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

[kevin335200]

No idea where you got this list from but I feel I got real lucky.

870 EVO, 970 EVO, 980 PRO that I own all dont have any of those serial's.

It is not a complete list yet, I have been maintaining it since September last year. I'll update the list once I found new cases.

Your luck may indicate that it is indeed related to the batch. I've seen two cases of 980 PRO manifactured in 2022.11 and shipped with the 5B2QGXA7 firmware, but still failed.

 

[P4-630]

870 EVO, 970 EVO, 980 PRO that I own all dont have any of those serial's.

I also have all these drives but not affected according to that list.
I did however update to latest firmware on all my drives.

 

[chrcoluk]

Been reading this Thread for a while, and had to Register to say something about the 870 EVO failures.

I would reccommend that you do NOT trust CrystalDiskInfo when it comes to the Samsung 870 EVO failing
(it might give you the impression that the drive is perfectly fine, when it's not).

Already made a few posts about it on the Ten Forums

Samsung 990 Pro SSD rapid health drops

When you buy the fastest flagship SSD on the market, you expect a certain level of reliability and confidence from its performance, but things can and do go wrong sometimes, and customer support is paramount at instilling continued confidence in the brand

www.tenforums.com

Definitely use something like Hard Disk Sentinel (HDSentinel) and Samsung's own Magician software instead
(to get a more correct picture of what is going on with your 870's).

I lost around 250 GB of important data due to CrystalDiskInfo not being true about the actual Health of these drives
(i thought the drive was ok at first because of that).

Its fine to just use it for the SMART metric readouts, which is what I do, but like yourself I advised the health rating it gives as clunky.

this thread is 19 pages of garbage
the 870 evo is a old drive and a old design and been in service for many years
if there was really a wide spread problem you would know about it
what we have is a handful of drives failing nothing more
go home kids

Its been out for just about 2 years and is a 'current' model from samsung, there is much older drives which have not generated enough failure momentum to keep forum threads alive and on multiple sites, its clear it has a higher than average failure rate.

I also have all these drives but not affected according to that list.
I did however update to latest firmware on all my drives.

My 970 EVO was up to date the day I got it and still is.
980 PRO was up to date when I got it but havent checked since.
870 EVO I havent updated as I dont like installing firmwares which dont have a technical breakdown (after have been using it with no issues), and it works as it is. I would have updated though if my firmware was listed as a known issue. It also was up to date when I first installed it.

 

[latex]

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.

I've had a bad experience with my SanDisk SSD PLUS 480GB. I bought two of those drives. One for my desktop, one for my server laptop. The one in my desktop died after just 1 or 2 TBW which was after 6 months of usage. While I was using my computer, suddenly everything hanged. After reset, no operating system was detected. Then after fully powering off and on my PC and decrypting the drive, root wouldn't mount. It would just hang again. I had to boot a recovery stick and mount my drive read-only.
SMART reported the following status: FAILED! Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA
Attempting to write to the SSD would make it hang. The next day I purchased a Samsung 870 EVO and checked this thread. Mine is manufactured in 2022.04, purchased it in September 2022. Still running fine after wear leveling count has increased to 2. Latest firmware out of the box (SVT02B6Q).
The other SanDisk SSD is still in my server laptop and has 224 bad blocks. So yeah, I don't think I'll buy SanDisk again, and especially not the entry-level SSDs. Maybe Sandisk Ultra is a different story but I have no experience there. Do you have a SanDisk Ultra?

 

[skappley]

I've updated the firmware of my four 4TB Samsung 870 EVOs to the latest version (SVT02B6Q). The one drive which had problems behaves normal again. Seems to be all good, I'll keep an eye on them.

 

[kevin335200]

JayzTwoCents has just pushed a video about 980 PRO's failure.

 

[SuperConker]

Still weird how the 980 PRO issues are being brought up now, over a year after it was fixed
(the new 5B2QGXA7 Firmware was released over a year ago).

While the 870 EVO is not even mentioned at all, despite that it's a lot worse than the 980/990 issues
At-least you can backup your data on the 980/990 (should your SSD ever go into Read Only-mode).

On the 870 EVO you could very well lose your files, permanently.

 

[dockalacek]

Hello,

I'm from the Czech Republic and my English is very bad, I use Deepl. I recommended the 870 EVO 500GB in autumn 2022 to my best friend to upgrade her 2014 laptop (HP Probook 450 G0, Celeron 1000M, 4GB RAM). Should she be worried about potential problems, or does the 870 EVO failure primarily apply to capacities of 2TB or more? Is it possible to say which capacity is the least and most risky? I've been living under the illusion that the 870 EVO is the best SATA SSD, and shortly after recommending the drive to a friend I discover this stressful thread Unfortunately, I can't keep my eyes everywhere. I guess there is no 100% problem free hardware. Thanks for any replies. I found a couple of discussions about dying 870s here in CR too, but only after I discovered the discussion on Techpowerup. The biggest computer store in our country reports over 20,000 units sold for the EVO 870 500 and a failure rate of only 0.28%. The 4TB version is sold out, no stats for that one, however the 2TB version has over 2,000 sold and a failure rate of 1.26%.

Martin

 

[unspecified_error]

...

Martin

It seems to affect all capacities equally, so yes, 500GB models are affected. I think you should be concerned to some degree. I would advise performing a full (read-only) scan of the drive to verify that the data can still be read OK. The bad block issues only appear to arise after the drive attempts (and fails) to read data. If you have stored data that is infrequently read then there's no telling whether that data is OK or not until you attempt to read it even if the drive currently reports no errors. If it is unable read a block then that data (and typically the file it pertains to) is gone.

Aside from that, the usual applies: Ensure any important data is backed-up elsewhere. This goes for everyone regardless of brands/models.

 

[chrcoluk]

Still weird how the 980 PRO issues are being brought up now, over a year after it was fixed
(the new 5B2QGXA7 Firmware was released over a year ago).

While the 870 EVO is not even mentioned at all, despite that it's a lot worse than the 980/990 issues
At-least you can backup your data on the 980/990 (should your SSD ever go into Read Only-mode).

On the 870 EVO you could very well lose your files, permanently.

Once one media guru covers it the rest kind of follow as they watch each others stories I think.

I seen it on tech blogs, someone posts a tip, and some time later its copied and pasted all over the net lol.

 

[dockalacek]

It seems to affect all capacities equally, so yes, 500GB models are affected. I think you should be concerned to some degree. I would advise performing a full (read-only) scan of the drive to verify that the data can still be read OK. The bad block issues only appear to arise after the drive attempts (and fails) to read data. If you have stored data that is infrequently read then there's no telling whether that data is OK or not until you attempt to read it even if the drive currently reports no errors. If it is unable read a block then that data (and typically the file it pertains to) is gone.

Aside from that, the usual applies: Ensure any important data is backed-up elsewhere. This goes for everyone regardless of brands/models.

Thanks so much for your reply and time, I guess I wanted to hear that 500GB capacities are out of the question, but that's okay. I have read this thread, though not all 20 pages, so what is recommended and what conclusion should I draw from it?

1. Update the firmware to SVT02B6Q if it is not already included
2. If the faulty blocks appear, the new firmware will not fix them, but will prevent more from appearing

Do I understand correctly? And what if the faulty blocks appear? Does that mean the drive can fail at any time? The drive for my friend was purchased on October 23, 2022.

 

[Sacco_SVD]

I chime in to report two failed 870 EVO 1TB drives. Developed bad clusters, were degrading fast and windows was reporting issues.

Both manufactured in 2021 in Korea. Both developed problems before and after FW SVT02B6Q.

Replaced with 2TB drives and these are made in China in 2022

Here is a scan a couple months ago. I started getting Disk/NTFS.dll errors/crashes since at least 6 months ago.

These are way younger than my NVME and my former C: 860 EVO drive (Made in China) which don't have any visible bad blocks after I last scanned at the same time I scanned these 870 EVO drives.

This is not a coincidence, both 870 EVO made in 2021 in Korea were degrading fast. I did another scan last week and found more bad blocks, and blocks previously reported bad were "good"...so clearly the drives were acting up in a non standard way.

Samsung states they don't RMA directly. Only sellers can RMA, so you need to return them to your seller. In my case it was Amazon and a quick chat got me a refund, received a return label and I now have new drives while waiting for the refund.

 

[dockalacek]

I'm adding information from one of my friends (a guy) who was buying an EVO 870 500GB in May 2022, and it already contained the SVT02B6Q firmware from the factory. Can he sleep easy then? The other friend (female) with the same drive hasn't given me the information yet, but since the drive was purchased in that October 2022, I'm giving a pretty decent chance that it might already contain SVT02B6Q from the factory as well.

Otherwise I am Martin, 40 years old, since birth in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, computers are my big hobby, so I help my friends with the selection of computer components, laptops, phones, but I also work in appliances, so I also deal with washing machines, dryers, refrigerators. I like being helpful and it fulfills me. I don't like a boring and empty life, so the more tasks from friends the better

 

[Sacco_SVD]

He needs to check the box. If it says manufactured in Korea in 2021 it has high potential of being faulty.

I'm not sure is firmware related. It looks to me like the storage cells aren't up to snuff.

 

[dockalacek]

So I finally read the whole thread and I only have one question about this: if the 870 EVO has the SVT02B6Q firmware from the factory, does this significantly reduce the risk of disk failure?

From what I've read in this thread so far, I get the feeling that those who updated the firmware after the fact were not spared the problems, as the drive may have been damaged by the transient use of the older firmware and the new one no longer saves the situation.

Then I wondered if by switching to the new 870 EVO manufacturing process in November 2022, Samsung is essentially indirectly admitting a mistake, because if 870s were as trouble-free as the 860s were the other day, why would they change the manufacturing technology? I think we're seeing just the slight tip of the iceberg in this thread, and I'm convinced that realistically Samsung had to recall tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of 870s. We just don't know about it, but it's certainly not flattering and should get a good media smear. I get the impression that there are still whispers about it on the internet and Samsung is keeping quiet.

Hlásím dva neúspěšné disky 870 EVO 1TB. Vyvinuly se špatné clustery, rychle se degradovaly a systém Windows hlásil problémy.

Oba vyrobené v roce 2021 v Koreji . U obou se objevily problémy před a po FW SVT02B6Q.

Nahrazeny 2TB disky a ty jsou vyrobeny v Číně v roce 2022

Tady je sken před pár měsíci. Nejméně před 6 měsíci se mi začaly objevovat chyby/chyby Disk/NTFS.dll.

Jsou mnohem mladší než můj NVME a můj bývalý disk C: 860 EVO (Made in China), které nemají žádné viditelné špatné bloky poté, co jsem naposledy skenoval ve stejnou dobu, kdy jsem skenoval tyto disky 870 EVO.

To není náhoda, oba 870 EVO vyrobené v roce 2021 v Koreji rychle degradovaly. Minulý týden jsem provedl další skenování a našel jsem více špatných bloků a bloky, které byly dříve hlášeny jako špatné, byly "dobré"... takže je jasné, že se disky chovaly nestandardním způsobem.

Samsung uvádí, že RMA přímo neprovádějí. RMA mohou pouze prodejci, takže je musíte vrátit prodejci. V mém případě to byl Amazon a rychlý chat mi vrátil peníze, obdržel štítek pro vrácení a nyní mám nové disky, zatímco čekám na vrácení peněz.

So they're degrading even the ones that had SVT02B6Q from the factory?

 

[Sacco_SVD]

No idea if having SVT02B6Q from the factory makes any difference.

If Samsung said it was a FW issue, keep in mind companies do that as damage control. In the same way they say "only a very small amount of affected units".

At this point there is no enough information. But still there is an easy solution. Backup your good data if you need, ask for a refund and buy another drive.

 

[unspecified_error]

Personally, I've never been convinced that the problem is/was firmware related. Updating of firmware may only be temporarily masking existing issues, e.g. reallocation of bad blocks during the upgrade process.

My own failing drive was stamped as made in China so I do not believe the problem is specific to a particular region.

I returned my drive to the place of purchase where it was replaced without issue. The replacement drive has been running without issue for 284 days since. I used Minitool Partition Wizard to perform a surface scan on it just yesterday to confirm:



I also run an 850 EVO with 49983 hours (5.7 years), and 860 EVO with 29319 hours (3.3 years) in the same system, both having performed flawlessly during that time, so the original 870 really didn't fare well by comparison at 6513 hours (271 days). Time will tell if the replacement suffers the same issue, though I feel it's probably going to be fine.

 

[Sacco_SVD]

My own failing drive was stamped as made in China

Noted.

 

[tpudine]

So they're degrading even the ones that had SVT02B6Q from the factory?

That drives in that post were manufactured in January 2021, they shipped with the old firmware. Drives with the new firmware started shipping around early 22 IIRC.

FYI if you want to know the manufacture date of your Samsung drive and can't be bothered removing it from the system -- you can figure it out by looking at the serial number:
Eighth number will tell you the year in hexadecimal:
N = 2020
R = 2021
T = 2022
Ninth number is the month
1=Jan
2=Feb, etc...

Source (translated)

The 8th and 9th bits of the S/N label of the Samsung SSD are used to indicate the production date.
The eighth bit indicates the year, 2008-Q, 09-S, 10-Z, 11-B, 12-C, 13-D, 14-F, 15-G, 16-H, 17-J, 18-K, 19-M, 20-N, 21-R, 22-T. The 9th digit indicates the month, 1 for
January , 2 for February, 3 for March .... When it is greater than 9, it starts to be represented by a letter, A for October, B for November, C for December

 

[vortexiur]

I want to buy the samsung 2TB 870 evo as it is in sale on amazon currently, am i safe if i buy it now?
I remember to have read somewhere that the manufacters models after novemeber are all safe since samsung revisited them, is it true?
So if i get one with for example made in dec 2022 i'm safe? if not and it's older then should i RMA instantly?
Thanks for the replys.

btw i have a 980 pro with manufacter date 2021 10, having only 8tb writtend and no issues at all, i do check it every 2 weeks and no bad blocks, but sadly my serial is listened in those who failed, i don't know if i should rma even if it's going good and no issues.
But sadly already wrote important data.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Western digital blue 2tb m.2 is better item and sell price

 

[unspecified_error]

I suspect they'll be fine now since I doubt Samsung would continue production with the knowledge so many are likely to come back. I imagine they just ran into some production problems a while back that took a while to be recognised. I did read a comment on another site that I found interesting that stated: "there was a fab contamination incident that ruined a months worth of nand production" though I don't know how true that is. Certainly seems possible though, which may explain the failures seemingly focused around early-mid 2021 drives. Maybe said produced chips were shipped around the world? Who knows. My own replacement drive states 2022-01 and seems perfectly fine to-date. I wouldn't imagine you'd find old 2021 models still being sold today.

 

[tpudine]

I suspect they'll be fine now since I doubt Samsung would continue production with the knowledge so many are likely to come back. I imagine they just ran into some production problems a while back that took a while to be recognised. I did read a comment on another site that I found interesting that stated: "there was a fab contamination incident that ruined a months worth of nand production" though I don't know how true that is. Certainly seems possible though, which may explain the failures seemingly focused around early-mid 2021 drives. Maybe said produced chips were shipped around the world? Who knows. My own replacement drive states 2022-01 and seems perfectly fine to-date. I wouldn't imagine you'd find old 2021 models still being sold today.

I imagine it probably had something to do with the silicon shortage and COVID supply chain disruptions.

 

[dockalacek]

I suspect they'll be fine now since I doubt Samsung would continue production with the knowledge so many are likely to come back. I imagine they just ran into some production problems a while back that took a while to be recognised. I did read a comment on another site that I found interesting that stated: "there was a fab contamination incident that ruined a months worth of nand production" though I don't know how true that is. Certainly seems possible though, which may explain the failures seemingly focused around early-mid 2021 drives. Maybe said produced chips were shipped around the world? Who knows. My own replacement drive states 2022-01 and seems perfectly fine to-date. I wouldn't imagine you'd find old 2021 models still being sold today.

Thank you for your encouraging post. Still, I'd love to see this thread continue, and maybe next year owners of 870s made in 2022 will post here again to see if their discs are still good and flawless. So check this thread in 2024, and if there happen to be problems before then, of course. Thank you all very much!

 

[bluestang]

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...

Created an account to add to this one of my drives that was affected by this... 66 Bad Sectors and 126901 CRC Errors, Caught before I lost any data on drive and updated to newest FW. But I immediately cloned to another SSD and pulled it

It was a 500GB 870 EVO with serial number S6PXNJ0R from 2021.05 and drive had 5.27 TBW