I had a SanDisk SSD, 1T, less than one year old, only half full, died on me, no warning signs. It was the first SSD external I have used. Many years usage of 'regular' external HDs, never a crash - one from 2012 is still working. (all my Externals are Not left plugged in to the computer, so 'low milage' of usage.) This posting is just a warning about SanDisk /SSD in general. A warning and wondering if others have had this issue with SSD. My Mac, purchased in 2020 (but manufactured 2017 "about this Mac) is SSD and have had no issues. I sent the Sandisk to a Secure Data Recovery business, but they wanted $1000 and even then couldn't guarantee much recovery, less than 50%. When my SSD died, it was warm to the touch, if that means anything.
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SanDisk SSD died
- Thread starter dadders6
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one of these?
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD Suffer Sudden Failures: WD Responds
The firm will issue a 4TB SSD firmware update "soon," but seems to have ignored the woes of 2TB users.
Yes, exactly (but 1 TB)one of these?
SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD Suffer Sudden Failures: WD Responds
The firm will issue a 4TB SSD firmware update "soon," but seems to have ignored the woes of 2TB users.www.tomshardware.com
Here is something to try. I have used it for many years. It also works on SSD's. There is a new version coming out very soon.
Ha! No, I have multiple backups, on lots of HDs. They've lasted long time probably because they're not 'on' all the time. I only plug them into the computer when I'm looking for something. I should probably get a mega RAID, and organize it.
If you have data you need to recover but on a tight budget, I would suggest Northrigde Fix. Normally your SSD has a failed component which he can detect and replace for a short time data recovery.
I was looking at my old HD's. and given the cheap price of internal SSD these days. With the SSD I already have on hand I could only need to add a couple of 1 or 2 TB SSD's and have the capacity to copy all of the files over from these some almost 15 year old HD's to new SSD drives for backup. I actually have a couple that in their day were monster IDE HD's that hold a whopping 10, and 60 whole GB's. One thing that you note with these old HD's is how heavy they are compared with those made today.
I got my first Samsung T3 500gb external SSD somewhere around 2014 or 2015 (?) Used it as a boot disk for a base 2012 Mini for awhile. Still works fine. Got another one (also used as a boot disk on another Mini) plus a 1tb Samsung T3 in 2016 and used it as a boot drive on a 2012 quad-core Mini. It saw some heavy use with Logic Pro and Final Cut pro for about 3 years, was always very happy - almost as fast as the original Apple 256gb internal SSD on that Mini. Still using it for archival storage today. One of the 512's is now the boot drive on a base 2014 Mini that I use as a media server.
That Mini also has a 4tb external USB SSD as a media disk, I had previously used a 4tb USB hard disk for that. Went through two of those external hard disks, they each failed after about 3 years of heavy use (they were set to never spin down and the server never slept). Decided to switch to the SSD after that and it's been fine for about 5 years now.
Got three 2tb Samsung T7's in 2020 and left one permanently connected to my 2018 Mini where it has been used heavily ever since (the other two were for CCC backups of the internal and external SSD's). And it just continues from there, now I have a total of four 2tb Samsung T7's, one 2tb T7 Shield and two 2tb WD Black Game Drives.
Three of them are permanently connected to the Mini for a total of 8tb storage, including the 2tb internal SSD. The other four are CCC backups. And even so, I struggle to keep any free space and do constant "housecleaning" of intermediate files.
I use GIS software to make maps for my web app and one of those 2tb disks is a local copy of the internet server. That disk really gets some hard use, web maps consist of 256x256-pixel images (either jpg or png) and I have lost count, but think there are about 60 million of these little files on the site. Lots of access involved when backing those up with CCC, because it has to check every file to see if it's been updated.
I don't know, maybe I am just lucky and you're unlucky? But for some reason, I have stayed away from Sandisk. I remember looking at 4tb external SSD's last winter and Sandisk had one that was surprisingly inexpensive. Reading a couple articles, evidently it has a very small cache which severely limits the speed on any large file copies, such that it wasn't any faster than a hard drive (150mb/sec IIRC).
That Mini also has a 4tb external USB SSD as a media disk, I had previously used a 4tb USB hard disk for that. Went through two of those external hard disks, they each failed after about 3 years of heavy use (they were set to never spin down and the server never slept). Decided to switch to the SSD after that and it's been fine for about 5 years now.
Got three 2tb Samsung T7's in 2020 and left one permanently connected to my 2018 Mini where it has been used heavily ever since (the other two were for CCC backups of the internal and external SSD's). And it just continues from there, now I have a total of four 2tb Samsung T7's, one 2tb T7 Shield and two 2tb WD Black Game Drives.
Three of them are permanently connected to the Mini for a total of 8tb storage, including the 2tb internal SSD. The other four are CCC backups. And even so, I struggle to keep any free space and do constant "housecleaning" of intermediate files.
I use GIS software to make maps for my web app and one of those 2tb disks is a local copy of the internet server. That disk really gets some hard use, web maps consist of 256x256-pixel images (either jpg or png) and I have lost count, but think there are about 60 million of these little files on the site. Lots of access involved when backing those up with CCC, because it has to check every file to see if it's been updated.
I don't know, maybe I am just lucky and you're unlucky? But for some reason, I have stayed away from Sandisk. I remember looking at 4tb external SSD's last winter and Sandisk had one that was surprisingly inexpensive. Reading a couple articles, evidently it has a very small cache which severely limits the speed on any large file copies, such that it wasn't any faster than a hard drive (150mb/sec IIRC).
Not to be a luddite but these issues are exactly why I'm not 100% in on 3rd party SSDs.
I've only had 1 HD die on me personally, but I knew it was coming because of the sound.
On servers, I've had a bunch of HDs die and same thing, you get error rates and know it's coming.
SSDs just fry and you're screwed with no warning.
Of course you should have backups but sometimes the SSD is the source and that's why you're using the external drive in the first place.
I've only had 1 HD die on me personally, but I knew it was coming because of the sound.
On servers, I've had a bunch of HDs die and same thing, you get error rates and know it's coming.
SSDs just fry and you're screwed with no warning.
Of course you should have backups but sometimes the SSD is the source and that's why you're using the external drive in the first place.
I cannot complain right now I am copying over the files, over a TB, from a Western Digital 2TB HD made 7 July 2010.
To me, and in my opinion, using an SSD that was originally meant to be an internal drive and sticking it into some cheap enclosure is just not an approach I want to take, and I never have done so. Over the years I have used factory-made/appropriately enclosed external SSDs by both Samsung and SanDisk and (knock on wood!) have never had any problems. In fact, yes, I am also still using some older Samsung T5s, too for less important stuff, but have gently retired the original T1s and T3s.
I have several 4 TB external SanDisk SSDs, purchased from over a year ago through just a few weeks ago, and so far all of them have been performing as expected, no issues.... I do not leave my external SSDs plugged into the computer at all times; I only plug them in as needed, when I am about to update, back up or transfer files. As a precaution just in general for years I have always duplicated whatever I'm putting on an external drive, so that on the off-chance one external drive does start choking and bites the dust, I have not lost the files on it since I have the material duplicated on a twin drive.
One set of backup drives goes to the bank safe deposit box each month and I bring home the matching set to update and at the end of the month make ready to make their return visit to the bank early in the new month. Other drives always remain at home.
I am not all that comfortable with using cloud storage to back up my images or important personal files so haven't taken that approach at all. What I have been doing over the past several years with keeping everything local and under my own control has been working out quite well for me.
Who said anything about a cheap enclosure? And why would a fixed external enclosure with ssd be safer than a enclosure that I can choose what ssd I put in it?
ovbacon wrote:
"Who said anything about a cheap enclosure? And why would a fixed external enclosure with ssd be safer than a enclosure that I can choose what ssd I put in it?"
Up until recently, I just about always bought "bare" drives (in various form factors), a separate enclosure (firewire or USB), and then "put the drive together myself".
I've had very good results from this.
Lately, I changed.
I bought a Samsung t7 "shield" (amazon sells these at very good prices), and was very impressed by it. All that remains to be seen is how well it holds up over years of use.
The overall performance between "home-built" and "store-bought" is about the same. That goes for nvme-type drives in USB3.1 gen2 enclosures.
But whereas it used to be cheaper to "roll your own", now buying "ready-to-use" is about the same, or even a mite less...
"Who said anything about a cheap enclosure? And why would a fixed external enclosure with ssd be safer than a enclosure that I can choose what ssd I put in it?"
Up until recently, I just about always bought "bare" drives (in various form factors), a separate enclosure (firewire or USB), and then "put the drive together myself".
I've had very good results from this.
Lately, I changed.
I bought a Samsung t7 "shield" (amazon sells these at very good prices), and was very impressed by it. All that remains to be seen is how well it holds up over years of use.
The overall performance between "home-built" and "store-bought" is about the same. That goes for nvme-type drives in USB3.1 gen2 enclosures.
But whereas it used to be cheaper to "roll your own", now buying "ready-to-use" is about the same, or even a mite less...
My Sandisk 2Tb SSD went belly up today. That will be the last SanDisk product I'll ever buy. It was used for off line storage, rarely connected, lightly used. I've read lots of stories of similar failures. Since they don't seem to stand behind their products, they'll never get another penny from me.
I also plan to leave as many reviews as I can so that others will know that these die prematurely.
I also plan to leave as many reviews as I can so that others will know that these die prematurely.
Keep it plugged-in an operating computer for a while. Some SSDs have been revived that way.
No one could be bothered to post a link for the firmware update after all these months?! Let's solve that spate of forum laziness right now...
Firmware update page for the V2 Sandisk SSDs...
Firmware Updates for SanDisk & WD Portable SSDs
support-en.wd.com
...solutions, not complaints. Onwards.
Firmware update page for the V2 Sandisk SSDs...
Firmware Updates for SanDisk & WD Portable SSDs
Western Digital Support | Western Digital
Instructions to update your SanDisk & WD Portable SSD storage device. Follow these steps to update the firmware on SanDisk Extreme V2, Extreme Pro V2, and WD My Passport.
...solutions, not complaints. Onwards.
I popped the memory board out of that SanDisk unit and I plan to try it in another interface. Then I’ll know what part went bad. It will probably be a week till I do that because of travel. I’ll let you guys know what I find out.
If the ssd is fine and you're looking for another enclosure, there is a caveat. You'll need another sandisk donor board. When you shuck the internal drive and try to use in another enclosure, it's limited to a couple hundred mb/s. They've put propriety firmware on it to keep people from shucking it. As far as I know, nobody has been able to put any of the SSDs original firmware back on it. I believe the smaller SSDs are SN530s and the 4TB is a SN700. Sandisk / WD decided to lock this down to keep you from doing what you want with your property.
Hopefully the SSD is fine and you'll be able to pull your data off of it, albeit slower, but at least you'll have your data.
Agreed. A lot of the enclosures you can buy are actually leagues better than the cheap plastic enclosures Sandisk ships with their portable SSDs. They actually put thermals and performance at the top of the list when they're designing them. The Sandisk enclosures are clearly built to a price point and nothing more.
Checked my 1x2TB and 2x4TB Sandisk SSD Serial Numbers at the above link I provided and all reported clean-and-green!
Well I got a case off Amazon and popped the ssd card in it. The results were the same as the original case, it was requesting to be initialized. I didn’t bother with recovery software to see if anything was readable.
I initialized it in the new case and 2TB of storage showed up. (The shielding in the original case is an adhesive foil and is hard to get off and even tougher to get back on. The new case is metal.)
I initialized it in the new case and 2TB of storage showed up. (The shielding in the original case is an adhesive foil and is hard to get off and even tougher to get back on. The new case is metal.)