SSD Life problem

turtlez said:

I generally like to last about 5-6 years before replacing. I just want to make sure this iMac is not going to be an expensive repair job for the 5-6 year period.

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I agree i've invested in the new iMac with near top specs (all accept the 32GB Ram which i'll upgrade later if i need it) After spending £2301.80 (with student discount) I also want my machine to last 5-6 years. After investing in the 3TB fusion drive i have seen conflicting posts on this forum, some people say they don't trust the fusion and not to buy it. There is even another thread that someone started saying "DON'T BUY THE 2012 iMac" because there are issues with them.

well in 4-5 years i believe there will be 3tb ssd for like 100 bucks

turtlez said:

I like the idea of Fusion I just want to know that there won't be any background large scale moving on a regular basis between the two fused drives. If the moving is only a one off thing depending on how frequently i change my most used Apps, I will be fine with it. I don't pay much attention to the DON'T BUY THIS DON'T BUY THAT! threads because it is usually someone who just happened to be unlucky and feels they can speak for all units that shipped out. Anger and frustration leads to high pitch noises

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I think from what was said at the keynote, the applications and documents are only moved when you use something all the while, for example if you use Aperture and not iPhoto then Aperture will be put on the SSD side and iPhoto moved to the HDD side. From what i have seen on the keynote i don't think there is any constant movement of files. I could however be wrong i'm not an expert on this!! I'm looking forward to seeing how fast my 3TB fusion drive is tomorrow when it arrives

turtlez said:

I've never paid attention to write/read amounts since I got this iMac (first time SSD) but now that I am observing I am noticing the SSD is constantly writing even when idle. varying from 100-400kb/s write speeds on idle. I left my mac idle without sleep for 1 hour and noticed an extra 400mb on the total writes since last restart. That is going to rack up the writes and decrease the life faster so my question is. Is it normal behaviour for sourcing constantly from the OS or should it just idle the SSD with the idled behaviour of the computer?

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It's a fusion drive. Therefore the OS and all associated page files etc are on the SSD, hence even when idle there will be activity.

Stop worrying.

turtlez said:

I've never paid attention to write/read amounts since I got this iMac (first time SSD) but now that I am observing I am noticing the SSD is constantly writing even when idle. varying from 100-400kb/s write speeds on idle. I left my mac idle without sleep for 1 hour and noticed an extra 400mb on the total writes since last restart. That is going to rack up the writes and decrease the life faster so my question is. Is it normal behaviour for sourcing constantly from the OS or should it just idle the SSD with the idled behaviour of the computer?

PS. I also noted increased hard drive write collection after sleeping the computer for a few hours

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Again, see Hellhammer's responses earlier in this thread. These small amounts of writes will do nothing to decrease life...

brand said:

If you your are going to throw out statistics don't make them up.

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If you had ever taken a statistics class, the joke is that 75.4% of all statistics are made up. You just have to give the right number of decimal places to make is sound plausible. Therefore, the 99% should have been 98.9%. See, now you believe that he knows what he is talking about!

turtlez said:

Today I ended up using 46GB of writes with just Photoshop painting on a fairly small sized canvas with less than 10 layers. Guess I better go get Apple Care

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I buy AppleCare on each new Mac I buy, without fail. First is because the AppleCare unit does a great job of taking care of its customers & their computers.

Second is because I appreciate the fast turnaround times in the event one must use the service. Twenty years of reliable Macs, doesn't preclude one from experiencing a component failure. With the price of my fully optioned, non user serviceable MBP Retina being over $3k, AppleCare is a must.

Third, I don't care if we're talking about SSD's HDD's or any other component, early failure is always possible. I just use mine, enjoy them, and don't obsess over the "what if's".

turtlez said:

I bet there is a 100.00% chance you are telling the truth

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Now see, I don't believe you; you used to many decimal places on 100%!

I also buy Apple care the vast majority of the time. I haven't purchased it on my new iMac yet, because I figured I could delay the extra charge a bit after dropping so much on the iMac. Only two exceptions.

1. My daughter smacked my dad's MacBook Pro with a bead neckless. AppleCare said no accidental damage coverage for the broken LCD, but I was able to cancel the remaining AppleCare, took the prorated refund and spent it on MacService replacing the screen for me.

2. My last MacBook, purchased on Black Friday three years ago at BestBuy. Took their geeksquad coverage because it covered accidental damage and battery replacement for about the same price. Repair turn arounds were slow, as they sent it off to Apple the first time, and their own facility the second (which involved waiting for parts). Overall, I got a new LCD when the video ribbon cable went bad, a new plastic shell due to cracks at the hinge, bottom shell where the rubber separated from the case and a new battery. Well worth it I think!