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M1 Mac Users Report Excessive SSD Wear

I just downloaded and installed Microsoft Edge browser, just to test how it’s handling resources.
But what I found was intriguing.Can anyone tell me why 2.4GB was written to drive?
The installation file was 200mb.
The app itself 800mb.
But I measured TBW with DriveDx and delta was 2.4 GB 😀
 
TheSynchronizer said:
Until its fixed, i suggest anyone concerned switches from Safari which seems to be a culprit in SSD Swap writes with its excessive website caching, to a browser such as the beta M1 Microsoft Edge with The Great Suspender, or a similar tab suspension extension, to suspend your background unused tabs and not write them to cache.

The problem with safari is that even running a limited number of open tabs at once doesn't matter as it will write closed tabs to cache anyway. So you could have just one tab open at all times and still have high cache writes.

Absolutely terrible browser design by Apple in this latest udpate.
Click to expand...
I myself hardly use Safari i don,t like it.
I use Brave and Firefox with Duck duck Go. :)
 
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Base MBA M1/8gb/256gb looks ok here. about 2 month old

Available Spare: 100%
Available Spare Threshold: 99%
Percentage Used: 0%
Data Units Read: 17,814,957 [9.12 TB]
Data Units Written: 13,160,821 [6.73 TB]
Host Read Commands: 163,459,933
Host Write Commands: 75,258,349
Controller Busy Time: 0
Power Cycles: 174
Power On Hours: 90
 
wirtandi said:
So his SSD failed after 4 months of usage. Ok now that is concerning....... everywhere I see (outside this forum), they say this issue is highly exaggerated.
Click to expand...
I would like to know what programs were use as this is the more extreme we have seen. 98% gone in 4 months?! ouch.
 
Hey guys, just wanted to add my experience. I installed DriveDx after seeing my Kernel task writing terabytes a day. According to the app I have lost 9% of my SSD lifespan in the month that I've had this 8GB/256GB MacAir M1. I called Apple and spoke to multiple people and none could provide me with an answer and one tech told me not to worry about writing terabytes per day to my SSD and that the DriveDx uses "blackmagic" to calculate and shouldn't be trusted. Needless to say, I'm quite concerned. I see it writing the most when using apps like Lightroom. This is my first Mac.
 
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^ Unless there is an official word from Apple, the best support can do is record the problem and give you an option to return the machine.
 
ghanwani said:
^ Unless there is an official word from Apple, the best support can do is record the problem and give you an option to return the machine.
Click to expand...
I didn't have highest hopes for support, and I understand they'd be limited until an issue is announced, but at the same time, I'd expect at least a sense of concern that I'm telling them my machine is writing TB's an hour at peak use, instead of "Lol Apple uses great SSD's, don't worry about it, it will pretty much never die, these ain't the SSD's of the past." They gave me pretty much no options besides bring the PC in to run "diagnostics".
 
SeanGold said:
I didn't have highest hopes for support, and I understand they'd be limited until an issue is announced, but at the same time, I'd expect at least a sense of concern that I'm telling them my machine is writing TB's an hour at peak use, instead of "Lol Apple uses great SSD's, don't worry about it, it will pretty much never die, these ain't the SSD's of the past." They gave me pretty much no options besides bring the PC in to run "diagnostics".
Click to expand...
Standard operating procedure along with "well, I've never heard of that problem before." Apple will quietly fix this eventually and then deny it was ever an issue.
 
SeanGold said:
I didn't have highest hopes for support, and I understand they'd be limited until an issue is announced, but at the same time, I'd expect at least a sense of concern that I'm telling them my machine is writing TB's an hour at peak use, instead of "Lol Apple uses great SSD's, don't worry about it, it will pretty much never die, these ain't the SSD's of the past." They gave me pretty much no options besides bring the PC in to run "diagnostics".
Click to expand...
In fairness, it is not entirely clear whether these readings are accurate.
 
Phantom iCloud tabs said:
In fairness, it is not entirely clear whether these readings are accurate.
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It has boiled down to that single question it seems. Pretty much every SSD makers these days log the Data Units Written column of SMART records in 1,000 of 512 Byte (512,000 Byte). A SMART reading utility particularly ones with GUI just do simple division and give you the meaningful conventional number unit, in this case TB (TeraBytes). One has to ask if Apple, given their SoC is now double duty as an SSD controller, also reports those numbers with the same base math. If it logs with a smaller increment, this explain the magnitude of seemingly high wear levels since the calculation would be inversely larger.
 
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vcsyc said:
I just downloaded and installed Microsoft Edge browser, just to test how it’s handling resources.
But what I found was intriguing.Can anyone tell me why 2.4GB was written to drive?
The installation file was 200mb.
The app itself 800mb.
But I measured TBW with DriveDx and delta was 2.4 GB 😀
Click to expand...
Is this normal?
 
Phantom iCloud tabs said:
In fairness, it is not entirely clear whether these readings are accurate.
Click to expand...
Also this is something that only seems to happen to some people and so far we don't have a clear pattern. Some have reported about 1% since December and then there is that one person that reported over 90% in 4 months. Heck, we aren't even sure that it is Apple's software that is the problem.
 
Everyone, a reminder for you all to submit a feedback to Apple....im new to apple but apparently that is the best way to get their attention.
 
SeanGold said:
Hey guys, just wanted to add my experience. I installed DriveDx after seeing my Kernel task writing terabytes a day. According to the app I have lost 9% of my SSD lifespan in the month that I've had this 8GB/256GB MacAir M1. I called Apple and spoke to multiple people and none could provide me with an answer and one tech told me not to worry about writing terabytes per day to my SSD and that the DriveDx uses "blackmagic" to calculate and shouldn't be trusted. Needless to say, I'm quite concerned. I see it writing the most when using apps like Lightroom. This is my first Mac.
Click to expand...
They would say that as it is not there product.
i did not know anything about DriveDx so here is a video about it.The second app seems the best ,and its free.?:oops:
 
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I like this guy's videos, and this one is a good experiment on the 2011 IMAC that has packed up working. Putting the tiny innards ofM1 Mini the IMAC to have the first 27inch M1 Mac, how cool is that.:) Like he says it is not practicable and would be better as the Minis display putting in an HD socket to make it a cinema display.:) There is much room in that M1 Minio_O
 
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