How Long Will Your MacBook's SSD Last Before It Dies?

The SSD in your Mac cannot be replaced... So if it stops working or dies, that's not good. However, how long will it last? How many years will you be able to use the Mac before the SSD stops working? In this video we explore this topic in greater details, and also give you some tips and tricks to prolong the life of your SSD.
How to check your Mac's SSD: • How To Check The Healt...
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Why Is This A Problem?
01:19 How the SSD In Your Mac Works
02:49 The Problem with SSDs
04:05 How Your Mac Looks After it’s SSD
06:40 How Much Data Can Your SSD Write Before Dying?
09:42 What SSDs Do Apple Use?
10:37 How Long Could Your SSD Last Before Failing?
#macbook #macbookpro #createdtech
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[@CreatedTech]

🟣 Make sure you join the official Created Tech Discord for more information and giveaways: crtd.tech/discord

[@eriglac]

Where can I find that orange gradient wallpaper?

[@vishwajeetbabbar7622]

Sir pls share the method you told at 11:13 about How much data our/your ssd has written? @Created Tech

[@vishwajeetbabbar7622]

@Prince Cooper ok but how?

[@vishwajeetbabbar7622]

@Prince Cooper pls paste the link of his previous video in which he monitors KERNEL WRITES to SSD or atleast tell the TITLE OF the video so i know which pne to watch!!!!🙄

[@SFAutor]

The SSD in my MacPro (late 2013) is still in use today and has been doing the job reliably ever since, with 8 hours per day.

[@akar._.J]

Will the SSD slow down before it dies?

[@MF_OXF]

2012 SSD in MBP (2012) still working fine

[@SFAutor]

@@akar._.J I don't know, Until now, it doesn't.

[@SFAutor]

@@MF_OXF Yes, my MacBook works fine til now, too.

[@SFAutor]

@@harjotgill6162 Well. The MacPro is a desktop computer and battery is not an issue. The SSD was my concern at the beginning, but the test has not shown any impairment so far. I think Apple builds very high quality SSDs into the Macs, which I would expect for the price. My 2012 MacBook Pro is also still working fine, although it seems a little slower in the meantime. The battery has, of course, degraded somewhat over the 9 years, but it still serves its purpose for a short time. Most of the time, I run the MacBook on the power supply.

[@LensofAlex]

Thanks mate, definitely took a weight of my chest. Was looking to get a M1 Pro but was concerned when I heard that SSD fail. By far the most comprehensive and clear video on the topic.

[@teemuvesala9575]

Most likely other hardware dies long before the SSD. My 128GB SSD on my Windows PC from 2011 still working, and modern SSDs are way more durable and also larger..

[@TechMyLifeVideo]

Exactly.

[@Piketom1]

Some manufacturers even underrate the capacity of their drives so that even if you fill it, there is still some capacity left.

[@carholic-sz3qv]

The computer can fail or the ssd can also suddenly die and repair won’t be cheap on soldered ssd

[@Flo-cg2jl]

Modern ssd`s are less durable, but cheaper. QLC ssds are the cheapest and least durable for example

[@99Teutons]

Modern SSD's are either QLC or TLC and hence less durable The SSD u have from 2011 probably has SLC and it will last for long time to come The same can't be said for new one's

[@madychan3164]

Great informative video! Allow me to add a correction on your assessment of 2% storage availability. In this scenario, this will lead to a phenomenon called write amplification, where the SSD erases and rewrites the stored data across all the cells to accomplish its wear leveling objectives. This as you can see amplifies writes as it has to rewrite an existing data to a different cell, erase the previous one and write the new data on that previous location and so on. No modern SSDs will ever write and rewrite a new data on the same location as it would kill the SSD quicker

[@KIsaac-wp5dq]

Thank you man . I've been searching for almost 2 years when the m1 macbook launched.

[@jlinwinter]

The SSD on a Macbook Pro 2016 I was using broke in late 2021. Everything else about it works. I used an external ssd for booting+main system drive for a few months until I got tired of having to rely on an external drive. I think the only thing your analysis misses is background processes that indiscriminately writes to the ssd without user control. The Mac virtual memory system is becoming very advanced, with the M1 using unified memory and virtual memory. The user cannot control how many bytes the system will write - even if you only browse the web, etc you can't control whether the os will write/commit to the ssd when you are only lightly using the system.

[@brettlewis5157]

I DID THE EXACT SAME THING!!!! LOVE IT THAT YOU CAN BOOT OS OFF EXTERNAL SSD WORKS GREAT!!!!

[@niaz.shovon]

I heard that with the current apple silicone, you cannot boot from an external ssd with a dead internal soldered ssd. So if your internal ssd dies, you can't use the laptop anymore.

[@brettlewis5157]

@@niaz.shovon im using it now booting off ssd eternal and it working great going on two years now

[@niaz.shovon]

@@brettlewis5157 is that a M1? Is the internal built-in ssd dead?

[@brettlewis5157]

@@niaz.shovon ITS THE 2017 MACBOOK PRO WITH TOUCHBAR THE SSD DRIVE STILL WORKS BUT IS FAILING! USE IT AS STORAGE ONLY BUT STILL SHOWS UP AS A STORAGE DRIVE!

[@rodaraguz]

Thank you so much for this video. So well edited and great info. Lots of stuff I didn't know but learned and the video is just beautifully made. Such a good quality video!

[@tommyo2172]

that pencil / paper analogy was too good!

[@w1zent91]

This was an amazing breakdown bro! You explained it so well. Feel better now, but still saving everything to my external. Only using about 30 percent of my internal SSD

[@RickLiYT]

I really like this type of informative videos, nice work!!

[@Cecylovesyou]

Such a comprehensive video, amazing

[@handayasumarlie2200]

great video... very infomative and easy to understand

[@oakiewoodsman]

New sub here. Excellent content and very thorough and understandable. Thanks

[@pptheastrologer6870]

This was really informative, thank you for this!!

[@caprimart682]

Yeah, Really Informative.

[@akashmandal6737]

Very informative video Hope you reach 1 million.

[@onestrangeanimal3212]

This was very useful. Thank you!

[@AnunayMintoo]

My 2012 mid macbook after the ssd upgrade works LIKE SUPER FAST it can even handle games like Asphalt 9,csgo etc....Pretty happy with the decision ;)

[@watchmania46]

I have one and it's super slow compared to my i7 12700

[@salmann3874]

Great video pal 🔥🔥🔥

[@ssraji721]

Very informative content. Much appreciated!!

[@winterwolfryan]

Great video that really puts things into perspective.

[@PaulPinguin]

I‘m quite new to MacBooks, but I own a Windows laptop from 2016 with a built in SSD and it works as good as day one.

[@mohsinsheikh212]

Awesome content and cover almost each point what a viewer can imaging to ask u which watching this video.

[@buhlir]

this was so damn helpful!! thank you !

[@kylewatsonn171]

Thanks a lot for your video. I avoid using my M1 to download videos or big data into the hard drive "I mean SSD". I work from the external drive or USB memory instead. you're right while bigger the SSD would have a bigger TBW capacity. By the way, do you think it is the same degradation process in the Ipads with the M1 chip?

[@seanlowe5547]

Very helpful. Thanks

[@yifangui4005]

This video is so informative I can't handle it. Please don't ever stop making these super helpful content!

[@Jennifer-cg5ih]

Ya you love that big content ;)

[@yifangui4005]

@@Jennifer-cg5ih massive ;)

[@maestrad67]

Great video! Thanks!

[@natedev]

Nice video, I've been looking for it and really want to know. Thank you

[@davidpichevin]

My 600 dollar Samsung m.2 NVME drive, in my PC, died in just 3 years of desktop use, failing into read only mode, but not before corrupting entire folders of data. Make sure you have efficient backup no matter what you use.

[@tejaswin5404]

Samsung make cheap quality products with best cutting edge features ... called planned obsolescence 🤑 that is why our samsung phones will gets slowed after 1 year & eventually fails just after warranty period ends... so that customers buy more devices frequently & regularly... planned obsolescence is generally practiced by most of the companies but samsung executed it the best 👌 👍

[@tejaswin5404]

@@TheFourthWinchester samsung will provide with best quality hardware to Apple, because of their signed contract/Agreement .... otherwise Apple will reject the samsung SSD'S if they find out to be made out of low quality material... period 🤑.

[@D0x1511af]

what types of controller SLC MLC TLC QLC NVMe SSD?

[@D0x1511af]

does your samsung SSD has DRAM cache?

[@anthonymark6480]

Very informative. Thanks

[@iangame7234]

Useful video thanks.

[@gyaniadmi2347]

Very informative video. Thanks 👍

[@josuearroliga]

Really good video!

[@AarohShankarMusic]

Absolutely love this!

[@caprimart682]

Yes, Absolutely love this.

[@ISmokeI]

Could I get a link to that website that tested the 50 ssd's by any chance?

[@ThatMakesSenseToMe]

I’ve been trying to watch less tech news. But this is genuinely helpful. I’ve been considering whether to switch my workflow to working on internal SSD or keep using externals. Obviously price is an issue, but it is good to know that even copying a couple hundred gigs at a time a couple times a week won’t likely burn through a 2 TB internal SSD

[@ThatMakesSenseToMe]

Seems like the battery would go first. And honestly with all the computers I buy and sell, the computer would realistically go first because I spend too much money on this stuff.

[@richard6812]

Why are you watching lees tech news? I’m curious so thank you if you respond

[@ThatMakesSenseToMe]

@@richard6812 most I spend too much money. A lot of my tech works just fine but watching so much news I get excited about things I don’t really need and then feel bad about what I have

[@RogerCanda]

This info is so valuable. Thanks.. I give you my like and subs.

[@triastros]

Congratulations for this video!

[@swagatam8156]

Does partitioning of drive help?

[@KarlLimPH]

How about moving your home directory to an external SSD and use the internal SSD only for the OS and apps? Would that degrade the performance, especially in video editing and motion graphics?

[@halfalligator6518]

Yeah if you deal with 100GB video projects every single day I would consider getting a fast external. I wouldn't move the home directory though... that could cause headaches. Just create new project folders on the SSD.

[@chasechase24]

Another great video! Been kinda worried about my SSD but this gave me assurance. Thanks!

[@terencethien]

Thanks for the great info. Was confused with all the swap used data written news. Most importantly is to stop worrying so much and just use it.

[@OmarDaily]

Wow, I was just doing research on this yesterday!. As I was debating on picking up an external 4TB Sandisk Extreme or the MacBook Pro 4TB upgrade!. Very good.

[@Hovscorpion12]

I have the Sandisk extreme 4TB + MacBook Pro 1TB. I originally opted for the 4TB MacBook Pro, but backed down. The Sandisk is the workhorse 100% of the time.

[@OmarDaily]

@@Hovscorpion12 Yeah, very tempting for sure!. Usable for outside of the laptop (Desktop), plus it keeps the wear out of the laptop… I might go that route. Having to carry it though… Ahh.

[@Hovscorpion12]

@@OmarDaily yeah it’s a bih to carry, but since their soo small, I just keep in a small compartment in by bag or in my back pocket.

[@AVClarke]

I've owned several MacBooks over the years, with old mechanical hard drives and SSDs, and I can assure that something else will break or malfunction on your MacBook before the hard drive will.

[@TheAdiFans]

Not only your video is informative but also helps me sleep better with that slow narration lol

[@Dezzs]

How about if swap memory is in the equation?

[@ferrianredhiapratama188]

Hi, i just wanna share my experience when i used MBA M1 (8GB RAM). I'm Android Developer and my workflow are - Android Studio - Chrome 5++ tabs - Emulator - Spotify it's used 7GB RAM and 4GB+ Swap memory. And i calculated that almost 3TB written in SSD every WEEK. That's make me frustated and worry when my laptop gonna die in future. What i suggest to people is, get more RAM storage when your have heavy daily work. Now i have bought MBP 14" base model and using it with that daily work it's just under 200GB per week

[@rahulenork]

I mean, if you knew that you were gonna use these many apps at once, ofcourse you're gonna need more ram. I believe using Safari instead of chrome will reduce the number considerably tho.

[@ferrianredhiapratama188]

@@rahulenork yup i knew it before i bought it. But, many reviewer said, using 8 GB RAM is enough

[@dreamcode4204]

That’s great

[@enricodemarchi1412]

@@ferrianredhiapratama188 thanks for the info, most of those KZbinrs are full of shit. It is not reliable to buy a product based on their opinion.

[@fikrimilano9623]

@Ferrian Redhia Pratama Do you face any lags in any of your active programs when you use your MBA M1 8GB with all of your workflows?

[@glennraya]

This explanation gives me peace of mind, knowing my MBP 16" 2021's ssd will last a long time (hopefully).

[@AarohShankarMusic]

Can you please link the video you talked about in the video saying,"How to check the bytes written"? Thank you!

[@CreatedTech]

I actually haven't made it yet haha...give me about 2 days, it's my next video.

[@AarohShankarMusic]

@@CreatedTech Sure! Looking forward to that!🌟

[@thomaswhite6402]

this made me happy I opted for the 1TB for my MacBook Air M1. I know I'm gonna be able to get many years out of it. Considering I got 7 years out of my 2009 MacBook.

[@user-jt6vs3gv7z]

Thanks for good news! :)

[@mrtwomore]

Great information! Appreciate how you explained it all!

[@eriglac]

@createdtech Where can I find that orange gradient wallpaper?

[@V1P3R089]

Planning to buy macbook pro 14 inch base model for web browsing , watching KZbin and doing work on Ms office and no video editing or rendering at all. So wanted to ask that will 16 gb ram be enough as I intend to use the laptop for 4-5 years.

[@Revelation--ti8pm]

Amazing information, I will stick with the 512GB I've ordered thank you!

[@martinkern8122]

Where is the link that you said you would put below for us to check our ssd. You have not posted anywhere. Please do so, thanks.

[@user-nq5wd6oj5u]

Can you do a comparison between the father of laptops MSI GE76 Raider with Intel i9 12900hk and RTX 3080 To and the MacBook Pro with M1 max

[@NikNik-px2jz]

Plz make a video about how to install 32 bit apps on 64 bit Mac

[@tanisyt]

This can be the best video you ever made.

[@christopherfortney2544]

Chances are the modules are from samsung since they make most of the modules for apple in general.

[@canadianpsycho1867]

the first MacBook with soldered storage (12 inch, early 2015) had an ssd that was prone to failure

[@miscmisc1023]

get an external sata and partition it i can run snow leopard on my 2020 mac touchbar does not work because of os but everything else does

[@disklamer]

I was genuinely concerned that things like cache writes and spotlight would burn out my SSD. Now I know that's unlikely. At the tested rating I could fill and erase my Crucial SSD every single day for over a decade before having to worry.

[@MahmoudAltarzi]

Nice video sir

[@itisriley]

With how expensive the upgrades in storage are, I would hope they would be using some of the highest quality storage, with high TBWs

[@TheAdiFans]

yes they do. Do they overcharge them SSDs? Probably.

[@leoserpa]

Hey I was wondering if the Swap memory can do some significant "damage" to these estimates, or are they still an absurd number?

[@Sinna94]

My early 2014 MacBook Air is still doing fine.

[@webexplorer9786]

wow, thank you. Your video makes me calmer now. it's been a few days i thought about the age of the ssd and tried to sell my macbook pro m1 13 base model LOL

[@pavelasr7781]

Who have m1 air with 16gb/512ssd ? Or 8gb/256ssd..... Can u tell appfoximately how many GB your are using per day?

[@Weird_Quests]

Would you recommend 1TB internal or suggest to get the 2TB for better futureproofing? I'm trying to figure out whether to do that or just use external SSDs.

[@CreatedTech]

If you use external SSDs often, get 2TB internal. I got 4TB on my M1 Max and I've never had to use an SSD while editing, it's so much better than having to carry around an SSD all the time.

[@Weird_Quests]

@@CreatedTech True - I would love the 4TB, but it's just justifying that extra cost :P

[@spareroomtech]

A higher capacity SSD will typically have a higher endurance rating simply because there are more available cells to write to. Using the paper analogy, if you have a large piece of paper, you would have to erase and write over less in order to record the same amount of information than you would if you had a smaller piece of paper. So when it comes to SSD wear, a higher capacity drive will typically fare better. You are correct.

[@DamienDae]

According to DriveDX, the SSD in my Mac Mini M1 (16 Gb RAM) that I've been using pretty much everyday for the past year is still at 100%. But I should add I only use it to host the OS, applications and a few other resources, all my data is on external SSD drives.

[@sabinbadea94]

Hi! Can I ask you something regarding this topic please?!

[@jamesmelwani6000]

Quick question. Does this also affect phones. If i were to write and delete alot of data everyday on my phone storage can it die? On 128gb storage

[@ericsison1683]

How about apple m1's memory swapping which adds to its ssd's write cycle?

[@christopherfortney2544]

Do people worry about paging/virtual memory on Windows with SSDs? nope so you shouldn''t

[@ericsison1683]

@@christopherfortney2544 to be fair, it was an issue during its early launch. But it seems to have been fixed with a software update

[@mattbosley3531]

It will last as long as it lasts. And if it should fail, I have everything backed up using Time Machine. And I can still use the Macbook I would just need to attach a Thunderbolt drive to it. Yes, having a TB drive attached isn't quite as convenient as an internal drive but it still works. Frankly I think most people are worrying over nothing. I have some very old SSDs and so far I haven't had one die yet. One of them is in a 16 year old laptop (the SSD isn't original, it's about 10 years old). Also, there are people out there who can replace both memory and SSDs on Macbook motherboards. All it requires is to be good with flux and a soldering iron. Some of them have videos on KZbin. Whether it's cost-effective or not is up to the individual to decide.

[@GoldenRvr]

thank you

[@voraten7206]

They last quite a while. My Macbook Air from 2011 still functions perfectly today.

[@aussiegruber86]

I thought there are companies out there now that can offer an ssd replacement even when soldered to the board

[@trickjacko8482]

Does the Mac do the wear leveling automatically?

[@CreatedTech]

The controller on the SSD does.

[@_anand_2211_]

the most genuine KZbinr who deserves MILLION

[@javiereu]

I’m so glad I can keep my M1 air for many years.

[@anewworld5201]

Should 64 GB RAM in M1 Max resolve this problem ?

[@nxet2669]

After 3 months mine arriving today yayyyyyyyyy

[@RusokuLab]

Problem is burning Texas Instrument DC/DC chip and after a NAND memory.This can happen even the next day after the warranty expires.

[@vokso11]

The bigger the storage, the longer your SSD will last. Good to know

[@tuworlds]

mac air 8 gig still going as the day i got it in late 2020

[@adrianzaharia8885]

Apple should bring back with the next model a M.2 ssd slot. There is room to do that. I think is stupid to integrate it in the logicboard. That is a part that need to be replaced once in a while.

[@blackkspydo]

I own 128Gb m1 macbook air and i am on 92TB of TBW and i have this device for like 10 months. It shows 5% used in the SMART health tool which by doing math we can assume it's TBW to be atleast 1400TB.

[@paxundpeace9970]

Better safe then sorry i would rather get an external SSD or harddrive. Some SSD of this size already start to fail with hitting 150 TBW usually well build ones last well past 500 TBW for a 128 GB version.

[@lasarith2]

I recall with the SSD scare a few years ago , that the data written for % used gave the MacBook SSD a 9000 write cycle count .

[@Piketom1]

While there is little reason to worry about the drive failing, it is still worth purchasing as much SSD capacity as you can afford. Having about 30 - 40% of your drive free will maximize the read/write performance.

[@skzeeman007]

Bigger drives have higher TBW rating as well.

[@SToXC_.]

too bad apple ssd is overpriced by 400%

[@MostaphaRamadan]

I lost my WD 256gb ssd within only 2 years, was running 24/24 hours on my Dell laptop! But on my 2013 MacBook its still working till today lol! Taking cloud backup is the best thing guys

[@paxundpeace9970]

Shouldn't it be a problem if one or two cells die the chip has multi-cells remaining. Would this only result in less total remaining storage capacity or is it worse that one dead cell could end the life of the SSD immediately?

[@harrison00xXx]

well dead cells can fk up your data without you knowing. Thats even worse than a failing SSD and you know it at least! Its literally as with faked 8TB SSDs with for example only 64GB SD card in it. Your Mac believe its 8TB... its "writing" 8TB... into nowhere. The first 64GB completed will be for real aviable and usable! But anything beyong the 64GB wont be there (and the mac tell you: the data are damaged) As soon you see "damaged data"... check the drive and probably make a backup before more data get lost!! I personally try to avoid big data shuffled to the internal, soldered SSD, but if its the only or easiest way to do - i will use the internal drive. Its anyways more of a... base model problem. It doesnt make much sense to fill up the 512GB SSD, only to realize at home.... i need more free space and copy the data once more to another drive so it wasnt even needed on internal drive in the first place.

[@cony2000]

Can you swap memory with external ssd? Or only with the internal mac one?

[@nme6725]

Internal

[@richardbriscoe8563]

Apple should, but probably won’t, offer an exchange program for dead SSDs. Get a “remanufactured” exchange program. They would get so much credit for reducing electronic waste.

[@jobdedo]

Thanks for the video, there is a lot of fear mongering going on.

[@amirmollaei5681]

Can I render video in external memory?🤔 (After Effects and Premiere)

[@TheInchii]

yes

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​@@TheInchiiafter effects caches on ssd so best to buy ssd with 600tbw or greater

[@BrigadeNord1999]

To all those who write here that the SSD from their MacBook from forever ago is still running. The new MacBooks use swap memory much more than the old ones from back then. Especially if you use programs that do not have a native version for the M1 processors, the SSD is particularly stressed by swap.

[@CreatedTech]

Not entirely true, that issue was blown out of proportion quite a bit last year and is no longer something to worry about. All Macs use swap, regardless of if they're Apple silicon or not. However, even if you're slamming swap 24/7, the results in this video show that your SSD will still almost certainly last 10+ years.

[@gabobli]

@@CreatedTech my Macbook Air 2017 swaps memory like crazy with my multi-tasking apps, but it still works very well and is still as snappy as day 1 even after 4 years of daily use.

[@christopherfortney2544]

SWAP works like "virtual memory" on Windows. I think people over-blow how much data is actually written to it than actually read from it. Notice NOT a single person cares about how much is used on Windows machines. lol it's far less efficient as a SWAP on a linux or bsd system. Better yet unix.

[@CreatedTech]

@@gabobli Yep, even older Intel Macs use swap pretty much the same amount. I'd argue they use more, because modern apps are more RAM hungry and the RAM in those older Macs is pretty dated. It's just a normal feature of computer operating systems, including Windows.

[@piotrd.4850]

@@christopherfortney2544 By no means. Swapping in most OSes is using outdated algorithms, and for "security reasons" the true killer is BROWSER CACHE which in newest versions can't be disabled OR moved to Ramdisk.

[@an505]

What about SSD dying due to a different reason like faulty part, environment conditions. Still doesn’t make sense to make it non replaceable.

[@theunconciousmind7314]

What about external ssd??

[@commanderdataakajuliusr3450]

My 2015 MBP with 500GB just died. Rest of hardware is fine. Installed a spare 256GB and it booted fine.