Intel Bug Causes Failed SSDs Turn 600GB to 8MB
It may be solid state, but you should still make backups!
Intel's SSD 320 series offer some great storage solutions for enthusiasts. For those with the budget, getting 600GB in solid state is quite impressive – of course, that is until it fails and reports itself as a cry-worthy 8MB.
A bug that afflicts the entire 320 line can cause an SSD to revert to 8MB following a crash or power failure. The Register quotes a couple of users from the PC Review forum:
"Be wary of the new Intel SSD 320 series. Currently, there's a bug in the controller that can cause the device to revert to 8MB during a power failure," wrote one user. "AFAIK they have not yet publicly announced it, and won't have a firmware fix ready for release until the end of July."
Another posted, "I just had this happen to me. Had the 600G model for a month. Then the drive crashed and now DISKPART shows 8MB for that drive. SMART attributes are gone... The drive worked great for a month!"
Fortunately, Intel did eventually acknowledge that it is aware of these "customer sightings" on the 320 SSD series. Intel isn't yet revealing more about the nature of the bug, or when a fix is coming.
If you have a 320 SSD, we recommend that you backup all of your data ASAP.
- Intel: Notebooks, Tablets Eradicated in a Decade
- OCZ Intros RevoDrive 3 and X2 PCI-E SSDs
- Quad-Core CPUs in Half of All Notebooks in 2015
- Deals for July 13: 42" LG 3D Plasma Bundle $499
- Windows 8 Leaked CD Appeared for Sale on eBay
- Radeon HD 6990M is ''World's Fastest'' Mobile GPU
- SOE: The Old Republic Helped Kill SWG
- Colossus Brings Internal HDMI Recording to PC
- Deals for July 12: 21.5" Alienware OptX 2ms $229
- Sony Launches ''World's Lightest'' 13-Inch Laptop
- Spotify Goes Live in U.S. as Invite-Only Service
- Deals for July 15: DROID X2 from Verizon $53.99
- Despite Reviews, DNF Was #2 Game in June
- Ubisoft Nuking Used Game Sales with Uplay
- ASRock Teams With Fatal1ty For AMD MoBo
- Windows 8 Will Have Same System Reqs as Win 7
- Ballmer Says Windows 8 Will be Pretty Important
- Deals July 18: 30% Off HP Envy 17 Core i7 $979
So.......Intel B2 cougarpoint boards + these SSDs = One really pi$sed off customer?
Why can't it be some kind of bug which allows users to unlock conveniently locked SSDs from a crappy 64GB to 300GB?
Oh no, Tom's. You didn't just quote TheRegister, did you?
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Don't get too excited about this folks. The error is caused by extreme power cycling. Yes, it should be fixed to avoid this bug, but it sounds like normal use will not sink the boat. We are, essentially, early adopters of SSDs right now, so it's not too surprising that these bugs are coming up. That said, power cycling seems like a very routine Quality Control test, so why didn't Intel find this error prerelease?
...and the paid beta testing continues!
Why can't it be some kind of bug which allows users to unlock conveniently locked SSDs from a crappy 64GB to 300GB?
Intel is not like AMD, they scrap off "underperforming" or "broken" silicon before the box it as a final product, not that I'm against AMD or core unlocking, but.......unlocking SSD? kinda a no go......
I remember Western Digital spinners failing and showing up as 8MB failures...
lol related stories: Best SSDs for the money. Guess what gets big recommendation?
i'm surprised with the amount of defective sandforce drives that just drop dead vs intel drives, the sandforce drives don't get a cover story but intel do
Haha! I guess this is rather embarrassing to the behemoth, Intel.
After all,it's intel we are talking about,here, no surprises.
A bug here and there once in a while.
Cpu bugs,chipsets bugs,not news here.
but i want my data back ,i use them as a backup drive on an external case.
:-(
Anyone remember the Sandy Bridge fiasco? Cmon people: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/s [...] 12123.html
Anyone remember the Sandy Bridge fiasco? Cmon people: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/s [...] 12123.html
Not to get off subject but that isn't a common scenario!
damn that blows for intel, they probably haven't announced it so their stocks don't drop lol
I can hear greedy lawyers rubbing their hands together now.
... sandforce rox... or the bug is jet to come...? wee will see...!
Assuming you don't try to modify the drive in any way, I would assume the data is recoverable (perhaps re-flashing or replacing the controller). Maybe Intel would be so kind as to offer recovery services to the affected customers (and apparently, this isn't wide-spread, so it couldn't be that many people).
Still, don't know why you'd treat an SSD any different from other storage, i.e., MAKE BACKUPS!
...Still, don't know why you'd treat an SSD any different from other storage, i.e., MAKE BACKUPS!
SSDs will outlast humans and most importantly roaches!
So much for a billion dollar R&D company, huh.
Cheers!
Don't get too excited about this folks. The error is caused by extreme power cycling. Yes, it should be fixed to avoid this bug, but it sounds like normal use will not sink the boat. We are, essentially, early adopters of SSDs right now, so it's not too surprising that these bugs are coming up. That said, power cycling seems like a very routine Quality Control test, so why didn't Intel find this error prerelease?
Well SSD is already after early adopt stage being on market for 4 years.
This happened to my wife's 120GB last night. Trust me, there is nothing excessive about her 'power cycling'. She turns it on during the day, and off at night. While it may not be widespread, it is a B.S. problem that Intel needs to fix.
Hoping my 160gb lasts until the supposed firmware update...my wife's lasted a little over a month. Feeling like mine is on borrowed time right now...
just another reason to keep waiting for SSD's to mature.... and drop the prices
just another reason to keep waiting for SSD's to mature.... and drop the prices
I believe the previous comment regarding sandforce chip based drives are a good investment.
I work at a computer system builder, and we use exclusively Intel-brand SSDs. I checked out our failure reports, and so far we haven't had a single 320-series drive problem (either here during production or that a customer has reported in the field).
I'm sure that when Intel issues a fix we will be applying it, or course, but I just wanted to put this info out there since it seems this problem is a fairly limited in impact so far.
We've also found far more problems with other brands of SSDs over the years, which is why we only carry Intel now. I'm surprised to see Intel getting dinged about this when other manufacturers have had so many more issues.
This is just another reason why I don't buy 1st generation products.
Call me when SSD 2.0 arrives and all the bugs and defects are stamped out during this retail beta test.
Oh, and maybe drop the price to something at least comparable to a HDD?
Was just considering splurging on a small SSD for my linux machine and going with intel... I still probably will, sad to see they're still having major issues like this though.
Trust me, there is nothing excessive about her 'power cycling'. She turns it on during the day, and off at night.
Whew, at last I fought down the urge to say something sarcastic and possibly disrespectful. I'll just chuckle to myself.
Dunno about the chipset, but 320 is at least the second gen Intel SSD. They had the x-25 series first, followed by 320, and now third gen 510. So who is it safe to get an SSD from? I looked at an OCZ 120gb Vertex 2 (my system only has sata 2 so sata 3 speed is wasted) and on newegg, the last 2 weeks have 9 reviews and 8 list drive failure. Crucial m4 series had big problems too...
Dunno about the chipset, but 320 is at least the second gen Intel SSD. They had the x-25 series first, followed by 320, and now third gen 510. So who is it safe to get an SSD from? I looked at an OCZ 120gb Vertex 2 (my system only has sata 2 so sata 3 speed is wasted) and on newegg, the last 2 weeks have 9 reviews and 8 list drive failure. Crucial m4 series had big problems too...
The 320-series is actually Intel's 3-rd generation of mainstream drives. There was an X-25M 1st and 2nd gen (I own both), and then the 320. The 510 is contemporary to the 320, with both available now, and the 510 simply uses a different controller / flash internally and supports SATA III 6Gbps.
Well, on any thoughts at least right of about anything, to say that the better parts of "builds" to say for any value device or component to be made readily availible despite the drop in prices for more, on ideas for sales of more, with anymore was actually taken into account for the hardware or whatever is hard saying really. Also rather or not the amount of info on there is actually lost, right?