HPE says its SSDs will fail at 32,768 hours unless patched

[midian182]

In brief: Are you using an HPE solid state drive? If so, you’ll want to install a critical firmware patch to stop it from permanently failing in less than four years of operation.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise said that certain SAS solid state drives (full list here) would fail once they hit their 32,768th hour of operation—that's 3 years, 270 days, and 8 hours—unless their firmware is upgraded to version HPD8.

The company says a manufacturer notified it of a firmware defect in certain solid state drives used in server and storage products on November 15.

While those who backed up their data on different drives will be able to recover it, anything on the affected HPE SSDs will be gone forever. "After the SSD failure occurs, neither the SSD nor the data can be recovered," the company ominously warned.

HPE never said why the drives fail at exactly 32,768 hours, but PCMag speculates that it’s related to an integer overflow bug, as the number 32,768 is the maximum negative integer a 16-bit computer can process, and 32,767 is the maximum positive integer.

Some of the SSD models already received a patch on November 22, while a patch for a second set of drives will arrive on the week starting December 9.

Links to the firmware download and instructions on how to apply the update are available from HPE’s advisory. There’s also a link to determine an SSD’s total power-on hours.

“By disregarding this notification and not performing the recommended resolution, the customer accepts the risk of incurring future related errors,” wrote HPE.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/82942-hpe-ssds-fail-32768-hours-unless-patched.html

 

[navuho]

So they implemented count down for your drive to fail, and someone forgot to add one more zero? what a lovely thing to do.

 

[Uncle Al]

Leave it to HP to find yet another way to screw their customers!

 

[lipe123]

“By disregarding this notification and not performing the recommended resolution, the customer accepts the risk of incurring future related errors,” wrote HPE.

-What a scumbag approach! These are business drives and they all have paperwork and whatnot. HP should contact the people that purchased the drives and warn them personally via email or something.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I am so glad I am black listing all things HP.

 

[Rq3EWAq]

They do the same thing with their printers and cartridges. Scumbags.

 

[PEnnn]

Is there one honest, reliable company left on this planet???

 

[Chadddd]

Is there one honest, reliable company left on this planet???

perhaps there was a reliable company, but now their servers have been wiped.

 

[hel0sn8]

This is hilarious to read. All attacking HP. In fact 1 of the best companies for business to deal with. All companies have failings. Its part of the course of business (and life). Sorry it cant all be perfect for you all of the time. This is an unfortunate error / mistake. Do you think HP planned for this bad publicity on purpose? The "old wives" love to jump on the bandwagon and having their say - "oh, such bad a company, glad I avoided them " etc etc. Pathetic. Just exposes your lack of real world knowledge. Does your computing world only exist in the virtual, what you read of others? HP = very good company. Fact. Take it from the voice of real world experience.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Just exposes your lack of real world knowledge.

My hatred is because of real world knowledge dealing with HP. I'm sick of them as a company.

 

[Wizwill]

IF we all boycotted these manufacturer's of rip-off goods, we could rid the planet of such pests in rather short order.

However, many if not most consumers will continue to purchase shoddy, deliberately-defective goods if they are sold at an enticing price point. Purchasers of spyware peeping-tom TVs and smartphones come quickly to mind. FYI, a lot of "smart" flat-screens flew (and are flying) off the shelves during annual "grab it, dag nab it" sales promotions around Thanksgiving.

One final point we should not be overlooked is that each of us in our daily dealings should be practicing the Golden Rule. We can't expect others to do what we are not doing ourselves.

Have a nice Holiday Season and remember Whose birthday it is.

 

[TGuarriello]

Does anyone know if other Seagate ST Series drives are effected or is it just the HP branded models?

LOL! Right now, it seems that I have not only saved a TON of money using "Unsupported" SAS SSDs, but I have skirted disaster and the need to shut down a production SAN to patch firmware.