I have an option to pickup a used 2014 27" iMac with a 1TB Fusion Drive. Considering it's age, is it reasonable the SSD portion could be nearing it's reasonable end of life (limit on the number of writes/re-writers, if I'm I understand the basics of SSDs)? This doesn't even begin to mention the possibility of the SATA drive failing as well...
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lifespan of FusionDrive on a 2014 27" iMac
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Yeah, the SSD is waaaay down the list of concerns. The HDD portion, on the other hand…
I’m not saying it’s gonna keel over this week or anything. I have a 2012 Mac mini FD that I still use daily too. But, if something DOES die, I’d bet on it being the HDD.
I’m not saying it’s gonna keel over this week or anything. I have a 2012 Mac mini FD that I still use daily too. But, if something DOES die, I’d bet on it being the HDD.
Appreciate the responses thus far! On a related note, how long would you suspect a 2014 iMac on Mojave would continue to receive web browser updates (Firefox, Chrome, Safari), considering the transition to Apple silicon? I'm still running an Early 2009 iMac on El Capitan and am starting to hit the wall, regarding access to some sites (banks, etc...). I have the highest possible update, but the sites say I need to update to continue accessing (which I obviously cannot).
My hope is the 2014 could get me a few more years down the road, even if I have to invest in a new HDD, before switching to a newer M-series Mac.
My hope is the 2014 could get me a few more years down the road, even if I have to invest in a new HDD, before switching to a newer M-series Mac.
I would only expect Mojave to get Safari browser/security updates until this fall. I dunno about Chrome, etc. as I'm not a big user.
IF the 2014 iMac fusion drive has an SSD component that is 128gb (not 24/32gb like later ones), you might also consider "splitting" the fusion into standalone drives.
Then use the SSD portion as your boot drive (with OS, apps, basic accounts).
Use the HDD portion for large libraries (movies, pictures, music, etc.).
Add a little extra RAM, and then TURN OFF virtual memory disk swapping, so the OS isn't "hitting the [boot] drive all the time with page-ins and page-outs.
I predict that if you do these things, the SSD will run at its optimum speed and last longer...
Then use the SSD portion as your boot drive (with OS, apps, basic accounts).
Use the HDD portion for large libraries (movies, pictures, music, etc.).
Add a little extra RAM, and then TURN OFF virtual memory disk swapping, so the OS isn't "hitting the [boot] drive all the time with page-ins and page-outs.
I predict that if you do these things, the SSD will run at its optimum speed and last longer...
I have a 2014 iMac 27 and it's a nice system. It has a factory 500 GB SSD. I also have a 2010 iMac 27 with HDD. I'd suggest asking the seller to run DriveDX on the internal drive and send you the drive health statistics. You can look at the TBW of the SSD to estimate longevity. DriveDX will also give you information about the HDD. If there were problems with the SSD or HDD, though, you could just boot and run off an external USB 3 SSD.
My late 2012 27” iMac, which has worked around the clock doing 3D graphics for a decade, finally had the fusion drive start to fail.
It was the spinning part not the SSD part.
I’m getting it replaced with a full SSD from Crucial because I think it’s worth it to me with the condition of the machine otherwise and the amount of legacy software I use.
One note on these systems is that the HDD generates a fair amount of heat so it would be better overall to replace it if it's easy to do. Here is the DriveDX report from my 2014 iMac. It was used in a commercial graphics house since purchase. I bought it from the company late last year. I assume that it was used quite a bit for professional work.
I have not had any problems with it though it does generate a fair amount of heat, even without the HDD. It's only somewhat of a problem in the summer for me as my office isn't air conditioned.
I have not had any problems with it though it does generate a fair amount of heat, even without the HDD. It's only somewhat of a problem in the summer for me as my office isn't air conditioned.
You can get 32 GB of RAM for about $100. I put in 32 GB of RAM and mine never swaps. It normally uses about 18 GB of RAM and uses the rest for caching files. So you even save reads using the RAM for cache.
I don’t know how to turn off swap but maxing the RAM essentially does the same thing.
Eugen wrote (in reply 11):
"How?"
To DISABLE virtual memory:
sudo launchctl unload -wF /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
To REMOVE swap files:
sudo rm /private/var/vm/swapfile*
To enable swap, you need to boot in Single Mode (Hold [CMD + S] at booting time) and run this command:
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
To check if VM is being used:
sysctl vm.swapusage
If VM is off, report should be:
vm.swapusage: total = 0.00M used = 0.00M free = 0.00M
"How?"
To DISABLE virtual memory:
sudo launchctl unload -wF /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
To REMOVE swap files:
sudo rm /private/var/vm/swapfile*
To enable swap, you need to boot in Single Mode (Hold [CMD + S] at booting time) and run this command:
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist
To check if VM is being used:
sysctl vm.swapusage
If VM is off, report should be:
vm.swapusage: total = 0.00M used = 0.00M free = 0.00M