMART attributes. The most relevant metrics are:

# Check basic SMART info:
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdX

# Focus on SSD-specific attributes:
sudo smartctl -A /dev/sdX | grep -E "Media_Wearout_Indicator|Total_LBAs_Written|Wear_Leveling_Count"

For automated monitoring, parse SMART data with this Python script:

import subprocess
import re

def get_ssd_tbw(device):
    cmd = f"smartctl -A {device}"
    output = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode()
    
    # Extract LBA written (sectors)
    lba_match = re.search(r"Total_LBAs_Written\s+(\d+)", output)
    if lba_match:
        sectors = int(lba_match.group(1))
        bytes_written = sectors * 512  # Convert to bytes
        return bytes_written / (1024**4)  # Return TB
    return None

Several specialized tools provide enhanced SSD wear monitoring:

# NVMe CLI for NVMe SSDs:
sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0n1

# smartmontools with JSON output:
sudo smartctl -A -j /dev/sdX

# iostat for write pattern analysis:
sudo iostat -xmd 5

Combine manufacturer specs with real-world data to estimate remaining endurance:

def estimate_remaining_life(current_tb, rated_tbw, daily_write):
    used_percent = (current_tb / rated_tbw) * 100
    remaining_tb = rated_tbw - current_tb
    days_remaining = remaining_tb / (daily_write/1024**4)
    return {
        "used_percent": used_percent,
        "remaining_tb": remaining_tb,
        "days_remaining": days_remaining
    }

For production environments, consider:

• Prometheus node_exporter with custom SSD metrics
• Telegraf SSD input plugin for InfluxDB monitoring
• SMARTd for threshold-based alerts

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When deploying SSDs in server environments, endurance is a critical factor. Manufacturers specify drive longevity using Total Bytes Written (TBW), such as Crucial's 72TB rating for the C400 SSD. To assess feasibility, Linux administrators need tools to track actual TBW over time.

Linux provides built-in interfaces to extract SSD wear data:

# Method 1: Using smartctl (from smartmontools)
sudo smartctl -A /dev/sdX | grep -i "total_lbas_written\|wear_leveling_count"

# Example output for NVMe:
sudo smartctl -A /dev/nvme0n1 | grep "Data Units Written"

For long-term monitoring, create a script to log TBW periodically:

#!/bin/bash
DEVICE="/dev/nvme0n1"
LOG_FILE="/var/log/ssd_tbw.log"

# Get current TBW in GB (NVMe specific)
tbw=$(sudo smartctl -A $DEVICE | awk '/Data Units Written/{print $5}' | sed 's/,//')
tbw_gb=$((tbw * 1000 / 953))  # Convert 512-byte units to GB

echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),$tbw_gb" >> $LOG_FILE

# Samsung SSDs (S.M.A.R.T. attribute 241):
sudo smartctl -A /dev/sda | grep "Total_LBAs_Written"

# Intel SSDs (attribute F1):
sudo smartctl -A /dev/sdb | grep "Host_Writes_32MiB"

Combine with tools like Grafana for time-series analysis. Sample telegraf config:

[[inputs.smart]]
  attributes = ["total_lbas_written", "wear_leveling_count"]
  devices = ["/dev/nvme0n1"]

For RAID arrays, sum TBW across all devices. Example using mdadm:

for disk in /dev/sd{a..d}; do
  sudo smartctl -A $disk | grep -i "total_bytes_written"
done