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ssd swap - high usage of Terabytes Written
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Gee, aren't you a bright ray of optimistic sunshine.
There's plenty you can do, Eeyore.
If you're concerned, buy AppleCare. Or sell your system and move to something else.
Edit - turns out @nothingtoseehere was kidding... oh well.
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My 256GB M1-SSD is currently on track to die after 100 years..
But who’s counting? Time goes by so fast that 100 feels like 2
Well if mine dies within 2 years I'm taking it to the Apple Store and giving it to them to fix because I got AppleCare+ for my M1 MBP..
I still can't get over it...why they soldered SSD to the motherboard knowing that swap would have such a huge impact on SSDs lifespan. For me it's like spitting into face and making this machine good candidate for PLANNED OBSCOLESCENCE PRIZE WINNER.
Even my MacBook Pro is no longer PRO as it used to be in the past. What makes it PRO? 100 nits more? 1000 pts more in Cn23? little bigger touchpad? They ruined that PRO distinction and definitely PRO can't mean putting me at risk and not giving me a choice.
Even my MacBook Pro is no longer PRO as it used to be in the past. What makes it PRO? 100 nits more? 1000 pts more in Cn23? little bigger touchpad? They ruined that PRO distinction and definitely PRO can't mean putting me at risk and not giving me a choice.
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Your last post was more on-point to the issue. Actually, soldered on is more reliable, esp. in a laptop.
How do you mean? Performance? Note that if your machine break after 3 years of warranty (including Apple Care) and that will be your SSD, well, in case if you are lucky you have a backup, BUT...make a Genius Bar Reservation and get help from Apple Support and see how much they are gonna charge you for new SSD...I bet it might be a little pricey as we all know how much their service costs. NIHIL NOVI SUB NOLE.
My definition on reliability is to have a choice. It seems like here I'm very limited by soldering SSD to that board and I can't replace it by myself in case something happened.
So i finally disabled caching on all my browsers and indeed, the impact was very easy to see. For example, chrome/firefox was writing maybe 10 MB per 5 seconds or so. After disabling caching, it wont go up at all.
I think that is my only issue on my MBA. the high kernel_task writes does not seem to be a problem on my laptop, I only see about 800MB+ of data written by kernel_task. This is ok right? IIRC people have 1 TB or so of kernal_task writes
I think that is my only issue on my MBA. the high kernel_task writes does not seem to be a problem on my laptop, I only see about 800MB+ of data written by kernel_task. This is ok right? IIRC people have 1 TB or so of kernal_task writes
the real MB PRO is the 4 port model, the 2 port model MB PRO was a laptop PRO in name only. The 4 port model will get 14" XDR screen, more ports(SD card, HDMI, USB C), M1X later this year.
I can't speak for the M1 users but already on macOS Catalina I have high data written on storage (Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB) without SSD swap.
In this session I haven't used torrent client to download files and I have only used Chrome, Spotify and WhatsApp Desktop without downloading anything.
Basically over 11 GB of data written with basic usage.
Here the attachments:
I have bought the renewed machine and previously the storage was a Crucial MX200 500 GB with already 160 TB of data written and in fact the performance especially in write speed was awful and the supplier has switched to a Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB for free.
Now with a fresh 1 TB SSD I have basically no fear about storage longevity but users who think to buy a M1 with 256/512GB soldered storage should meditate about the purchase.
Furthermore macOS Big Sur on M1 machines uses a lot of swap on storage so the data written are insanely high.
There is a lot of speculation in this topic between users but mathematics isn't a matter of opinion.
Apple SSD have the MLC type flash memory and the estimated TBW are unquestionable.
Before say goodbye to your SSD you will have the typical loss of performance and already in this scenario you won't able to replace it.
If you used to buy a new machine every 2/3 years well, in the other case you have to pay the Apple tax to upgrade the storage at the time of purchase.
They won't be dead in 3 years. If they died then, Apple would lose many millions, even with AppleCare.
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800GB+ of kernel_task in about 6 hours or so. so lets say i have it on for 12 hours, it should be at the max 2GB. This number is ok, yes? Also, this number was before I disabled browser caching. Now that it is off, it shouldnt be this high the next time i use it
Can I suggest that Apple know swap will not have a huge impact on SSD life for any significant number of users? Haven't they demonstrated that confidence by launching the 24" iMac using an (apparently) identical M1 SoC to that of the M1 Air and Pro and of course the same unified memory architecture?
Soldered-in RAM and other memory including SSD is pretty much how circuit boards are made in reflow ovens nowadays, if not yet by all manufacturers. Yes that does mean component-level repairs are in practical terms ancient history but that has been the direction of travel for electronics since the advent of large scale integration.
What makes it Pro is Apple naming it thus. It's marketing, it's product differentiation, it's distinguishing the line from the entry level Air range. You didn't think Pro means Professional, did you?
And you did have a choice, you chose to buy the computer. You made a good choice
Go into Terminal, and type ‘uptime’. Then go into Activity Monitor and go on the Disk tab, and divide number of GB written to the SSD by the hours of uptime. Anything below 5GB/hour and you have nothing to worry about.
From what you’re saying it sounds like you likely have nothing to worry about anyway
enjoy your mac!Thanks synchronizer. I will try this later.Go into Terminal, and type ‘uptime’. Then go into Activity Monitor and go on the Disk tab, and divide number of GB written to the SSD by the hours of uptime. Anything below 5GB/hour and you have nothing to worry about.
From what you’re saying it sounds like you likely have nothing to worry about anyway
I guess there is one more thing I need to keep an eye out for - many tabs
I do use many tabs in my browsers and I have not tried this yet. Will monitor this and report backMany tabs are not a problem; used well they can be a great advantage (I have 51 open right now). You should install the extension "Auto Tab Discard" and you can have all the tabs open that you want without a memory issue.Thanks synchronizer. I will try this later.
I guess there is one more thing I need to keep an eye out for - many tabs
Allow me to clarify one thing: "divide the number of GB written to the SSD". For this, should I be looking at the kernel_task or the "data written" in the bottom right?Go into Terminal, and type ‘uptime’. Then go into Activity Monitor and go on the Disk tab, and divide number of GB written to the SSD by the hours of uptime. Anything below 5GB/hour and you have nothing to worry about.
From what you’re saying it sounds like you likely have nothing to worry about anyway
Did you mean 800MB+? If yes, that’s a pretty low number. Just curios, what’s your usage like.
Yes 800 MB. I will still keep monitoring it though just to be safe. My usage is just browsing, MS office, etc. Nothing heavy.
Ok thank you. Will keep monitoring.
After a full 24 hrs, writings from swapping are just at 30Gb mark... that's a success, comparing to past versions.
Also, I've noticed improvements in the memory usage efficiency - swapping doesn't start until higher memory pressure with lower amount free memory, and swap file size gets decreased faster than before.
So, looks like after months of complaints, someone finally cared at Apple and fixed a glaring bug in paging/swapping algorithm ... and even tweaked memory pressure parameters as a bonus. Fingers crossed
Mac mini M1, a month of daily 8h use with office tasks. Without any tweaks. Using Safari (up to 10-15 tabs), Rosetta.
