MTBF + Me = Dunce?

[Culbrelai]

Alright, so I was looking at this epic PCI-E SSD from Intel (for no real reason, other than trying to abstract my decision between an iPad or a computer upgrade)

http://ark.intel.com/products/86740...B-12-Height-PCIe-3_0-20nm-MLC#@specifications

1,200,000 hrs MTBF.

Math is not my strong suit, so bear with me

24 hrs in a day, thus = 50,000 days.

365 days in a standard year, thus ~137 years.

This drive has a mean time between failures of 137 years? Is this accurate or is this like the contrast ratio shenanigans on monitors (12 trillion to one, etc)?

Or am I just dumb or missing something here?

 

[trents]

Your math is okay but interpreting the significance of their MTBF statistic is the issue here. What use conditions are implied here? Just plugging in the drive and letting it sit there powered up with no reading/writing activity? That might be true because there is no mechanical component. Surely, in actual real world use they won't last 137 years, however. The ability of the chips to retain data integrity dwindles with use. They wear out.