There are a few factors that affect the lifespan of an SSD. The main factor is the type of Flash used on the SSD and its P/E cycle rating. The higher the P/E cycle rating the higher overall SSD endurance. Another unavoidable factor of Flash programming that affects endurance is Write Amplification. Write Amplification Factor or WAF is a side affect of Flash programming where new data being writing to an SSD must be combined with previously written data and then re-written to a new location. The final factor in SSD endurance is the application workload. Workloads that write mostly random data will have a higher WAF, resulting in decreased SSD endurance, when compared to workloads that have a more sequential data pattern.