It's really unclear whether explicitly initiated tests actually help for a SSD. The SSD has its own internal mechanisms to scan the flash chips which (I presume) is unrelated to SMART, since they are required for normal operation... primarily detecting weak cells before the bits actually go bad. Whole chips can go bad out of the box but after an SSD has been running for a few months there isn't much left that can go south other than normal wear or a firmware failure.
firmware issues dominated SSD problems in the early years. Those issues are far less prevalent today though Samsung got its ass bitten by not adding enough redundancy and having data go bad on some of its newer offerings. Strictly a firmware issue. Which is another way of saying that one should always buy the not-so-bleeding edge technologies that have had the kinks worked out of them rather than the bleeding-edge-technologies that haven't.
If it starts to bite me I may change my tune. But until that happens I put it in the wasted-cycled category.
Tests of what? The ability to read and write data without corruption? Ordinary usage with wear leveling takes care of that, and these SSDs are definitely being used full-time.
firmware issues dominated SSD problems in the early years. Those issues are far less prevalent today though Samsung got its ass bitten by not adding enough redundancy and having data go bad on some of its newer offerings. Strictly a firmware issue. Which is another way of saying that one should always buy the not-so-bleeding edge technologies that have had the kinks worked out of them rather than the bleeding-edge-technologies that haven't.
If it starts to bite me I may change my tune. But until that happens I put it in the wasted-cycled category.
-Matt