It's my Kingston SUV500 480GB SSD installed inside a USB3.0 casing. Everything is working fine previously. Today, out of a sudden, it decides to kaput. Windows Explorer > This PC shows a phantom drive icon. You can tell straight away that it is not normal.

CrystalDiskInfo this morning.


Windows Disk Management says the partition has turned raw. I fire up TestDisk utility asap to recover my files. Thank god, the files are still listed and can be saved. I thought maybe it's the partition table that has gone wrong. I try to fix the partition table after reading and watching various guides using TestDisk (which I have high success rate with it in the past). Based on the hint, it says my drive is GPT EFI. Dunno why it suggest that when the SSD is only used as a typical external storage. I've tried Intel/PC mode too because that is the most common selection based on all the guides. However, all attempts fail to fix the partition.

TestDisk tested with "Logical" or "Primary", then "write".


After a deep partition search that took hours. Dunno why it shows FAT16 when the SSD was formatted in NTFS:


In Disk Management, I delete the whole volume and create a new partition from scratch. However, it cannot be formatted with a message "Windows cannot format the volume because the volume is offline. Please try to online the volume by assigning a drive letter or path to the volume first." Weird. It is online though. I assign a letter to it but still it cannot be formatted (with the same error message).

I try the SSD on a Linux Ubuntu rig (different PC). It also cannot detect the drive and mount normally.

I do a badblocks check following this guide on Ubuntu. It takes forever. After 5 hours, I decided to cancel the check. It seems it has progressed 30% but the report generated is a whopping 1.7GB file. I believe that contains the bad sector positions (a long list of numbers in that file). Kindly correct me if I'm wrong.

I wipe out the volume and create new partition with GParted. Everything goes smooth here.


Dunno why it says 81.48MB used when there are only 2 files worth 3MB in it (I copy 2 images with the size of 3MB total into it for testing).


Then SSD seems working fine now in Linux. I can copy files into it.


Well mounted and working fine.


Ubuntu Disks built in SMART self-test and info. The reallocated sector count is worrying though (higher count than this morning, 32 to 64):


I plug in the SSD back into my main Win10 rig. The SSD cannot be used just like the initial situation. Windows Disk Management says the drive is not formatted (although it was formatted in GParted just now). Back to square one.


I use the SSD in my Linux system again. Surprisingly, it can be used over there. The files are still inside (the 2 images that I copied earlier). It just won't work in Windows. I don't know what's going on here.

I cannot say the SSD itself is OK because the SMART data shows it is not OK. Is this the sign of a failed SSD?

Other things that I have tried: Swapping a different USB SATA case.

I spent the whole Sunday checking out this issue. I hope someone can assist me. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Feb 28 2021, 10:03 PM

How old is the SSD?

Why does age matter? Approx 2 years old. You can see the hours in the screenshot. It's normally used once a week for my data backup, and also emergency retrieval of files once in a while.

This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Feb 28 2021, 10:11 PM

I have Samseng SSD failed just after 4 months of use.

First off, your USB 3.0 casing no issues ka?

no issue. i have tried with different hdd inside the case and also try the ssd on different case.
if the case is the issue, it will not work in linux too.

IMO, just send it from RMA trying to fix it yourself is frustrating

.............oh, just run windows CHKDSK on the disk, probably MFT corruption.

not possible because cannot enter the drive letter. example: chkdsk x: , that x is not possible.

This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Mar 1 2021, 07:56 AM

Welcome to the world of SSD... unfortunately SSD failure is more scary than HDD as if often showed no sign of why and when it is gonna happen. I used to had a work laptop which I swapped the HDD with SSD. Those early days low capacity SLC drive with dram cache some more. Even that failed suddenly around a year or so. Luckily I backup everything when it started to hang occasionally whenever I arrived at work (never shut down). I never expected the drive to fail though, therefore I just back those autocad files that I needed just in case. The ssd was only half filled (60GB).

The same situation as mine. Kingston SSD as well.
Work only in Linux, cant be read in Windows. Still havent found any solutions TT

Remove the SSD out and connect it directly to a motherboard, do a Secure Erase might help to return it to default factory settings. Initialize the drive and repartition after that could fix the issue. If still failed, send it back to Kingston for a warranty claim.

try to use fdisk to clear the partition then format.

Hmm? Cannot assign drive letter?
You mean you cannot highlight Disk 3 Partition 1, right click, select Change Drive Letter and Path and assign a drive letter directly?

The SSS gone case. Confirmed. I have 3 Kingston A400 240GB units that has same problem after 1.8 years. End up RMA them all. The /K motto of banning Kingston SSD is very true indeed.

waw slc die also easy shocked me

i trust skylinestar press before. he know he doing

From my experience, most of the time SSD fail without any warning.

I dunno if I should buy conventional spinner hdd or ssd for backup storage. My super duper old hdd are still working today. But I have experienced 2 dead Kingston ssd already.

If I were u, I would simply fully erase the SSD (after backup all the data).
If the problem still persist after that, I would not use that SSD again. (it may cause more troubles than u can imaging

Wow. OMG.
I did a secure erase with the Kingston SSD Manager and partitioned it with Windows Disk Management. Surprisingly it can be partitioned and the drive is now usable.
Thank you masta.

But here comes the worry part: Should I continue to use that SSD? FYI, I use it for my critical data backup of my main PC.

Well, if my method fixed the issue, most probably it was just a glitch or a corrupted partition issue. I had fixed this issue with this method many times before on my customers and friends SSD, so far none of them come back to me. Worried? Then just use it for non important data storage.

Tips: It would be wise to always create two copies of important data in two different storage drive, not just one drive. Because, the chances of two different drives failing at the same time are very slim to none.

I store my data on 3 different drives, nobody stores data on single drive if it's really important.
Consider raid 5 then

3-2-1 backup rules for important data

When was that?
My laptop just change to ssd about a year ago.
It show bsod when i just changed to ssd. Surprisingly the problem just gone like that after i update the graphic driver. Now it seem to come back, on n off screen freeze with weird sound.
Ssd doesnt last long huh? Or the 1st few year ssd is of poor quality?

It was a pretty old laptop and ssd still in infancy state that time. Personally I felt like the hibernate or sleep not working properly. I always had bsod or hang initially. Then I turned off every power saving (since I don't use battery) and leave it on forever like a desktop. Never thought it would fail around 1 year+.

Happened to me once ; it just failed RMA it Kingston warranty for SSD is 5 years ,please check if your SSD is still covered.

Since it was in a USb 3 casing,have you updated its firmware?
https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technic...firmware-update

use Kingston SSD manager utility to check,upgrade SSD firmware based on your drive model no. . Before you send for RMA use it also to erase data securely.

Can I know whats your model and capacity?

850 EVO 1TB, bought when 1st launched, USD470 from NY

Seem HDD more stable that SSD
So many disk fail case

https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-to-st...ent-ssd-failure
hope this will help

Yes. Now dilemma whether I should buy hdd instead.

It's just the matter of luck. Buy whatever you wish to buy, don't think too much, lesser white hairs.

my Toshiba canvio 2tb rarely removed from pc, been using it from 2017, no sign of going bad.
it your pc is unstable eg, crash a lot and need to hard reset, it will kill the hdd and even ssd

since the erase trick work, I guess it just fine, can continue to use it.
btw, modern SSD is not designed for cold backup, pls use other method instead.


This post has been edited by hashtag2016: Mar 3 2021, 03:36 AM

That is good to know. thank you

speaking of cold storage, does that mean i shouldn't leave my usb thumbdrive unused for months?

This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Mar 3 2021, 10:43 AM

I got so many USB thumb drive (Kingston) laying around for more than 10 years unused, it's still working fine and the data inside is still retrievable without any issue. Like I said before, it's just a matter of luck, but do keep them in a clean dry place like a sealed storage box. Take good care of it, don't simply laying/leaving them around exposing to eg. sunlight, heat, moisture or dust openly.

This post has been edited by RectangleX: Mar 3 2021, 02:18 PM

No worry, thumbdrive and microsd card are designed for that (especially good quality one) ,and we usually replace it with an newer/larger one , long b4 its healthy become a concern.
some microsd card even locked itself into readonly mode to protect your data integrity, if sth abnormal was detected.

For important data, u really need multiple backup. use an usb SSD as the only backup is not a good ideal, IMHO.
I'm not talking about the data integrity , I believed it shall be fine (mostly, if not all), the stablility it is .
Pls imaging that ,someday, If u suddenly find out your 1TB or 2TB USB SSD which hasn't been touched for 7 to 10 years is as slow as an USB2.0 thumbdrive (while copying data out), It would be a nightmare (u have to copy it out, regardless how slow it is ,coz it is ur only backup) .
and if u have more than one drives like this to handle.. (although it may not necessary happnening this way.)

p/s: Eject the usb storage properly b4 unpluging it from any device is very imporant, it is the best way to reduce data corrupt.

yes , it is fine (mostly).

This post has been edited by hashtag2016: Mar 6 2021, 12:26 PM

Suggest Skylinestar use as follows :

SSD1 : OS ( NTFS - Windows )

SSD2 : OS ( ext4 - Linux )

HDD : Data ( NTFS - readable to both Windows and Linux )

Of course, don't run both SSD's together

If the SSD should suffer from catastrophic failure, just replace the OS and you will be fine.

Cheers.


BTW, formatting NTFS on a Windows system is preferable to formatting NTFS on Linux system. I have had problems reading the NFTS formatted HDD from Linux system.

You dont have to actually install linux to use it, install it as liveCD but into thumbdrive.
But Linux is not supported if you use RAID on AMD B450 and higher end mobo.

I'm already running such setup for years.
Gparted limits ntfs cluster size to 512, unlike windows default of 4k. No option to change that.

Your memory chips inside the SSD is failing. Reallocated sector in NVM (non-volatile memory) chips means that certain sectors inside the memory chips are unusable.

Construction of an SSD
1. SSD controller - The main brain of the SSD.
2. Memory chips - Multiple memory chips mounted on the PCB, along with the SSD controller. It could be 2/4/6/8 or more chips depending on the size of the SSD. Inside a memory chip, it will be divided into multiple number of sectors.

Technical explanation, laymen terms as much as possible
When the SSD controller identifies that certain a sector in the memory chip unusable (either unable to read or write properly), it will write off that sector as bad sector, making it unusable to the system. The SSD controller will then mark that sector in that particular memory chip as off-limits (SSD controller has its own memory to record such bad sector). Any read and write operation will not be used by the SSD controller anymore.

Obviously, writing off a sector in the memory chip will cause a decrease in the storage capacity. This is where overprovisioning comes in. Once the SSD controller mark off a sector as bad, it will then find some other reserved sectors as replacement. Hence, the term overprovisioning, where some reserved sectors become available by the SSD for usage.

The Reported Uncorrectable Errors of 198 sectors is worrying as that much number of sectors involved could indicate multiple memory chips inside the SSD are failing.

The 64 sectors that were reallocated could all be from the same one memory chip. However, there is also a possibility that multiple memory chips that has failing sectors which made up the total number of 64 reallocated sectors. This information is not visible to the end user. The end user will only be able to see the total number of reallocated sectors reported by the SSD. The manufacturer will be able to tell the exact failing chip or multiple chips by accessing the information stored inside the SSD controller.

Why it is happening?
Latent defect at the silicon level inside the memory chips. An accelerated number of reported sector reallocation count, from 32 to 64 within a span of a day means that the defect propagate throughout the memory chips.

Solution
Claim warranty of the SSD if it is still available. And don't use it for important data backup. Kingston UV500 series are budget line SSDs. Budget line means cost-saving on manufacturer side to be able to sell them at such a low price. The memory chips used could be chips that are lower performance threshold during the manufacturing testing.

This post has been edited by SFX: Mar 4 2021, 11:41 AM

Is this because I write too much on the ssd?

Many many years ago 1 of my friend told me this situation, imagine u use SSD for downloading files / torrenting so hardcore like almost 24/7, the SSD lifespan will reduce drastically.

As some already mentioned before, don't just have 1 back source for important files, make it 2, or even 3 or 4 if u can afford it. Nowadays storage devices are some what cheap/reasonably priced. So having mechanical HDD for backup storage of any kind of files will be better than using SSD as the backup.

Imo, SSD should be used as the primary storage for OS and programs/applications that need faster read/write/ For backup storage purpose, having multiple internal and external hard disk (big or small size doesn't matter, storage capacity is up to ur usage behavior and requirements) will be a life safer for future.

Whether u want to use RAID or not, it also depends on how u want to manage ur backup.

No. Based on the Kingston UV500 datasheet, your 480 GB will have an endurance rating of 200 TB writes over warranty of 5 years. Meaning that 200 TB worth of data can be written into the SSD before it is likely to fail (during the 5 year warranty period). Important keyword here: before it is likely to fail.

Common consumer application, like you, who use it for data storage, doesn't incur too much writing. Reading operations are much more common.

Another parameter is the Read Error Rate, which shows a value 6.12 million (6128887) attempts of read encounter issue. When it encounter read failure, it will try to correct the data itself automatically (Soft ECC correction value of 6128689).

So, your main failure on this SSD is actually the read operation.

Side technical explanation: Read operation uses sensing circuitry inside the memory chips to read the voltage level stored inside the bit cells. It could be a defective sensing circuitry or the memory cells itself unable to hold the charges.

hardly your false, my guess.
U only used it for 40 hours.
Try to RMA it probrably a good idea.

p/s: btw, If u accidently unplug the usb cable while the ssd is writing, that might be another story.

never did that before. my casing has the blinking light when it is writing.

update: march 6th 2021. looks like the condition gets worse.


This post has been edited by Skylinestar: Mar 6 2021, 09:45 AM