Do we think M1 Pro/Max will have the same SSD wear issue as M1?

[littlej2]

I do a lot of code compilation, and in 4 months I have already written 210TB and am at 8% according to smartctl, and I have verified the amount written corresponds exactly with what the MAC reports as data written in a given session. This is on a 16GB ram and 1TB ssd model, and I keep the SSD as empty as possible. The culprit is the kernel task, which can write a TB in a few days with the machine largely idle. Thats my entire HD written once without actually doing anything.

I have suffered a SSD failure many years ago and its catastrophic, but at least it was a lenovo laptop so I just replaced the ssd and carried on.

But with macbooks, if the SSD fails, its not replaceable.

Now looking at the new M1 Pro/MAx, and I am torn between the desire for a high end spec and the down side that if I fork out nearly 4k, and the SSD wears out in say 2 years, that a lot of money in the bin. On the other hand, If I do fork out crazy money for 32GB (or 64) and a 2TB SSD, may be it will last 4 or 5 years before SSD is worn out?

What I should do is buy a PC for code compilation. On my previous thinkpad, I did the same heavy code compilation, but also had far more running at the same time (VMs, Ram Disks, oracle and mysql databases, Adobe AEM CMS servers etc), and after 3 years I had a tiny fraction of the wear my M1 has in a few months. On the M1, I cant run windows VMS, I dont dare run any databases, and I shut down Adobe AEM the second I dont need it to try to keep the M1 alive for longer. Will it be the same on M1 Pro/Max?

 

[DesertNomad]

How exactly (what command) are you getting the total write history from? I'd like to check out my 16" MBP after a year of software development.

 

[nikhsub1]

There is no SSD issue dude. But if you think there is, then yes, the new machines are still plagued with the problem.

 

[chabig]

I don't think you need to be concerned about SSD life. Apple isn't selling SSDs that fail in two years. Your smartctl results seems odd, too. 210TB in 4 months (approx. 120 days) is the equivalent of 73GB every hour. That doesn't pass my sniff test.

 

[1rottenapple]

There is no SSD issue dude. But if you think there is, then yes, the new machines are still plagued with the problem.

Ok nevermind I didn't read the post lol. Well... good luck.

 

[Natzoo]

I know seriously it might fail in 10 years

OP is essentially driving a car greater than the national average, who knows how well the SSD's in the mac will hold. But get a backup nonetheless since it isn't replaceable and also the T2 and now M1 chip can go haywire (there were some reports with the T2 chip causing macs to be inop).

 

[littlej2]

How exactly (what command) are you getting the total write history from? I'd like to check out my 16" MBP after a year of software development.

the command is

smartctl -a disk3s1s1
This has to be installed, e.g. from https://www.macworld.com/article/334283/how-to-m1-intel-mac-ssd-health-terminal-smartmontools.html
To check smartctl is reporting accurate data, simply run it, note the values, then open activity monitor on the disk tab, note the value of "Data Written". Now heavily use your machine for a few days, then compare the difference and you will see they match.
Actually, mine can write tens of GB when the machine is sleeping (kernal task again), so Now I try to shut the machine down most nights,but its tedious to have to boot in the morning and re-open work.

Anyone who doesnt think this problem is real watch this:

 

[Arctic Moose]

Wasn't this concluded to be a reporting issue rather than an actual data writing issue?

 

[white7561]

Wasn't this concluded to be a reporting issue rather than an actual data writing issue?

Yeah afaik it's a reporting issue last i saw. Not an actual data writing issue

 

[featherlessbird]

The problem still exists on the M1 and wasn't fixed completely. My 8GB MBA is on 30% of lifespan used after 8 months and the writes on smartctl correspond with Activity Monitor numbers. Would be nice to see some improvements on M1 Pro/Max, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[chabig]

I do a lot of code compilation, and in 4 months I have already written 210TB

OP, you forgot to mention what OS you're running. Please tell us. There was a reporting problem early in the Big Sur lifecycle. As I suggested above, I don't even think it's possible that you're writing 73GB per hour every hour of every day even while the machine is asleep. And since you're shutting it down at night, we know that number has to be higher. Do you realize that 73+GB per hour is more than 1GB per minute! That's not really happening.

 

[featherlessbird]

My Mac is writing about 40-60 GB per hour and it was 3 times higher before Big Sur 11.4.

 

[bob_stan]

Pay for Apple Care and you are good for 3 years at least.

 

[Fuchal]

My M1 I use for work daily has 14TB of writes since I bought it last December.

 

[Fishrrman]

I won't have one of the new MBP 14's until December.
So I can't conduct my own tests until then.

But again (as many times before) I'll ask the question:
What happens if you use the terminal to DISABLE VM disk swapping?
Does that work on the m-series CPU?
What does disabling it do for disk writing/thrashing...?

 

[hovscorpion12]

the command is

smartctl -a disk3s1s1
This has to be installed, e.g. from https://www.macworld.com/article/334283/how-to-m1-intel-mac-ssd-health-terminal-smartmontools.html
To check smartctl is reporting accurate data, simply run it, note the values, then open activity monitor on the disk tab, note the value of "Data Written". Now heavily use your machine for a few days, then compare the difference and you will see they match.
Actually, mine can write tens of GB when the machine is sleeping (kernal task again), so Now I try to shut the machine down most nights,but its tedious to have to boot in the morning and re-open work.

Anyone who doesnt think this problem is real watch this:

For the kernal, I suggest resetting The SMC as well as boot into safe-mode to isolate the issue.

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

The SMC is responsible for managing power on your Mac. Resetting it can resolve certain uncommon issues related to power or thermal management.

support.apple.com

 

[yitwail]

I just learned about this issue and haven’t had time to thoroughly study all the online discussions of the topic, so correct me if I’m mistaken but in part the problem stems from intel apps running through Rosetta 2 causing swapping? That being the case, is the issue less serious if there’s 32GB ram?