Is my SSD fixable?

Zixiken · 2014-07-17 03:48:05

I have archlinux installed on a Corsair Force GS SSD. A while ago I was going about business as usual when everything froze up. This lasted for about 5 minutes when things seemed to start working again, however I noticed I couldn't read from some files on the drive. Mount claimed the partition was now mounted as read-only, indicating there had been an error of some sort. However many programs were still unreadable from the drive, for instance the shutdown program. I was forced to reset the computer, and then BIOS didn't recognize the drive. Only after completely shutting off the computer and turning it back on again could it see the drive. From this point on booting into arch would last a few minutes at the most, then it would repeat the freezing process from before. I tried reading from the drive in Windows (installed on a separate drive), and after a bit explorer would freeze, and then the drive would disappear from windows. I tried booting into a liveCD environment and checking the dist with fsck -c. Pictures of the relevant output are here and here. The test would start alright, but following the pattern from before would lose the ability to read from the drive a few minutes in. It started spewing out the errors in the first picture. After those were past it started giving errors like at the end of the second picture. After a few lines of that it went ahead saying every successive block after that was bad. Starting the test again after this would cause it to begin throwing errors immediately instead of working properly for a few minutes.

Pretty certain this is proof that the drive is bad in some way...though since I'm still not sure exactly how SSD's work and what exactly might be broken, I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to fix the drive, or if it's hopeless and I should just return it and get a replacement. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated!

Trilby · 2014-07-17 04:23:48

Zixiken wrote:

I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to fix the drive, or if it's hopeless and I should just return it and get a replacement.

I don't know if fixing is likely, but if it is it probably won't be trivial. So if it is under warantee and/or if contacting the supplier or manufacturer could lead to a replacement then I'd highly recommend that as the first and best option.

To dig a bit deeper, fschk won't tell you much - that checks the filesystem (fs) not the disk. The SMART tools check the disk, though I'm not sure how well, if at all, they apply to SSDs. They might, but I only recall seeing them used on HDDs. (edit: a quick glance at the wiki indicates that SMART tools can apply to SSDs too - but depending on the SSD there may be limitations).

Last edited by Trilby (2014-07-17 04:24:41)

Zixiken · 2014-07-17 04:48:52

Trilby wrote:

I don't know if fixing is likely, but if it is it probably won't be trivial. So if it is under warantee and/or if contacting the supplier or manufacturer could lead to a replacement then I'd highly recommend that as the first and best option.
To dig a bit deeper, fschk won't tell you much - that checks the filesystem (fs) not the disk. The SMART tools check the disk, though I'm not sure how well, if at all, they apply to SSDs. They might, but I only recall seeing them used on HDDs. (edit: a quick glance at the wiki indicates that SMART tools can apply to SSDs too - but depending on the SSD there may be limitations).

The drive is under warranty, so getting it replaced shouldn't be a problem. I've just never seen a drive act like this one is, and couldn't find anyone who had quite the same problem elsewhere on the internet, so I figured I'd ask about it. As for the SMART tools, the internet claims that one of the relevant attributes for SSDs that may be included on the drive is the "Wear Leveling Count" attribute, which mine doesn't appear to have. As for the other attributes, there didn't seem to be any problems.

Soukyuu · 2014-07-17 10:25:28

What you could try to do is re-flash/update the firmware. This could delete all data on the SSD, so make sure you have a backup. (Though with the SSD in this state you probably can't make one now anyway).
I heard there are also manufacturer tools that perform a "factory reset" on the SSD, check if Corsair has something like this. Probably a windows tool.

graysky · 2014-07-17 10:43:17

See the clearing ssd memory cells article on the wiki if you want to go that route but do so after updating the firmware if one is available. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SS … l_Clearing
If covered under warranty, I recommend that you get a new one.

Last edited by graysky (2014-07-17 10:47:35)

Roken · 2014-07-17 20:40:44

Try this, and I'm assuming it's SATA. Burn a liveCD (any Linux will do), disconnect the SATA lead and boot from the CD. Once booted to the live environment, reconnect the SATA lead. Give it a minute and the drive should be recognised. reboot to your normal environment and see if it's fixed. I get this occassionally with mine, and this procedure always gets it back to normal.

alphaniner · 2014-07-17 20:54:15

It's always worthwhile to rule out the data cable and connections. If possible use a different cable connected to a different port.

I also once had a molex-to-SATA power adapter cause intermittent problems.

Pse · 2014-07-17 21:37:37

Some SSDs have been known to have defective firmware. It is always advisable to check with the manufacturer if a critical fix was released for your specific drive before starting to use it. Not sure if this applies to your Corsair SSD.

Zixiken · 2014-07-18 02:57:54

Thanks all for your input. I had checked previously on Corsair's site to see if there was anything firmware related and didn't see anything, but I decided to check again to make sure. I found a toolkit program on the site, and it seems firmware updating is done through that program. So I updated the firmware and I haven't had a problem since!

I still find it strange that the problem just randomly decided to show up though...I had been using the drive for quite a while before the problem appeared. Is it possible the firmware became corrupted somehow?

alphaniner · 2014-07-18 13:08:20

I think there was a line of SSDs that would just brick after a certain amount of time or throughput due to a f/w bug. The f/w could be updated, but only before the 'bricking point' was reached.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-07-17 03:48:05

Is my SSD fixable?

#2 2014-07-17 04:23:48

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#3 2014-07-17 04:48:52

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#4 2014-07-17 10:25:28

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#5 2014-07-17 10:43:17

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#6 2014-07-17 20:40:44

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#7 2014-07-17 20:54:15

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#8 2014-07-17 21:37:37

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#9 2014-07-18 02:57:54

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

#10 2014-07-18 13:08:20

Re: Is my SSD fixable?

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