Macbook Air 2020 Retina, Mac OS Sequoia.
How can I find out the status of my hard drive?
I want to buy a used MacBook. In a few years, the hard drive may deteriorate and then I will have to throw away the MacBook.
In the disk utility, SMART shows Not Supported.
And how can a MacBook user predict that a hard drive might fail? After all, in this case, the data will be lost.
MacBook Airs released in 2020 do not have mechanical hard drives.
They have soldered-in SSDs, whether you are talking about
The Intel-based one has a T2 security chip, and the M1-based one integrates the functions of that chip into the M1. So not only are the flash chips soldered in, but part of the SSD controller is in the T2 chip or the M1 chip. Also, the data on the flash chips is encrypted and decrypted in real time with keys held in the T2 or the M1. If the board dies, you are not going to be pulling that drive and retrieving any data from it.
It's always been important to get into the habit of maintaining backups, but this just underlines it.
MacBook Airs released in 2020 do not have mechanical hard drives.
They have soldered-in SSDs, whether you are talking about
The Intel-based one has a T2 security chip, and the M1-based one integrates the functions of that chip into the M1. So not only are the flash chips soldered in, but part of the SSD controller is in the T2 chip or the M1 chip. Also, the data on the flash chips is encrypted and decrypted in real time with keys held in the T2 or the M1. If the board dies, you are not going to be pulling that drive and retrieving any data from it.
It's always been important to get into the habit of maintaining backups, but this just underlines it.
In a few years, the hard drive may deteriorate and then I will have to throw away the MacBook.
How many is "a few"?
All flash memory is write / erase cycle limited. Apple does not publish that specification, so it is unknown, but failures resulting from reaching that limit are — literally — unheard of. As in zero.
Premature failures prior to reaching that limit are — extremely — rare.
Exactly none of my Macs purchased in the past decade and a half use hard disk drives. They all use SSDs or built-in storage. Zero failures. The oldest ones are functionally obsolete by now, so it wasn't hardware failure that did them in. It's the passage of time and advances in technology that makes Macs obsolete. The same can be said of nearly anything more complicated than a claw hammer.
Nothing in the physical realm lasts for eternity though, so whatever that Mac's ultimate demise may be, it won't be that.
Having said that I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with lobsterghost1's User Tip The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone - Apple Community. Although it is obviously written for iOS devices, its principles apply equally to Macs.
Some senior ASC contributors whose opinions I respect will advise "never buy a used Mac". I stop short of making such an overarching statement, but the more I learn about problems people encounter with Macs that have not been properly prepared for sale the more I tend to agree with it. Those problems are very common, and sometimes insurmountable. In many cases the hapless purchaser is left with a Mac that cannot be used or returned for a refund. Don't buy a used Mac.
constantin245 wrote:
Macbook Air 2020 Retina, Mac OS Sequoia.
[...]
And how can a MacBook user predict that a hard drive might fail? After all, in this case, the data will be lost.
One cannot predict with certainty when any drive might fail, only that all will eventually. Which is exactly one reason why Apple gives you the means to backup your Mac with Time Machine. The only thing you have to bring to that party is an external HDD or SSD with the appropriate capacity.
The Time Machine software is built in to every Mac. Use it or lose it.
To add to Servant of Cats‘ response, you will unfortunately not be able to estimate how long your hard drive (SSD) will last on a technical level. You can take the time of manufacturing and add the relatively safe 5 years. Everything further is mostly taking chances, even if I wouldn’t expect your hard drive to be dead by then, or even after 10 years. But you never know.
FYI, I would not recommend buying either of these MacBook Airs at this point.
The 2020 Intel-based model originally shipped with macOS 10.15.3 (Catalina), so it can't run anything earlier, and wouldn't be able to run old 32-bit applications. With respect to current applications, it's already unable to run the latest version of macOS. it may have been a good machine in its day, but that day is drawing to a close.
Apple currently uses plain M4 chips in 13" and 15" MacBook Airs – and plain M5 chips in entry-level 14" MacBook Pros. So the processor in the 13" M1 MacBook Air is three or four generations behind the current ones. That first Apple-Silicon-based MacBook Air also
Single-core CPU benchmark scores for M4, M1, and 2020 Intel-based MacBook Airs:
Metal (GPU) benchmark scores for M4 and M1 MacBook Airs. MacTracker didn't have scores for 2020 Intel ones, but they presumably would have been lower than the M1's. You can get current MacBook Pros with your choice of plain M5, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, all of which would score higher than the plain M4 chip.
How to check MacBook Air 2020 Retina hard drive status
