SSD lifespan in the oldest airs

[Falhófnir]

For anyone who has an ageing MB air (or even an early retina Pro) I’m wondering how the SSD is holding up in terms of wear after almost a decade in the very oldest airs, and a good 7 since the 2010 redesign. Any signs of capacity reduction, or has your drive worn out completely and gone read-only mode? What was your usage like, had you left 20% free to reduce pressure? Is it in daily use/ was it until recently? I believe Apple use theoretically above-average MLC SSDs rather than the cheaper but more easily wearing TLC versions so I’m just wondering if these drives will stand up to around a decade of use without issue?

 

[2984839]

My 2011 is perfectly fine. The only thing I do that puts it under stress is compiling code; the rest is normal browsing/email/word processing stuff.

edit: This is the 64 GB SSD.

 

[dogslobber]

My 2010 MBP is still motoring along with a 128GB SSD. I have not seen any wear & tear issues myself.

 

[saulinpa]

Have you run SSDReporter or something else to see what it reports as % health left?

 

[Falhófnir]

Have you run SSDReporter or something else to see what it reports as % health left?

I don’t currently have any machines that are old enough I’m worried, I was just wanting to see if I could expect the computer to reliably last through the years or if this would be a lifespan-limiting factor as it began to age

 

[saulinpa]

The lifespan-limiting factor for SSDs is use much more than age. Someone who only reads emails is going to have a lot lighter usage/wear than someone who downloads 4k videos.

 

[ApolloBoy]

My 2010 MBP is still motoring along with a 128GB SSD. I have not seen any wear & tear issues myself.

But was that an upgrade you did later or an original SSD from 2010?

 

[dogslobber]

But was that an upgrade you did later or an original SSD from 2010?

The original SSD. Here's the SMART stats from a moment ago but I don't know how to interpret them.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000a 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 050 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0007 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0013 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x000b 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0005 100 100 050 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 5790
10 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0013 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 17428
167 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
168 SATA_Phy_Error_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
169 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0013 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 536965940522
170 Bad_Block_Count 0x0013 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 22 252 82
171 Unknown_Attribute 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 125
173 Erase_Count 0x0013 192 192 100 Pre-fail Always - 1 250 136
175 Bad_Cluster_Table_Count 0x0013 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
192 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 41
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0023 066 043 030 Pre-fail Always - 34 (Min/Max 13/57)
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
240 Unknown_JMF_Attribute 0x0013 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0

 

[saulinpa]

The original SSD. Here's the SMART stats from a moment ago but I don't know how to interpret them.

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

173 Erase_Count 0x0013 192 192 100 Pre-fail Always - 1 250 136

I think it is ID 173. Then subtract 100. So that may be at 92%

I could be completely wrong so try SSDReporter or similar.

 

[Average Pro]

Mid-2013 Air. Dropped multiple times and used as a pro-tool (LR, PS, Final Cut Pro) while on the road. No issues to report to date. Although I picked up a late-2016 MacBook Pro from B&H during the recent sale. Not sure what till happen to the Air.

 

[Mike MA]

No issue up until now.