New SSD Dead ???

[dvcat]

Hello all,
I got an intel 320 SSD a couple of weeks back for my 2009 MBP. It was working fine until a couple of minutes back when I got the spinning beach ball and everything froze. I restarted the computer and it doesn't boot up: I see a flashing folder with a question mark. Is the SSD dead? What do I do?

Thanks
dvcat

 

[Ladybug]

Sure sounds like it might have died. Did you try booting up off your Snow Leopard disk, and run Disk Utilities to see if it sees the drive at all?

 

[dvcat]

I don't have the snow leopard disk but I do have my original hard disk. I put in an USB enclosure and tried booting the laptop off it. I get a "This drive is not properly initialized message". I ignored that and when I open up disk utilities, it sees the disk but it tells me the disk is 8 MB in size.

 

[Ladybug]

Oh no's. Seems the Intel 320 has a bug in it, where it only shows 8mb size. Intel is aware of it, however I don't know what they are doing to resolve it. Better contact them. Also, if you search this site you will find other post here where others have had the same problem. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[kappaknight]

Yeah, what you experienced seems to be the result of faulty firmware. Just out of curiosity, did you install the SSD in the optibay or the standard HD location?

 

[dvcat]

Standard enclosure. I am looking online reg. this bug. Does anyone know if I can recover stuff from the HD?

 

[benthewraith]

Standard enclosure. I am looking online reg. this bug. Does anyone know if I can recover stuff from the HD?

Recover no. Haven't heard anyone recovering data from this bug. The hard drive seems to have something occur when a power fault occurs that makes the drive believe there's only 8 MB. There's been several published ways to recover the drive, but they all involve losing everything. Best bet to get the drive working is to run Disk Utility -> Secure Erase with your SL disk.

A firmware update is supposedly in the works. Intel suggests you call them, where they can get information about the drive (Batch #, batch date, place of manufacture, etc.) Do this regardless of whether Disk Utility or some of the other methods work. Do not use the Hitachi method and play around with the HPA.

Intel's thread can be found here: http://communities.intel.com/message/131623#131623

 

[dvcat]

/sigh.
This is totally off topic but can I return the drive to Amazon and ask for a refund? I am done playing with SSDs and want to go back to spinning magnetic disks.

 

[Ladybug]

Not sure on the refund with Amazon but they do have great customer service usually. Check the web site for RMA, they usually respond fairly quick. Or call them right away since you said it's been a few weeks. Best of luck.