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I use the cmd command "robocopy" to back up a folder on an ssd to an internal backup drive though a bat file. The command I use:

robocopy "X:\Source Folder" "P:\Backups\Source Folder" /MIR /FFT /R:3 /W:10 /Z /MT8 /NP /NDL pause

My question: If I run this command file very often, do I run the risk of drastically shortening the life of my ssd or HDD? When the folder checks all the files for changes, does this put stress on the drive? The folder I backup often has about 5000 files, with only 1-30 file changes between each robocopy run. (Sometimes I will run the backup 3-20 times a day)

I also backup my entire internal backup drive to a external about once a week using the same command.

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  • You are using mirror mode /MIR which only copies changed files. How much write operations you get from this command depends on the number of changed files and their size. If you are concerned about the amount of written data just monitor the TBW counter of the SSD (e.g. using an SMART tool like Crystaldiskinfo) over several days/weeks.
    – Robert
    Apr 9, 2021 at 8:11

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It depends on the SSD and the quality of the SSD (and the quality of the HDD). My laptop has a Samsung SSD, and is subject to a high number of writes (VMware making and compacting machines plus Updates of all kind).

Total Terabytes written after 4 years of use is 30. Capacity of the drive is 600 TBW. So there is 20 years of life at my usage rate.

robocopy "X:\Source Folder" "P:\Backups\Source Folder" /MIR /FFT /R:3 /W:10 /Z /MT8 /NP /NDL pause

This is no more than I do, so with a good quality SSD you should have no concerns.

Hard Drives do not have a limitation that I know of on total writes and are more likely to have hardware failure.

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