Samsung 870 EVO - Beware, certain batches prone to failure!

[Bwaze]

Also, I find it very intetesting that Samsung tried to deny warranty to users that first repirted the problem - even though it was clear their 990 Pro were loosing their health status way beyond any normal operation (drive health dropped down to 64% at just 2 TB of total bytes written). The same was reported by first users that tried to claim warranty when their 980 Pro turned to "read only" drives.

Only when the stories were picked up by online press and it became apparent these aren't isolated cases they started acknowledging warranty in such cases.

So review sites posting about problems with products clearly have an impact. And review sites not posting about problems with very widely used products do raise an alarm with me.

 

[pathtonowhere]

The 870 fails were much older and there's no fix, no news, no nothing...

 

[SPDIF]

AFAIK the problems started with the 870EVO just after 12/2020, until 04/2021. But now exactly this same thing happens with very expensive models, 890 and 990 PRO series.
PRO? It's not PRO you get for this price in my eyes. Like i say Samsung is not telling us something and keep it secret...

Maybe they did use other cheaper parts or memory because of the pandemic? I don't give up and i want to know the truth what happened there.
Anyway Samsung will make a bad year, that's for sure. Just play fair game with your customers and let them know what did go wrong.

They make a firmware update and then Samsung does like nothing happened.
I will not use my new 990 PRO for a while, and leave it sit in it's box, until i know more. But no more Samsung for me in the future until they open their mouth.
They NEVER reported some problem with the 870EVO, but Samsung does really know it! Their program Magician sends secretly telemetry to Samsung when you start it up.
They know that the serial number is genuine from your SSD, this proves that they have al info about you when you start Magician. Also reported errors, but they choose to keep it silent.

But al these years they never bother to say something, even now on their website no reported problems with 890 or 990 series.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Odd thing is firmware update does not reverse damage done
They seriously messed up the firmware if this is true.

 

[chrcoluk]

How come TechPowerUP is largely ignoring this fiasco in their news coverage? They don't even publish the good news, like firmware fix for 990 Pro SSD:

Samsung 990 Pro Firmware Update Addresses Failing SSD Health

Samsung is the most popular SSD provider, and the products with problems are their most widely sold - it's not like it's about some obscure stuff.

Do we really have to speculate if they are paid to keep the bad news out of sight?

I have started speculating myself personally, its not a good look.

Wizzard can perhaps explain the specific reason there is no article. As I see many articles go up that are much smaller stories.

 

[ThrashZone]

I have started speculating myself personally, its not a good look.

Wizzard can perhaps explain the specific reason there is no article. As I see many articles go up that are much smaller stories.

Hi,
Yeah @W1zzard might get the ball rolling

 

[W1zzard]

How come TechPowerUP is largely ignoring this fiasco in their news coverage? They don't even publish the good news, like firmware fix for 990 Pro SSD:

I sent the link to the news people, they apparently ignored it. I guess that's why we're hiring more news editors right now

 

[ThrashZone]

I sent the link to the news people, they apparently ignored it. I guess that's why we're hiring more news editors right now

Hi,
Hope you send a follow up

 

[SPDIF]

In any case, it seems to have already been confirmed that a firmware bug causes the too quickly falling lifespan percentages in the smart overview. Why some users seem to be more affected by it than others is still unclear.
I was told by US Samsung Support "It has been determined that these SMART value abnormalities were caused by issues with the 990 PRO SSD's firmware. Your S.M.A.R.T. values will not be reset to factory settings after updating the firmware."

I've had problems with the 970 series. Had to RMA a drive that was constantly slowly using up it's spare, throwing bad cell errors in SMART. The new one is doing the exact same thing, but at a much slower rate.
I think there's something wrong with some SAMSUNG NAND batches.

 

[pathtonowhere]

What is now a reliable high capacity SSD, 4TB SATA? I really don't like the HDDs, they're noisy, heavy, shock-sensitive, prone to failure

 

[SPDIF]

Crucial, Sandisk, Transcend and western digital, never had any problems with them. Some of them are now 5 years old, showing 98-100 percent life left.

I am using them for years to give old laptops a new life in my shop, no complains until now. For myself i use mostly Crucial and Sandisk.
Now i feel sorry i did buy a PRO Samsung...

 

[P4-630]

I had a Crucial mx500 died within a week, had only Samsungs after that, never had issues again...

 

[SPDIF]

I even lost count how many Crucials i did sell, none of them ever came back... 5 of them i still use as of now.
They have had some problem with the firmware long time ago, that's about it.

You can find defects from any brand on the internet, but Samsung now really gone bad, they want to make it to the top.
So if you love your data, don't put it on an Samsung at the moment...
The internet is really FULL of dying Samsung SSD, others you hardly find some problems.

Before 2020 i did sell exclusively Samsung, after 2020 i had so many SSD that came back defective, i stopped selling them.
I bought a new 990 PRO 2TB and hoped they where good, but i see they fail also...

For the time being i keep it in it's box until we know more, i have 5 years warranty anyway.
I keep my 980 PRO at moment, that has no defects in an Desktop PC, and an 870EVO in my laptop, also okay as for now.

I also have some 950 PRO and 860EVO SSD, they all good for the moment. All from before 2020.
And i did check just now, i have 10 970PRO, 15 970EVO and 5 970EVO plus SSD, they are all fine, but again from before 2020...
They are installed on Desktop and Laptops around my shop.

After 2020 Samsung begin to sell Garbage, that's my thinking.

 

[pathtonowhere]

Yes, that's right, for several years before 2021, Samsung was the only manufacturer with 100% problem free SSDs, it was unheard of them to fail. Here in Romania we have an online store that has a warranty counter displayed next to the item on sale and for all Samsung SSDs it was 100% good for thousands of units sold. Crucial had a few problems in the past, some MX500 did fail. It's the cheapest SATA option at the moment, but WD seems more trustworthy. I don't really know what to do.

I still hope I can save the 2021 EVOs that haven't gone bad yet and I've been keeping unplugged. No word from Samsung though, which is insulting to customers. Even if they get back on track, I don't know if I'll ever buy Samsung again because of their disgusting attitude towards clients.

 

[SPDIF]

I think they used cheap nand or something at Samsung. I still sell many Crucial MX500's in my shop, not every client wants an expensive SSD. No returns, really nothing.
For TOP brand i use now Sandisk or WD, very very reliable SSD's. Not cheap, but decent quality.

 

[Don Leo]

Bought May 2021. Don't have the original packaging nearby but can find it. The entire PC would freeze up badly when reading one specific file. Checked and so far over 400 unrecoverable files. I'm using Syncback pro to move all files off but most of these were just games and apps. 3 of those files were extremely important and weren't backed up yet, damn.

Found issue today, contacted Amazon, explained and told them about unrecoverable files, getting a refund and getting a different SSD from store tomorrow.

Error counts keep rising as I transfer files.

 

[tpudine]

I have an 4TB 870 manufactured in 03.2022 sitting on the shelf that I plan to use in the future, now I'm wondering if I should just sell it and buy a 4TB MX500 instead.
Everything I've read on this and other forums seems to indicate only that only drives made in 2020-2021 are affected, but still the lack of certainty is killing me.

If Samsung wants to salvage their tanking reputation in the SSD space they need to acknowledge this issue ASAP. They need to tell us 870 EVO owners exactly what the issue is, what the likelihood is that we're affected, and what they're doing to make up for it.

The half-assed notice on the firmware page isn't good enough.

 

[P4-630]

I use a 870 evo 500GB as external backup.

 

[80251]

What is now a reliable high capacity SSD, 4TB SATA? I really don't like the HDDs, they're noisy, heavy, shock-sensitive, prone to failure

I have a 4 TiB Samsung 870 QVO I bought on August 7, 2022 that so far has no SMART issues whatsoever. I almost bought a 870 EVO 4 TiB (which were cheaper and faster than my QVO) but I'm glad I didn't.

 

[SPDIF]

@ P4-630; You should update your firmware from this 870EVO! Most dying SSD happens with old firmware.

I thought after al this years Samsung would be okay again, what a surprise that my new 990 PRO has the same problems as 3 years ago.
I'm even afraid to use it right now, out of the box. It shouldn't be like this at all.
Can't win them all i guess.

 

[P4-630]

@ P4-630; You should update your firmware from this 870EVO! Most dying SSD happens with old firmware.

I thought after al this years Samsung would be okay again, what a surprise that my new 990 PRO has the same problems as 3 years ago.
I'm even afraid to use it right now, out of the box. It shouldn't be like this at all.
Can't win them all i guess.

Unfortunately I can't update it's firmware through USB, what difference would it make though, it's only used as external drive and it's not connected that often.
It doesn't seem that it's one of those "bad" drives, I'll keep an eye on the drive everytime when I connect it and when needed I will replace it on time with another SSD then.

 

[SPDIF]

It's all rather unedifying for Samsung's reputation. It was once the gold standard for both SSD performance and reliability. Now you'd be brave to buy one, at least without waiting for these firmware updates to brew long enough to see if they actually do the trick.

There is also the issue that, while the firmware fix might put a stop to the aforementioned drive degradation, it doesn't reverse it. That means if your drive has been suffering the damage has already been done. This includes all drives made after 12/2020.

If your drive is from 2020, then your safe. Mine's is also from 12/2020 and still okay.

 

[Bwaze]

But I think news about this (when they were even reported) will sooner or later just disappear:

- 870 EVO problems are usually not even mentioned

- 980 PRO problems are now explained to be happening only to people that bought their drives in the first months, and then never updated the firmware. So it will be the user's fault if their drive turns to read-only, even though most of the users won't see any notification or warning they must update their firmware.

- 990 PRO drive users also now have a new firmware that should help. Although the majority of users still haven't seen any notification that they should upgrade their firmware. Also, health of the drive lost before firmware update isn't repaired - how much of the lost health entitles you for drive replacement?

 

[SPDIF]

I have found a list with the affected drives that should update the firmware immediately! If you do not, you are taking a big risk. But remember it was your decision.
If your drive has this serial number as listed below, your drive will suffer degradation sooner or later if you don't upgrade the firmware.

Samsung 870 EVO	S5Y2NJ0N / S5Y2NJ0R / S5Y3NF0R / S5Y3NG0R / S621NG0R / S625NJ0R / S626NF0R / S626NJ0R / S62BNJ0R / S62CNF0R / S62CNJ0R / S6BANJ0R / S6BBNG0R / S6BCNG0R / S6BCNJ0R / S6PTNZ0R / S6PUNF0R
Samsung 970 EVO	S464NB0K / S465NF0K / S466NF0K / S466NX0K / S466NX0M / S5H7NS0N / S5H9NS0N / 3B2QEXM7
Samsung 970 EVO PLUS	S6P7NG0R / S6P7NF0T / 2B2QEXM7 / 4B2QEXM7
Samsung 980	S649NF0R / S649NF1R / S649NG0R / S649NJ0R / S649NX0R / S64ANG0R / S64DNF0R
Samsung 980 PRO	S5GXNF0R / S5GXNF0T / S5GXNG0N / S5GYNX0R / S69ENF0R / S69ENG0R / S6B0NG0R / 3B2QGXA7
Samsung 990 PRO	0B2QJXD7

So you see, i was right. All drives made after 12/2020 are garbage...

 

[80251]

Look at all those 870 EVO's. Considering all the models affected I don't think I'll be buying another samsung SSD for a while -- at least until Samsung makes some sort of announcement as to what is causing these widespread issues.