Apple putting used / refurbished SSDs into new MacBook Pros?

[shoehornhands]

I just got a brand new 15” touch bar MacBook Pro with a 512GB SSD. I used smartmontools to view the SSD health info, and this is what it shows:


=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02, NSID 0x0)
Critical Warning: 0x00
Temperature: 28 Celsius
Available Spare: 100%
Available Spare Threshold: 10%
Percentage Used: 0%
Data Units Read: 26,147,819 [13.3 TB]
Data Units Written: 33,348,008 [17.0 TB]
Host Read Commands: 37,553,063
Host Write Commands: 32,305,825
Controller Busy Time: 213
Power Cycles: 1,074
Power On Hours: 22
Unsafe Shutdowns: 29
Media and Data Integrity Errors: 0
Error Information Log Entries: 0


In particular, the 13.3 TB of reads, 17.0 TB of writes, and 1,074 power cycles jump out.

For comparison, I ran the same test on my 2014 15" 512GB MBP when I first got it, and there were only a few gigabytes of reads / writes, and the power cycle count was less than 10 (which is what I'd expect from a new drive / with just a single factory OS install on it).

I've also inspected the data on more than a dozen brand new SSDs (i.e. purchased independently), and they ALWAYS show 0 GB of reads / writes / power cycles (i.e. the health info doesn't reflect any testing they do at the factory).

Is there something I'm missing here, or is Apple now putting used / refurbished SSDs into brand new MacBook Pros (presumably to save money, as if their margins weren't high enough already)?

 

[robvas]

Since they are soldered onto the motherboard, I highly doubt that. Your tool may not work with Apple's custom drives?

 

[shoehornhands]

Since they are soldered onto the motherboard, I highly doubt that. Your tool may not work with Apple's custom drives?

I'm fairly certain the information is accurate. The first thing I did was write some data and restart the computer to see if it was reflected in the writes / power cycle count (and it was).

 

[DeltaMac]

I would first suspect the software that you are using to read the information from the device. It may not be compatible somehow, with High Sierra. I have seen a number of different system utilities that don't always show accurate readings from Mac hardware.
But, I also see "Percentage Used: 0%", and Power on Hours: 22. Is that 22 hours close to correct for you?

A good tool would be one that boots up to its own system, such as a Linux flavor, or a bootable Windows support disk with repair tools to get another take on that reported condition.

If you really trust the software tools that you used, then bring up your concerns with Apple tech support, particularly if you would like an answer about the "1,074 Power Cycles"
(Is the SSD the only source for your concern? How many power cycles are reported by the battery ?)
Or, if you are still within the 14 day return period, return your MBPro for a refund/replacement. You don't need any reason to do that initial return.

 

[shoehornhands]

I would first suspect the software that you are using to read the information from the device. It may not be compatible somehow, with High Sierra. I have seen a number of different system utilities that don't always show accurate readings from Mac hardware.
But, I also see "Percentage Used: 0%", and Power on Hours: 22. Is that 22 hours close to correct for you?

A good tool would be one that boots up to its own system, such as a Linux flavor, or a bootable Windows support disk with repair tools to get another take on that reported condition.

If you really trust the software tools that you used, then bring up your concerns with Apple tech support, particularly if you would like an answer about the "1,074 Power Cycles"
(Is the SSD the only source for your concern? How many power cycles are reported by the battery ?)
Or, if you are still within the 14 day return period, return your MBPro for a refund/replacement. You don't need any reason to do that initial return.

Yeah, the 22 hours is certainly in the ballpark (I would expect a few hours to be put on at the factory / during the OS install).

The power cycles indeed increase by 1 every time I restart the computer, so I suspect that value is correct. Something certainly seems off though (13.3 TB of reads and 17.0 TB of writes in 22 hours is like a data server, and 1,074 power cycles in such a short period of time makes no sense).

The battery had 4 power cycles on it out of the box. Is this normal, or should it have 0 / 1?

I just got it a couple days ago, but I didn’t buy it from Apple (so not sure what the return policy is).

I’ll try booting into Fedora later today / try some different tools and see if it shows anything different.

 

[robvas]

Perhaps this is off? GB vs TB

Data Units Written: 33,348,008 [17.0 TB]

17.0GB seems about right for a new system, factory OS X install.

I would try this:

Run the tool again to get the data units written #
Write 1GB of data to the drive (download a Fedora ISO perhaps)
Run the tool again and compare

 

[shoehornhands]

Perhaps this is off? GB vs TB

Data Units Written: 33,348,008 [17.0 TB]

17.0GB seems about right for a new system, factory OS X install.

I would try this:

Run the tool again to get the data units written #
Write 1GB of data to the drive (download a Fedora ISO perhaps)
Run the tool again and compare

Thanks for the suggestions. I just tried writing data to the SSD in 10 GB increments, and after writing 20 GB, "data units written" jumped to 17.1 TB (i.e. it does indeed appear to be terabytes, and not gigabytes).

I also tried booting a Linux live USB, and unfortunately the newer MacBook Pros don't seem to work too well with Linux. I tried both Fedora, and Ubuntu and neither the keyboard, nor the trackpad work in either distro.

Anybody have any luck running Linux on newer MacBook Pros?

 

[hallux]

Since they are soldered onto the motherboard, I highly doubt that. Your tool may not work with Apple's custom drives?

This. It's not simply a "blade" SSD soldered to the socket but the chips are integrated into the board. I highly doubt they desoldered the storage chips from one unit and moved them to a new one. The only way I could see the OP's results being accurate is if this was a refurbished unit that had been subjected to benchmarks of some kind.

 

[Queen6]

Given it's Apple, just return it and get a replacement, if nothing else it will solve your curiosity. Only thing springs to mind is it's a QC component or unit inadvertently put back into general circulation.

Q-6

 

[GtrDude]

This is Apple we're talking about.
They're not going to pay someone to de-solder the hard drive to use it somewhere else.
Even if they only charge 0.01 cent an hour somewhere in Taiwan.
Besides they buy these drives by the millions and probably pay a buck per hard drive.
Naturally they sell it to us for 250 bucks....but that's life.

 

[shoehornhands]

Given it's Apple, just return it and get a replacement, if nothing else it will solve your curiosity. Only thing springs to mind is it's a QC component or unit inadvertently put back into general circulation.

Q-6

I purchased it through an authorized Apple reseller, not directly from Apple. Not sure if the return policy is the same, but I'm probably going to try to exchange it for another one. I do feel like something odd is going on with this particular unit (e.g. when I started it up for the first time, the screen was black / wouldn't display anything, and I had to reset the SMC to fix it, and I get a jankey looking loading bar (not the typical one with the Apple logo above it) every time the computer starts up).

 

[Queen6]

I purchased it through an authorized Apple reseller, not directly from Apple. Not sure if the return policy is the same, but I'm probably going to try to exchange it for another one. I do feel like something odd is going on with this particular unit (e.g. when I started it up for the first time, the screen was black / wouldn't display anything, and I had to reset the SMC to fix it, and I get a jankey looking loading bar (not the typical one with the Apple logo above it) every time the computer starts up).

Agree I'd simply return it. SSD should just have a few Gb of writes not multiple TB, so something is off, nor do I think it's how the App is reading the drive.

Q-6

 

[Fishrrman]

Seems to me that "soldered-in" hard drives could get quite expensive for Apple in a relatively short order.

How will they sell these as "refurbished" units?
As others have mentioned, not so easy to de-solder and replace a "drive" (that is really just memory chips and a controller soldered to the board).

 

[robvas]

Seems to me that "soldered-in" hard drives are going to get expensive for Apple in a relatively short order...

Why?

They cut the middle man out. Custom controller. Smaller components.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Why?

They cut the middle man out. Custom controller. Smaller components.

However much more expensive to fix when broken, they will just have a team fixing them and replace with an already refurbished board though.

 

[Queen6]

However much more expensive to fix when broken, they will just have a team fixing them and replace with an already refurbished board though.

Apple will very likely replace the entire board. I cant speak for them, however from my own studies involving extremely high end electronics with a cost index far exceeding the most expensive iMac Pro; even with highly trained and experienced technician's the likelihood of failure for such complex boards after reworking/refurbishment was 7-10 times more than a new board. If Apple opts to rework MLB's it's because they are truly cheap and money grabbing, and learned nothing from the dGPU issues of old...

Q-6

 

[simonsi]

Actually I'd suspect the Mac is not new, its a returned unit.

 

[Plett]

Looks like burn in stats to me. Dating myself here, but I worked for a company in the late 90s that manufactured power supplies and they burned those units in for a full 24 hours to ensure that they were fit for service. I could infer from that experience that this is what is going on here.

 

[simonsi]

What kind of burn-in testing involves power-cycling the SSD every 90secs for 24hrs though???

 

[Plett]

What kind of burn-in testing involves power-cycling the SSD every 90secs for 24hrs though???

Engineers that design the testing process like to cover their bases, that being said it just seems the most likely scenario. The idea of selling a used hard drive in the machine seems a bit off from a reputable company. I am hoping the OP exchanges it and tests the new one. If the new one shows the same specs, burn in, if none or different, used SSD, or machine. Open box type thing. Interesting nonetheless.

 

[jerryk]

Actually I'd suspect the Mac is not new, its a returned unit.

Or a demo unit that was loaned to business customers by this re-seller.

 

[TonyK]

I was thinking returned or demo unit myself just now. But if that is the case, it should have been disclosed to the buyer.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

And that's why buying from a reseller is always a gamble.