External drives · Caring for a drive
How long does an external SSD last?
Short answer: Usually many years in normal use. SSDs wear with writing, and each model lists an endurance figure and warranty; everyday use stays well within them. Any drive can still fail suddenly, so keep a second copy of anything important.
For normal use, usually many years — most people replace an SSD for more space long before it wears out. SSDs do wear with writing, and each model publishes an endurance figure (often as total terabytes written) and a warranty period; everyday moves and backups use only a small part of it.
What shortens an SSD's life is constant heavy writing and heat. What protects your data isn't the drive's lifespan but having a second copy: any drive can fail suddenly, at any age.
Storage Studio's moves write each file once to the drive, and its speed test uses a small sample, so it isn't a meaningful source of wear — see does the speed test wear out my SSD.