Some advanced users have reported an overuse of the SSD for writing and reading data on the recently released Macs with M1, Apple’s first PCM based on ARM architecture. The problem could eventually affect the lifespan of the internal SSD used in M1 Macs – not to mention the machine itself.
As noted by users on Twitter and also on the Linus Tech Tips forums, MacOS indicates that the internal SSD of M1 Macs has registered ‘extremely high disk writes over a relatively short period of time’. One user points out that in some extreme cases the SSD consumed about 13% of the maximum guaranteed total bytes (TBW).
Some more professional users of the new M1 Macbooks experience extremely high disk writes in a relatively short amount of time. The most severe cases have about 10-13% of the maximum guaranteed TBW value of the SSDs “consumed” (given their capacity and the use of values for equivalent NVMe drives available on the market).
Since SSDs are based on chips rather than mechanical parts, they all have a predetermined lifespan based on how much data is used to write and read them. The more you write data to an SSD, the faster it will show bad behavior, such as sluggishness or even corruption of data. Since the internal storage of M1 Macs is soldered to the logic board, users will need to replace the entire computer if it is affected by an SSD defect.
With regular use, it can take up to ten years to take effect, but today’s reports suggest that the lifespan of the internal M1 Mac SSD could be reduced to as little as 2 years due to MacOS behavior. Another user says that an M1 MacBook Pro with 2 TB of storage and 16 GB of RAM registered 3% of the internal SSD’s total usage after only two months.
Unfortunately, the reasons behind this problem are still unknown. This could be either the M1 disk that constantly uses the Mac’s internal storage for memory swapping (which basically uses the SSD as virtual RAM), or just another bug that occurs in MacOS Big Sur.
Apple has not yet commented on this, but hopefully the company will fix it with a future MacOS update.
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