I was just casually checking out this utility (CoconutBattery) which lets you access your SSD's usage, and I got this rather alarming figure that my SSD "lifetime used" is at 67%. Is this something I should be concerned about?
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should I be worried about SSD wear?
- Thread starter ignatius345
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Not particularly. I'm not sure what the design-life of these are (I'm guessing 5 years), so 2/3 of its life in 4 years is pretty good.
SSDs also have spare capacity on board in case of failures, and all of this is transparent. For all you know, you had a bunch of failures on day 1 and none since (unlikely, but possible).
Keep backups, and always expect the unexpected.
At your current usage, you have a predicted remaining life of 2 years, but sudden failure at 2 years is not guaranteed. It could fail tomorrow, or in 10 years. No-one can really say.
The big thing that bugs me about SSDs, is the apparent sudden and total failure that occurs. I'm surprised they weren't designed to partially fail, so a module failure doesn't cause total data loss. I'm not sure why they die suddenly?
My guess is the controller fails; maybe the data is recoverable in this situation. Seems strange, anyway.
SSDs also have spare capacity on board in case of failures, and all of this is transparent. For all you know, you had a bunch of failures on day 1 and none since (unlikely, but possible).
Keep backups, and always expect the unexpected.
At your current usage, you have a predicted remaining life of 2 years, but sudden failure at 2 years is not guaranteed. It could fail tomorrow, or in 10 years. No-one can really say.
The big thing that bugs me about SSDs, is the apparent sudden and total failure that occurs. I'm surprised they weren't designed to partially fail, so a module failure doesn't cause total data loss. I'm not sure why they die suddenly?
My guess is the controller fails; maybe the data is recoverable in this situation. Seems strange, anyway.
One word ~ no.
All drives will eventually fail, some sooner than others. You pays your bucks and takes your chances. Look for a good warranty period.
All drives will eventually fail, some sooner than others. You pays your bucks and takes your chances. Look for a good warranty period.
How interesting. Here is mine from coconutBattery. I wonder if the hours on is a factor in that calculation?
See attached:
I have a 1TB SSD. I also know that the larger the SSD, the more writes it can take before it fails.
I've only had my MacBook Pro for 6-7 months. It had a lot of Data Written even before I got it so I imagine they did some factory testing on it or something like that.
I had an 80GB SSD that someone used as a Windows C:\ drive for years and years, then I used it as a gaming drive. After 10+ years it had 97% life left. Kinda weird that yours is 67% to be honest.
Unless you've been doing some heavy data processing intentionally, I wouldn't be worried about it personally. If you are, then consider getting an external SSD for said processing?
See attached:
I have a 1TB SSD. I also know that the larger the SSD, the more writes it can take before it fails.
I've only had my MacBook Pro for 6-7 months. It had a lot of Data Written even before I got it so I imagine they did some factory testing on it or something like that.
I had an 80GB SSD that someone used as a Windows C:\ drive for years and years, then I used it as a gaming drive. After 10+ years it had 97% life left. Kinda weird that yours is 67% to be honest.
Unless you've been doing some heavy data processing intentionally, I wouldn't be worried about it personally. If you are, then consider getting an external SSD for said processing?
I think it’s weird too. My 128 GB SSD is part of a fusion drive, though, which makes me think maybe it sees a lot more wear as part of the way data is automatically migrated between the HDD and SSD devices? Nothing else seems to be amiss though, so far.
The Mac is still under AppleCare. I wonder if it would be worth checking with Apple about it....
This is fear mongering and a total BS marketing scam to push new sales & make you fearful. There is only a very small single digit % of users that ever reach an SSD status where physical wear comes into play. If you do normal operations, there is nothing to fear.
The only exceptions are unusual use cases where you need to delete and rewrite OSX or new installations constantly over years and years. The physical microchip wear comes from deleting and writing files, not reading.
If you have not re-installed and deleted your macOS at least 200 - 500 times in a row, (and more) there is nothing to worry. On top of that, many SSD vendors offer Firmware updates that enhance SSD lifespan.
However, 116 TB written files is eleven times more than that 9,34 TB from BigMcGuire. I really don't understand the logic here, why ignatius has more % left then BMG??
My guess is that Apple won’t do anything about it. 67% wear with only that much use is worrisome. But I’d check another piece of software before I’d worry too much. Sadly most other software kits that report ssd wear cost $.
Have you read those studies they do on ssd drives ? Where they fill the drive to 99.99% full then wear out the last cell by copying a piece of data over and over. The ssd drive lasts insanely long, something like 100x more than industry assumed.
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I have 0% wear and he has 67% wear. I believe it’s reporting wear not life left.
Correct about wear only coming from writing.
You’re definitely right about most pieces of software being fear mongering and market bs. My guess is coconutBattery is reporting wrongly on the ssd of the OP because it is a hybrid drive. So it counts ssd and disk writes?
Yeah most ssds can take far more abuse than most of us can provide for even 80 years.
That said the OPs ssd is 128 GB and my ssd is 1TB so I’ll be able to do a lot more read writes than the OP will.
I’m not easy on my ssd either (300gb photo libraries and large programming data sets). I’m happy to see 0% wear after 7 months.
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So, after reading this (https://eclecticlight.co/2018/09/04/why-a-fusion-drive-wont-last-as-long-as-an-ssd/) I decided to give the DriveDx app he recommends a whirl. It gave me a very different result.
It is saying I have "66%" left on my Wear Leveling Count -- which seems a lot more in line with what I'd expect from an iMac that has seen less than 3 years of pretty typical home office use.
At this point I'm rather wondering if CoconutBattery perhaps isn't suited for scanning the SSD portion of a Fusion Drive. After all, it is primarily a battery utility and this may be sort of a "bonus" function. In any case, I'm more inclined to trust the results of this more full-featured diagnostic app at this point.
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NICE. Yep, if I was you, that's what I would take away from it. coconutBattery is a small app with a single developer who probably has a full time job at another company. While the app is very good and I recommend it, it probably doesn't have hybrid SSD right.
Thanks for getting the app and posting your results. Very cool.
With 66% life left, I wouldn't worry about it but might invest in a 1TB SSD external drive if I'm doing heavy data intensive jobs. https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX50...e=UTF8&qid=1543766426&sr=8-4&keywords=1tb+ssd -- Really cheap these days.
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NICE. Yep, if I was you, that's what I would take away from it. coconutBattery is a small app with a single developer who probably has a full time job at another company. While the app is very good and I recommend it, it probably doesn't have hybrid SSD right.
Thanks for getting the app and posting your results. Very cool.
With 66% life left, I wouldn't worry about it but might invest in a 1TB SSD external drive if I'm doing heavy data intensive jobs. https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX50...e=UTF8&qid=1543766426&sr=8-4&keywords=1tb+ssd -- Really cheap these days.
I might also just be upgrading to a newer iMac because... nicer screens (honestly I don't have a great reason but I do love a fast Mac).
I'm definitely picking up a 2TB external SSD for my media drive as soon as the prices come down a little more.
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