What does an SSD Wear Gauge define?

An SSD Wear Gauge is a metric that specifically indicates the remaining lifetime of a solid-state drive (SSD). It provides a way to assess how much of the SSD's write endurance has been consumed over time, which is crucial for managing the health and reliability of the drive.

Typically, SSDs have a limited number of write cycles before they start to wear out, and the wear gauge allows users to monitor this factor. It reflects the state of the flash memory cells inside the SSD, which degrade with repeated writing and erasing. So, a higher wear gauge percentage means the drive is closer to its end-of-life, while a lower percentage indicates there's still significant usable life left.

This lifespan monitoring is especially important in environments where data integrity and availability are critical, such as in enterprise applications, ensuring that users can make informed decisions about replacing or backing up drives as they approach their write limits.