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SSD (All-Flash Storage) How long it can last?

T

teeejay

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 21, 2012
113
5
Prague, Czech Republic
Hello guys,

I just have one question, which bothers me a lot, because I do not fully understand that Flash Storage.

Can it last at least 4-5 years on rMBP? I wont give it any heavy load, I ll just use it for some photoshop, graphic designs, documents, occasionally SC 2. I wont download there gigs of data - I still have my main PC at home for all the other stuff.

I got pretty worried about that SSD (Flash) in rMBP, since "some guy" told me, that I should not expect SSD to last longer than 2-3 years. I was even considering to cancel the order. Could you please help me?

I apologize if here is some similar thread about it, I just couldnt find it. And also for bad english grammar, still learning ;)

Thank you for you answers, it will surely help me a lot. :)
 
teeejay said:
Hello guys,

I just have one question, which bothers me a lot, because I do not fully understand that Flash Storage.

Can it last at least 4-5 years on rMBP? I wont give it any heavy load, I ll just use it for some photoshop, graphic designs, documents, occasionally SC 2. I wont download there gigs of data - I still have my main PC at home for all the other stuff.

I got pretty worried about that SSD (Flash) in rMBP, since "some guy" told me, that I should not expect SSD to last longer than 2-3 years. I was even considering to cancel the order. Could you please help me?

I apologize if here is some similar thread about it, I just couldnt find it. And also for bad english grammar, still learning ;)

Thank you for you answers, it will surely help me a lot. :)
Click to expand...

First of all, it should last longer than a standard HDD, as there are no moving parts that could fail. Secondly, if you're worried about something failing in 2 to 3 years you should consider getting Apple Care
 
teeejay said:
Can it last at least 4-5 years on rMBP? I wont give it any heavy load, I ll just use it for some photoshop, graphic designs, documents, occasionally SC 2. I wont download there gigs of data - I still have my main PC at home for all the other stuff.
Click to expand...

A modern SSD will, on average, as as long as a HDD, if not longer. Many manufacturers are actually granting 5 years warranty on their SSDs.

Yes, memory cells of an SSDs can be only overwritten a finite number of times. Nevertheless, the current hardware and software has learned to overcome this limitations efficiently by carefully balancing write operations.
 
I would suggest that you don't run some stress tests that write over and over the whole drive hundreds or thousands of times in a pattern that is most likely to ruin the drive.

Under normal usage, you will have many gigabytes of storage dedicated to little changing files, like applications and stale data (such as old emails, photos, etc). The drive will, over time, move those files around as needed so all flash will be written generally the same number of times. Add in the extra storage included in the drives (more on more expensive drives) that isn't addressable by the OS, the plan is that it will last a long time.

As with normal hard drives, you can have controller failures unrelated to how often the drive is rewritten.
 
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