diff --git a/app/burnin/stages.py b/app/burnin/stages.py
index 1eaa25e..a261765 100644
--- a/app/burnin/stages.py
+++ b/app/burnin/stages.py
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ class _BadblocksResult(TypedDict):
 # dashboard appears to "rewind" every ~2 hours when a new phase starts.
 _BB_PATTERN_PHASE = {"0xaa": 1, "0x55": 3, "0xff": 5, "0x00": 7}
 _BB_TOTAL_PHASES = 8
+# Throttle DB writes from the badblocks parser. Each progress line used
+# to trigger 4-6 transactions; with 4 concurrent burn-ins emitting sub-
+# second progress lines, the asyncssh drain couldn't keep up — the
+# stdout pipe on TrueNAS filled, badblocks blocked on pipe_write,
+# disk I/O effectively stopped. 5 seconds is fine for the UI (drawer
+# polls every ~12s anyway) and cuts DB load 60-80x.
+BB_DB_MIN_SECONDS = 5.0
 
 import re as _re_pre  # noqa: E402
 
@@ -513,7 +520,7 @@ async def _stage_surface_validate_ssh(job_id: int, devname: str, drive_id: int)
                 # of the previous progress sample so we can compute MB/s
                 # from the delta on each new sample.
                 last_pct_sample: float = progress.overall_pct
-                last_pct_ts: float = time.monotonic()
+                last_db_write_ts: float = time.monotonic()
 
                 # Seed bb_phase=1, bb_phase_pct=0 immediately so the
                 # drawer's per-pattern meters have something to render
@@ -557,12 +564,24 @@ async def _stage_surface_validate_ssh(job_id: int, devname: str, drive_id: int)
                             # picks up the "Testing with pattern 0xXX" + "Reading
                             # and comparing" headers (which advance the phase
                             # counter), not just the percent-done lines.
-                            prev = progress.overall_pct
                             prev_phase = progress.phase
                             progress.update(line)
                             phase_changed = progress.phase != prev_phase
-                            pct_changed = progress.overall_pct != prev
-                            if phase_changed or pct_changed or _BB_PERCENT_RE.search(line):
+
+                            # Throttle DB writes. Each progress line used to
+                            # trigger 4-6 transactions; with 4 concurrent
+                            # burn-ins and sub-second progress lines that
+                            # backs up the asyncssh drain → pipe fills →
+                            # badblocks blocks on pipe_write → no disk I/O.
+                            # Commit at most once every BB_DB_MIN_SECONDS,
+                            # plus always on phase transitions (transitions
+                            # are rare AND important: they stamp history,
+                            # advance the meter strip).
+                            now_ts = time.monotonic()
+                            time_since_last_db = now_ts - last_db_write_ts
+                            should_write = phase_changed or time_since_last_db >= BB_DB_MIN_SECONDS
+
+                            if should_write:
                                 if phase_changed:
                                     # Stamp the moment we first see this
                                     # phase so the drawer can show
@@ -578,29 +597,27 @@ async def _stage_surface_validate_ssh(job_id: int, devname: str, drive_id: int)
                                     job_id, "surface_validate",
                                     progress.phase, progress.phase_pct,
                                 )
-                                await _update_stage_bad_blocks(job_id, "surface_validate", bad_blocks_total)
-                                # Throughput: only on real percent advances
-                                # (skip header-only ticks where pct didn't move).
-                                # Skip phase transitions too — the per-phase
-                                # pct resets and would produce a negative delta.
+                                await _update_stage_bad_blocks(
+                                    job_id, "surface_validate", bad_blocks_total,
+                                )
+                                # Throughput: compute since the last DB
+                                # write, not since the last progress line.
+                                # Skip phase transitions (per-phase pct
+                                # resets would yield a negative delta).
                                 if (
                                     drive_size_bytes
-                                    and pct_changed
                                     and not phase_changed
                                     and progress.overall_pct > last_pct_sample
+                                    and time_since_last_db >= 1.0
                                 ):
-                                    now_ts = time.monotonic()
-                                    dt = now_ts - last_pct_ts
-                                    if dt >= 1.0:  # avoid noisy sub-second samples
-                                        d_pct = progress.overall_pct - last_pct_sample
-                                        # Each 1% overall = drive_size / 800 bytes
-                                        bytes_done = (d_pct / 800.0) * drive_size_bytes
-                                        mbps = bytes_done / dt / 1_000_000
-                                        await _update_stage_bb_mbps(
-                                            job_id, "surface_validate", mbps,
-                                        )
-                                        last_pct_sample = progress.overall_pct
-                                        last_pct_ts = now_ts
+                                    d_pct = progress.overall_pct - last_pct_sample
+                                    bytes_done = (d_pct / 800.0) * drive_size_bytes
+                                    mbps = bytes_done / time_since_last_db / 1_000_000
+                                    await _update_stage_bb_mbps(
+                                        job_id, "surface_validate", mbps,
+                                    )
+                                last_pct_sample = progress.overall_pct
+                                last_db_write_ts = now_ts
                                 await _recalculate_progress(job_id)
                                 _push_update()
                         else:
diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index be8a38a..a60ff43 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     ssh_key: str = ""             # PEM private key content (paste full key including headers)
 
     # Application version — used by the /api/v1/updates/check endpoint
-    app_version: str = "1.0.0-51"
+    app_version: str = "1.0.0-52"
 
     # ---- Authentication (1.0.0-22) ----
     # session_secret: HMAC key for signing session cookies. Empty = generate