Firecuda SSHD dead after one year?

[Protos Angelus]

Hello,
new guy here.
So I've bought an Asus Rog Strix GL702ZC a year ago and it's been running smoothly and perfectly.
I've upgraded the existing storage (1TB SSHD Firecuda) with a 500GB SSD for Windows and programs and some resource intensive games. My 1TB Firecuda was used as a Steam library + Large files (not important, gaming only disk). 2 days ago I start up the computer normally (every week I check SMART and every 2-3 months I run a chkdsk /r /f /b for both disks, 2 disks, 2 partitions) and I open up Steam (on C:\ SSD) which links the gaming library (on D:\ SSHD). I try to open up the game, it boots up and POOF. The laptop shuts itself down. I boot it back up (the boot took much longer than usual), and viola, my SSHD is no longer recognized in Windows, cannot be initialized (Unknown device), some software will detect it as a 0KB MBR unrecognized drive. BIOS will not detect it at all. I can still use my computer normally as the Windows are installed on my SSD. Is it possible that the disk is dead after one year and 0 warnings in SMART and chkdsk just a couple of days before the death? I did have similar crashes before. About once per month the game I was running from the disk would shut the computer down without a warning or anything (not BSOD). I suspected that the temperature was the culprit (it's hot outside + dust + full load). Is there any advice on how to manage your SSDs and HDDs so they live longer? Is my SSHD really dead? Do they really die so young?

 

[DelJo63]

IMO, "every 2-3 months I run a chkdsk /r /f /b for both disks" is far too frequent for any SSD

 

[Protos Angelus]

IMO, "every 2-3 months I run a chkdsk /r /f /b for both disks" is far too frequent for any SSD

2-3 months for the SSHD, not the SSD. Besides, in my 10+ years of working with computers this is my first time a HDD dies. I only run SSD chkdsk if I noticed unusualy long bootups (chkdsk will at that point clean 2k+ security descriptors and index entries...rarely seen a bitmap error or GPT error). A lot of my HDDs always returned messages that the MBR was faulty or the volume bitmap was incorrect, and yet, aftet 4+ years they are still runni g strong. One even has 3 end to end errors and runs perfectly. Out of approx. 16 HDDs I've managed and used over the years, only the Firecuda died. I've read that Firecudas have the tendency to burn the 8GB flash part (ssd part) and that renders them useless. I don't stress the SSD much with the scans except when I feel something is off. Thanks for the reply though, I will reduce the frequency od hdd scans.

 

[DelJo63]

Frankly, I run CHKDSK only if/when I see BSOD.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Besides, in my 10+ years of working with computers this is my first time a HDD dies.

It was bound to happen at some point. You should feel lucky it has only been one drive.

 

[Protos Angelus]

It was bound to happen at some point. You should feel lucky it has only been one drive.

Yeah, I know I'm lucky. I did figure out by asking some people over at Game-debate. It seems that SSHDs have a tendency of dying because of the NAND flash. Basically the NAND flash at some point dies without any signs or warnings, and with it, it takes down the entire drive. Good thing is that people that have important data on it can easily extract them. There were signs that something was wrong. Eg. I was playing a game (installed on the SSHD) and out of the blue the computer would shut down (plain shut down in less than a second, like a power loss). I figured it was because the temperature reached 100C (it's pretty hot and the laptop at that point was probably pretty dusty). Now I know that it was actually the dying flash memory.
If anyone stumbles on this thread.
SSHDs like Firecuda have a tendency of dying early. Neither CHKDSK nor SMART will detect it as the culprit is usually the NAND flash memory (8GB in my case). If it dies, the whole disk "dies". The data is recoverable as the platters are still functional. The firmware is not SMART enough (pun intended) to disable the NAND flash and continue operating normally in case of it's death. And to answer @jobeard ... I also ran a chkdsk and checked SMART after every sudden shutdown/BSOD and every time it reported "no errors found"