Filter capacitors producing excessive heat due to inrush current? That would be bad filter capacitors indeed ;-)
The claim was that an SSD somehow converted more electric energy into heat immediately after power-up which would damage the SSD, so real consumption, not just a current peak that goes into storage for later consumption. Normal-ESR electrolytics might have a heat problem when used at a few kHz in switching applications, but certainly not at 0.1 Hz.
It's long been standard practice with tantalum filter capacitors to feed them through an inductor or at least a resistor to prevent inrush current failures. That, and/or you derate the crap out of them when you design the board. Newer drives are probably using multilayer ceramics that can put up with just about any abuse including inrush.
Executive summary: powerup stress is not an issue unless the drive was designed by a moron.
The claim was that an SSD somehow converted more electric energy into heat immediately after power-up which would damage the SSD, so real consumption, not just a current peak that goes into storage for later consumption. Normal-ESR electrolytics might have a heat problem when used at a few kHz in switching applications, but certainly not at 0.1 Hz.