Want to preserve the lifespan/value of your M1 Mac?

[Luposian]

Computers are not cars, that for sure. Even Windows laptops now have soldered components. If you don't want soldered components, just build your own PC tower. No point in buying and then complaining about something that you know you won't agree with.

Seems like you are just being paranoid, since you yourself have no solid evidence on what you claimed. Macs have used SSD since the first gen Macbook Air. So far, we have yet hearing people complaining about the life of the SSD. And so far, nobody accepting trade-ins are looking at the life of the SSD. So in reality, your fear is probably unwarranted.

I will admit to being "overly concerned", should something happen to the internal SSD (which CANNOT be replaced), but I'm also one who doesn't fly because I don't want to be 5,000 ft in the air (or whatever cruising altitude is on an airliner) if the "odds" happen to hit on THAT day, on THAT plane! I'd far rather die on Terra Firma of a heart attack, than to die screaming as I slam into the ground on a winged missile plunging towards Terra Firma! So, yeah... I'd rather avoid an accident that to assume an accident will never happen to me.

True, from another's perspective, perhaps I am being overly concerned. But, are you going to gleefully buy (for the normal going price) a used M1 Mac with a "mostly used" SSD and/or of "unknown quantity" (sight unseen as most items are on eBay) or a fried SSD (that CANNOT be replaced, and will probably render the system unbootable/useless)? I just don't see it happening.

 

[Luposian]

Together with the fact that the MBA and the MBP are portable and much more likely to get damaged.
iFixit will probably do a teardown of the M1 Mac Mini too, so don't despair! ?

Uh, what was that you were saying about iFixIt doing a Tear Down of the M1 Mac Mini?

The teardown isn't the problem. People have done that already. The problem is there is NOTHING replaceable in an M1 Mac Mini, outside of the heatsink/fan and speaker! You CANNOT replace the CPU. You CANNOT replace the RAM. You CANNOT replace the SSD. Look for yourself!

...unless you happen to have the tools and skills... to do board-level BGA soldering! And I don't think iFixIt sells those nor teaches you how to do that... ?

 

[ian87w]

I will admit to being "overly concerned", should something happen to the internal SSD (which CANNOT be replaced), but I'm also one who doesn't fly because I don't want to be 5,000 ft in the air (or whatever cruising altitude is on an airliner) if the "odds" happen to hit on THAT day, on THAT plane! I'd far rather die on Terra Firma of a heart attack, than to die screaming as I slam into the ground on a winged missile plunging towards Terra Firma! So, yeah... I'd rather avoid an accident that to assume an accident will never happen to me.

True, from another's perspective, perhaps I am being overly concerned. But, are you going to gleefully buy (for the normal going price) a used M1 Mac with a "mostly used" SSD and/or of "unknown quantity" (sight unseen as most items are on eBay) or a fried SSD (that CANNOT be replaced, and will probably render the system unbootable/useless)? I just don't see it happening.

Wouldn't that be the risk of buying a second-hand item anyway? Even if you buy a used car, you can risk having a car with an engine that was poorly maintained and then having to fix it later.

With Macs have been using SSDs since the first Macbook Air, have we heard any issues of people buying a used Mac about the SSD life? I don't really hear much anything about it for 12 years, so I don't expect it to be different now. It's also the same with phones, as all phones now use solid state storage. Do you see people buying used phones having issues with the storage? The battery is the main consumables in today's gadgets.

 

[Quackers]

Uh, what was that you were saying about iFixIt doing a Tear Down of the M1 Mac Mini?

The teardown isn't the problem. People have done that already. The problem is there is NOTHING replaceable in an M1 Mac Mini, outside of the heatsink/fan and speaker! You CANNOT replace the CPU. You CANNOT replace the RAM. You CANNOT replace the SSD. Look for yourself!

...unless you happen to have the tools and skills... to do board-level BGA soldering! And I don't think iFixIt sells those nor teaches you how to do that... ?

That video opens with a shot of the logic board. So that's replaceable
And yes, I have the tools. iFixit tools ?

 

[Luposian]

Wouldn't that be the risk of buying a second-hand item anyway? Even if you buy a used car, you can risk having a car with an engine that was poorly maintained and then having to fix it later.

With Macs have been using SSDs since the first Macbook Air, have we heard any issues of people buying a used Mac about the SSD life? I don't really hear much anything about it for 12 years, so I don't expect it to be different now. It's also the same with phones, as all phones now use solid state storage. Do you see people buying used phones having issues with the storage? The battery is the main consumables in today's gadgets.

Wouldn't you rather buy (and be willing to pay more for) a used car that the seller could prove was well cared for it's entire life? With documented oil changes and maintenance records? I sure would. Sure, anything could happen, but trusting the seller can often be a "make or break" point. And, in another analogy, what if you were buying a used car with a motor that couldn't be removed? Would you be willing to pay as much (or buy, period) that car from a seller that was selling it "as-is" or one that the seller had all sorts of documentation proving how well the engine had been taken care of, thus insuring it had plenty of life still left in it?

 

[Luposian]

That video opens with a shot of the logic board. So that's replaceable
And yes, I have the tools. iFixit tools ?

The motherboard is NOT the issue... I'm talking about the SSD! The thing with all your data on it! If that dies or goes wonky, your data is trapped on it! And, do you really want that data in someone else's possession, however remote recovery (or theft) might be? Not me.

 

[thekev]

It's not a point of failure (except as a precaution). It's a matter of "value preservation". In 3-5 years, if you use the internal SSD the entire time, how much "life" will be left on it? 50%? More? Less? Wouldn't that be something you'd take into consideration, if you were buying a used M1 Mac (I'm thinking of the M1 Mac Mini, myself, but any of them would apply)? Now, consider someone is selling one, that they can prove has hardly used the internal SSD at all. It's almost like a brand new machine, in that sense! Wouldn't it be worth paying more, to you? The SSD is really the weakest link of the system (except the battery in M1 laptops), so the more "life" it has, the more value you can get out of it as a seller/buyer. Why people are such of a "throw away" mindset, when they don't have to be. A little advance preparation (and judicious usage) can net result much greater value when it's time to move onto the next M-whatever Mac.

A buyer doesn't have any way to meaningfully evaluate this. You can tell them you took care of it. I wouldn't offer an extra dollar for that, because it's impossible to evaluate truthfulness or impact.

I'd be willing to put up with a bit of inconvenience and "external hassle", if I knew it would mean my computer was worth more when I went to sell it. Assuming a $1,200 M1 Mac Mini (16Gb/512Gb configuration w/ AppleCare+) was worth about $500 (or less) in 3-5 years in average condition, vs. $650+ in nearly prestine condition (internal SSD virtually unused). Yeah, getting $150 more for the same system would be worth it to me.

Cosmetic issues are directly observable, and people do pay for those. Since you can't observe that SSD, you aren't likely to get more. Even if you didn't write to it a single damn time, it would still be a 5 year old drive. Those things don't reliably last forever.

I wouldn't expect $650 in 5 years under any circumstances. The 2012s seemingly got quite a lot, but they were an exception due to changes in cpu choices in the following generation.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Oh, right... you can just buy a brand new M1 Mac motherboard off of eBay. Silly me! ? Seriously?!? M1 Mac motherboards are only MADE, SOLD, and SERVICED by Apple!

I don't even know how to respond to this ridiculous thread. The mean time to failure (MTTF) with modern SSDs is measured in millions of hours (usually around 1,500,000), presumably calculated with an assumption about the average I/O which occurs during normal consumer usage. It's highly likely that the SSD will outlive the useful life of the computer.

If you intend to connect your consumer Mac up in a datacenter and use it as part of a database cluster of an extremely active application then your concern might be warranted /s

I'd be much more concerned about getting 1/2 - 1/3 the I/O speeds by going external.

I realise by responding to this thread I am giving it oxygen and I thoroughly regret that. My apologies to all the sane people.

 

[Quackers]

The motherboard is NOT the issue... I'm talking about the SSD! The thing with all your data on it! If that dies or goes wonky, your data is trapped on it! And, do you really want that data in someone else's possession, however remote recovery (or theft) might be? Not me.

I know.
The SSD is soldered to the motherboard.
Change the motherboard (and thereby the SSD) yourself and your valuable, sensitive data never leaves your mitts.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

I had two SSDs fail in my 2013 rMBP and I'll use this one the same way. It's under £900 to replace new.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

One more thing, about 5 years ago (with much less mature SSD technology) when I was working for a web hosting company, some donkey installed consumer grade SSDs into a server moving a few terabytes a day and they still lasted like 2 years before they died.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

The motherboard is NOT the issue... I'm talking about the SSD! The thing with all your data on it! If that dies or goes wonky, your data is trapped on it!

This is why we have software to backup your data like Time Machine. You can do it to an external drive or a home server or wherever you like.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

I'm not going to sell it for less than the market will bear. And I'm HOPING that, having preserved the system as much as possible it's entire life, it's intrinsically worth more than another system that was not taken care of.

I've sold quite a few computers to people and I have never once been asked about how much the SSD has been used. Not only would almost no one ever ask, even fewer people would know how to ask you to quantify the usage.

How many potential buyers do you think would say "Hey can you please compile and install smartmontools and use smartctl to give me detailed information regarding the onboard SSD"? NONE. EVER.

On laptops and mobile devices ive sold I've been asked about battery health and cycles but that's about it.

 

[vocalnick]

My current plan is to put my M1 Pro straight into a cupboard when it arrives. I’m not even taking the shrink wrap off - I’ll keep using my 2011 i5 iMac with spinning drive and 4GB RAM.

Sure, there’s a performance hit short term, and I’m stuck on High Sierra, but I think it’ll be worth the pain in a few years when I can sell the M1 for very slightly more, giving me an extra $20-$50 to put toward the next machine (which I also won’t open.)

 

[smoking monkey]

If you use the same encryption technology on the external, it's the same diff. Nobody is getting that data. Theft was not part of the discussion. And, in YOUR fantasyland... I'm not going to sell it for less than the market will bear. And I'm HOPING that, having preserved the system as much as possible it's entire life, it's intrinsically worth more than another system that was not taken care of... especially considering the SSD is NOT replaceable!

Question is, do you know how to encrypt the external?
In my fantasyland I won't be buying your Mac Mini!
But I will say that your idea does make some sense because it's a mac mini and doesn't get moved around. Just make sure you get the fastest external you can possibly get. Which will probably cost you more than the extra money you'll get from the sale! haha.
And... more than likely you'll find that your computer will run slower because of this.

Gotta live a little! Use that SSD!!!

 

[seadragon]

Reminds me of people that rope off their living rooms and have plastic on the furniture and lampshades. Yep, I’ve seen it. How bizarre.

Backup your data and you don’t have to worry about losing it. Simple.

 

[Mikael H]

@Luposian
You worry too much and you have too high hopes about resale value. ?
This article was written back in 2014, and things have not gotten worse since.
Unless someone has been using an SSD intensively as write cache in a server or something - very unlikely to happen to a consumer-grade Mac - I really wouldn't worry. Now if you would run a SMART test against the drive and see numbers approaching a full drive write per day or so, that's a completely different matter, but really: You won't.

And no, I would not be impressed by a seller telling me how little usage the onboard storage had seen after a few years: I would worry that there's something wrong with it because why wouldn't you use the best storage available to you unless it caused you problems? I would definitely not pay a premium for such a machine over an otherwise identical computer.

 

[Mcdevidr]

I’m going to help you with all this nonsense. Don’t sell your used Mac! Give it away to someone. Problem solved.

 

[matrix07]

Realizing that the SSD inside an M1 Mac is soldered to the motherboard, once it dies (for whatever reason), you’re sunk.

Thus, it behooves M1 Mac owners to preserve the life/value of their M1 Mac as much as possible.

To wit, the first thing to do is to create a USB restore drive, for M1 Big Sur.

Next, is to enable external drive booting and then install a bootable copy of Big Sur to an external hard drive or SSD and use ONLY that drive from then on.

If the external hard drive/SSD dies, the value of your Mac is untouched, because you haven’t been using the internal SSD. How much value do you think your M1 is worth when it can’t be booted, because the internal SSD is fried or most of its usable life is significantly used up? I doubt you could get a few hundred for it, maybe $50 (if internal SSD is dead) Dunno. Is it worth the risk?

Therefore, I think it would be best to compile precise steps to do what I’ve outlined above and live by them.

I know I would...

Used 2011 MBA for 9 years which has SSD inside. It’s still working today.

 

[TPadden]

My wife has monthly AppleCare for her iPad/Apple Watch (one or the other, don't recall)...

Have you checked the resale value of a wife recently? I wrapped mine in cellophane and put her in a closet; don't think it will help resale much but at least I'm saving maintenance money...

Tom VP HR Department
Smyle, a “6G” mega-corporation that's always at least 2G's ahead

 

[mikeboss]

I have a 5 or 6 year old Apple/SAMSUNG 1.0 TB SSD (SSUBX) in my main machine (iMac 5K). the SSD now has a power-on-time of 36 months with 22.2 TBW. the wear leveling count currently shows 94%. the iMac will long be gone before the SSD dies. I consider this a total non-issue.

 

[NT1440]

Oh, I'm sorry... you must not care that possibly ALL of your personal/important data is stuck on the internal SSD, (because it's "dead"), soldered to the motherboard, that now Apple has, after replacing it. My data is part of ME. Who gives a flying rat's mule about the other hardware. I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession, unless it's purely creative (like my music; and even then...)

So back it up?

I think you are vastly underestimating the lifespan of an SSD for a typical user. It’s a non-issue, and you should always have your data backed up anyway.

 

[Wehrwolf]

If I purchase a new laptop to use for my work/leisure, my primary concern is not "What will its resale value be in 3-5 years". I know it will be less than what I paid. I'm more concerned that I made a financially responsible purchase (for my situation), that the item does what I need it to do, that I will enjoy said item, and that it will last for a reasonable length of time (depends on the item).

While I can relate to the perspective of taking care of things you own (particularly expensive things) and not abusing them, this borders on the ridiculous. Laptops, like nearly all consumer products, are wear items. They do not increase in value. They are not "investments" despite what some people would like to think. Investments go up in value, not down.

This is analogous to someone not wanting to put miles on their new expensive car, so they have it towed everywhere they go, or just never drive it, to try and maximize its resale value. Vehicles, like laptops, are not investments. They only go down in value, with rare exception if it's a collector item. It's silly to think otherwise, and all it does is detract from the pleasure of enjoying whatever it is you bought, be it a vehicle or laptop or something else.

If you are so wound up about this then it might be worth considering whether you can actually afford said laptop financially. Because people who spend more than they should on a laptop (or any consumer good) tend to obsess more over "resale value" because they either consciously or subconsciously realize the purchase may have been more of a financial hit than they could responsibly handle.

You do what you want to do, but I'm not going to carry around an external boot drive just to "protect" the internal SSD on a laptop that I will be replacing down the road in 3-5 years. Back up your data, don't abuse your laptop (or abuse it if you want, if you paid for it you can do whatever you like) but don't expect that anything you do is going to substantially decrease the normal and expected depreciation in consumer electronics.

 

[phoenix-mac-user]

Note to self: When I eventually sell my Mac Mini M1 to some stranger on OfferUp, totally insist and pinky promise that I used an external SSD to preserve the life of the internal SSD.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

So back it up?

I think you are vastly underestimating the lifespan of an SSD for a typical user. It’s a non-issue, and you should always have your data backed up anyway.

I wore through 2 SSDs in my early-13 rMBP. I also had an HDD failure in my iMac 20" after 5 years. I have all of my machines sync/back-up with dropbox. Problem solved and easy to keep everything together.