Does constant writing to “files” in `/proc` or `/sys` reduce the life of my SSD due to its limited number...











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My laptop has a SSD drive and I run a script which writes every other second to /sys/class/thermal/cooling_device4/cur_state. I don't think this would count as writing to the SSD and thus reducing its remaining number of writing cycles, since procfs and sysfs are virtual filesystems.



Or am I overlooking something and this is an issue?










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    You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
    – glglgl
    Dec 8 at 12:29















up vote
0
down vote

favorite












My laptop has a SSD drive and I run a script which writes every other second to /sys/class/thermal/cooling_device4/cur_state. I don't think this would count as writing to the SSD and thus reducing its remaining number of writing cycles, since procfs and sysfs are virtual filesystems.



Or am I overlooking something and this is an issue?










share|improve this question


















  • 1




    You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
    – glglgl
    Dec 8 at 12:29













up vote
0
down vote

favorite









up vote
0
down vote

favorite











My laptop has a SSD drive and I run a script which writes every other second to /sys/class/thermal/cooling_device4/cur_state. I don't think this would count as writing to the SSD and thus reducing its remaining number of writing cycles, since procfs and sysfs are virtual filesystems.



Or am I overlooking something and this is an issue?










share|improve this question













My laptop has a SSD drive and I run a script which writes every other second to /sys/class/thermal/cooling_device4/cur_state. I don't think this would count as writing to the SSD and thus reducing its remaining number of writing cycles, since procfs and sysfs are virtual filesystems.



Or am I overlooking something and this is an issue?







linux files filesystems proc ssd






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asked Dec 8 at 11:29









Jayjayyy

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1758








  • 1




    You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
    – glglgl
    Dec 8 at 12:29














  • 1




    You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
    – glglgl
    Dec 8 at 12:29








1




1




You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
– glglgl
Dec 8 at 12:29




You are right. Not writing to the SSD doesn't count as writing to the SSD. The same would hold for a RAM drive such as tmpfs.
– glglgl
Dec 8 at 12:29










1 Answer
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accepted










You're entirely correct: virtual filesystems like procfs and sysfs are not stored on disk at all. Their contents are generated on-demand based on kernel data structures in RAM, and writing into them (if possible at all) translates into making changes to in-memory kernel settings.



Writing to procfs or sysfs cannot possibly have any impact to SSD lifetime.






share|improve this answer





















  • But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
    – 神秘德里克
    Dec 8 at 12:39






  • 1




    No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
    – telcoM
    Dec 8 at 12:53











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up vote
6
down vote



accepted










You're entirely correct: virtual filesystems like procfs and sysfs are not stored on disk at all. Their contents are generated on-demand based on kernel data structures in RAM, and writing into them (if possible at all) translates into making changes to in-memory kernel settings.



Writing to procfs or sysfs cannot possibly have any impact to SSD lifetime.






share|improve this answer





















  • But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
    – 神秘德里克
    Dec 8 at 12:39






  • 1




    No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
    – telcoM
    Dec 8 at 12:53















up vote
6
down vote



accepted










You're entirely correct: virtual filesystems like procfs and sysfs are not stored on disk at all. Their contents are generated on-demand based on kernel data structures in RAM, and writing into them (if possible at all) translates into making changes to in-memory kernel settings.



Writing to procfs or sysfs cannot possibly have any impact to SSD lifetime.






share|improve this answer





















  • But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
    – 神秘德里克
    Dec 8 at 12:39






  • 1




    No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
    – telcoM
    Dec 8 at 12:53













up vote
6
down vote



accepted







up vote
6
down vote



accepted






You're entirely correct: virtual filesystems like procfs and sysfs are not stored on disk at all. Their contents are generated on-demand based on kernel data structures in RAM, and writing into them (if possible at all) translates into making changes to in-memory kernel settings.



Writing to procfs or sysfs cannot possibly have any impact to SSD lifetime.






share|improve this answer












You're entirely correct: virtual filesystems like procfs and sysfs are not stored on disk at all. Their contents are generated on-demand based on kernel data structures in RAM, and writing into them (if possible at all) translates into making changes to in-memory kernel settings.



Writing to procfs or sysfs cannot possibly have any impact to SSD lifetime.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Dec 8 at 11:48









telcoM

15.4k12143




15.4k12143












  • But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
    – 神秘德里克
    Dec 8 at 12:39






  • 1




    No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
    – telcoM
    Dec 8 at 12:53


















  • But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
    – 神秘德里克
    Dec 8 at 12:39






  • 1




    No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
    – telcoM
    Dec 8 at 12:53
















But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
– 神秘德里克
Dec 8 at 12:39




But if I'm nit-picking, is that possible writing to /sys control the state of your SSD controller so it will have some impact to the hardware?
– 神秘德里克
Dec 8 at 12:39




1




1




No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
– telcoM
Dec 8 at 12:53




No, repeated writing to /sys/class/thermal (as the original poster asked) won't have any impact to SSD hardware :-) To have any significant effect, you would have to write into /sys/block/<device name>/ and basically deliberately pick the worst possible settings for a SSD. Even so, modern consumer SSDs have plenty of writing cycles and efficient wear leveling: typically the vendors promise that you could write more than a terabyte every day and the SSD would still have the expected lifetime. Of course, sometimes those promises can be mistaken or less than truthful otherwise...
– telcoM
Dec 8 at 12:53


















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