Samsung 990 Pro users are reporting rapid health loss

[Daniel Sims]

A hot potato: Solid-state drives can only write a limited amount of data throughout their lifespans, signified by each drive's "health." A worrying number of recent reports have emerged of Samsung's typically lauded 990 Pro SSD losing health far too quickly, and Samsung has been slow to address them.

Users have reported faster-than-normal health degradation in Samsung 990 Pro SSDs for about a month. No one seems to have determined the cause, which affects all drive sizes. Samsung only recently opened an investigation into the matter.

Multiple users on Reddit and overclock.net say that storage utility programs are reporting alarmingly low health numbers for their 990 Pros and shockingly high amounts of written data after only a few weeks of use. Multiple utilities like CrystalDiscInfo and Samsung's Magician software report the same stats moving more precipitously.

Samsung's warranty covers the 990 Pro for up to five years or 600 terabytes written (TBW) for the 1TB model and 1,200 TBW for the 2TB model, starting at 100 percent health upon initial installation. Magician and CrystalDiscInfo told one user their 2TB SSD had only 93 percent health left despite having written only about 7TB, which should leave them with over 99 percent health. Others report similar health ratings despite having written even less.

After reading your article, I thought I'd take a look at mine. The results are horrendous! 36% worn out after writing less than 2TB of data? @SamsungUK what is going on? pic.twitter.com/VdzLoEAarN

— Neil Schofield (@neilaschofield) January 22, 2023

At least one user's drive loses about one percent per week, which could kill the SSD within 18 months. Another lost three percent in one day. One nasty instance on Twitter shows a CrystalDiscInfo results screen with 64 percent remaining after only 2TB of writes (above).

Neowin's Robbie Khan encountered the issue and sent his SSD to Samsung, hoping techs could uncover the root cause. Samsung returned the drive after a factory reset, which should have restored its health to 100 percent, but it had only 94 percent. Samsung offered to replace the SSD and take Kahn's to try and replicate the issue.

It's unclear if the problem stems from software or hardware. There could be a glitch in how the SSDs report their values to health checks. The only commonality between the affected drives is that they are all Windows OS drives, so the problem could also be an operating system bug. Hopefully, Samsung will deliver an official public statement soon.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97357-samsung-990-pro-users-reporting-rapid-health-loss.html

 

[Manoa]

There could be a glitch in how the SSDs report their values to health checks.

most likely a bug in S.M.A.R.T reporting, but could be the flash itself is different in some models of this 990, it happen before - same models but not identical hardware inside

 

[antiproduct]

I honestly avoid Samsung like the plague. Their appliances are terrible and when it comes to their tech products, I always feel like they try to cheat somehow in some way that makes their products look good, but they have problems later.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

But Samesung are the best I keep reading. Only buy Samesung SSD's I keep reading.

 

[bviktor]

But Samesung are the best I keep reading. Only buy Samesung SSD's I keep reading.

Most of their SSDs are great. Yeah, this one isn't. But most of them are. The 980 Pro is excellent, for instance.

 

[bviktor]

I honestly avoid Samsung like the plague. Their appliances are terrible and when it comes to their tech products, I always feel like they try to cheat somehow in some way that makes their products look good, but they have problems later.

That's like saying you won't buy a KTM motorbike because their bicycles are overpriced garbage.

Protip: the next time you consider purchasing an SSD, don't base your decision on their fridges. It's not that complicated.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

I honestly avoid Samsung like the plague. Their appliances are terrible and when it comes to their tech products, I always feel like they try to cheat somehow in some way that makes their products look good, but they have problems later.

Most of Samsung's products are excellent, especially SSDs and RAM chips.

 

[loki1944]

Well screw that.

 

[Watzupken]

I honestly avoid Samsung like the plague. Their appliances are terrible and when it comes to their tech products, I always feel like they try to cheat somehow in some way that makes their products look good, but they have problems later.

I don't deny that Samsung electronic products are generally nice looking but have very poor after sales and longevity. However, their NAND and SSDs are one of the most sought after. Even though they are part of the wider Samsung group, I believe these are not produced by the same Samsung units.

 

[BSim500]

Sounds like they have ongoing issues:-

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

Certain 870 EVO 4TB and 2TB drives are affected by early failures where they develop uncorrectable errors and some data just cannot be read from them anymore. This seems to primarily affect drives produced in January/February 2021. For example, i have three 870 EVO 4TB, only one is affected (so...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Burty117]

Damn it, I just purchased two 2TB 990 Pro's because the 980's weren't in stock.
I can't even check them because they're installed in a new PC that can't be finished until AMD's new X3D chips land.

I hope they fix this with a firmware update before then. I'll keep the packaging around just in-case.

 

[DukeJukem]

Damn it, I just purchased two 2TB 990 Pro's because the 980's weren't in stock.
I can't even check them because they're installed in a new PC that can't be finished until AMD's new X3D chips land.

I hope they fix this with a firmware update before then. I'll keep the packaging around just in-case.

imagine you booted up the pc for the first time and it reported like 80% health lol

 

[AIC1Drew]

WD Black FTW

 

[Bamda]

Dang, it seems all tech companies are having issues lately. Even my beloved Samsung SSDs. LOL

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Most of their SSDs are great. Yeah, this one isn't. But most of them are. The 980 Pro is excellent, for instance.

There is nothing Pro about the 980, it's an EVO, let's not buy into their marketing BS. I have a couple of Samesung SSD's and they work great, but I also have two other brands that work great too and were cheaper and had same warranty. Samesung are no longer the go to company for SSD's but they still won't accept that.

 

[Watzupken]

Dang, it seems all tech companies are having issues lately. Even my beloved Samsung SSDs. LOL

In my opinion, Samsung always run into issues like this. You can search up Samsung since Nov or Dec 2021 and find a string of negative news of their products well into the first quarter of 2022. Either they are caught cheating/ misleading advertising, or issue with products. I recalled Samsung ended 2021 and started 2022 badly.

 

[godrilla]

My 990 pro 2 terabyte still has zero percentage used or 100% life left according to Samsung Magician software even after 2 months of use. I am very interested in how this story unfolds.

 

[NikoBB]

Almost all manufacturers, even of class "A" brands, have given up on quality control since the end of 2020. And especially since 2022, when the prices for NAND and DRAM fell by 2 times. Samsung has already disgraced itself with the 870 Evo (860 is an unkillable series) - there have been massive failures since the end of 2020 and at least in the middle of 2021 with a bit of NAND memory.

Samsung inflates prices by at least 1.5 times today for a simple reason - only the reputation of a reliable manufacturer allowed company to keep high prices compared to others brands of "B" class. But those times are in the past. And their sales will fall further if the prices are too high and the quality does not match.

Why pay more if there is no difference in the quality and reliability of their solutions compared to other well-known brands?

 

[Darth Shiv]

There is nothing Pro about the 980, it's an EVO, let's not buy into their marketing BS. I have a couple of Samesung SSD's and they work great, but I also have two other brands that work great too and were cheaper and had same warranty. Samesung are no longer the go to company for SSD's but they still won't accept that.

??