SMART detected imminent failure... Intel SSD 320 (8MB bug on latest firmware)

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
So I got that message after the computer crashed and the Intel SSD is barely 2 months old. Primary hard disk self test gets stuck at 16% and it can get to the Windows login screen but from there it just freezes or is slow as molasses.

Luckily I made a backup a month ago but I may need to extract some files from the ssd. Are there any tips to recover this ssd or is it time to just RMA it?
 
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DirkGently1

Senior member
Mar 31, 2011
904
0
0
Do you have a spare drive you can boot to, with the SSD attached as a Secondary drive?

It might help with running diagnostics or just pulling files off of it if you need to.
 

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
Do you have a spare drive you can boot to, with the SSD attached as a Secondary drive?

It might help with running diagnostics or just pulling files off of it if you need to.

I'm trying all sorts of enclosures but for some reason the drive won't let me pull files off of it. I don't know if it's a Windows 7 thing but I can't get permission to copy the files off and it looks like the drive can be detected by Intel Toolbox but can't even be read for a full diagnostic scan (even when the drive was connected via eSATA).
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
2,980
126
Now it's being detected as 8MB...
That's a known firmware bug with those drives; did you update to the latest firmware when you purchased it?

Assuming you have that issue, Intel says you can secure erase the drive to restore it to a working condition, then flash the fixed firmware to fix it.
 

Brunnis

Senior member
Nov 15, 2004
506
71
91
That's a known firmware bug with those drives; did you update to the latest firmware when you purchased it?

Assuming you have that issue, Intel says you can secure erase the drive to restore it to a working condition, then flash the fixed firmware to fix it.
Unfortunately, the latest firmware does not fully fix the 8MB issue. There's a thread about it over at Intel's forums. Apparently, Intel doesn't care much to fix it.
 

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
Yea, I lost about a month's worth of work. I secured erased it and it now seems to work and no SMART warnings...

Man this sucks. I wonder if this has anything to do with me enabling sleep + hibernation in the hybrid state.

sigh...
 

Coup27

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2010
2,140
3
81
I wonder if this has anything to do with me enabling sleep + hibernation in the hybrid state.

sigh...
That is most likely the culprit. Sleep and/or hibernation + SSD = problems. Theres an endless list of drives which suffer a selection of problems when the above are used.

My simple tweaks for ensuring SSD stability is to disable hotplugging on all ports, disable hibernation, do not use sleep, and in Windows 7 power management set "turn drive off after" to "never".

Ps - You haven't actually confirmed what firmware you are running?
 

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
That is most likely the culprit. Sleep and/or hibernation + SSD = problems. Theres an endless list of drives which suffer a selection of problems when the above are used.

My simple tweaks for ensuring SSD stability is to disable hotplugging on all ports, disable hibernation, do not use sleep, and in Windows 7 power management set "turn drive off after" to "never".

Ps - You haven't actually confirmed what firmware you are running?

The newest one with intel toolbox 3.0.2

4PC10362 is the firmware version. Man, this Intel 320 SSD is like a ticking timebomb. I remember starting a thread about the sleep problems crashing flash video and I followed the tips that some of the posters suggested. Guess it's back to hibernation and weekly/daily backups.

edit: I've been sleep/hibernating another system that had an Intel 510 for almost a year now with no major data catastrophe. I guess that one is more stable.
 
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LokutusofBorg

Golden Member
Mar 20, 2001
1,065
0
76
I think the forums are melting. A thread about an Intel drive being not reliable...

There's a chance you just got a bunk drive, so maybe an RMA is in order?
 

DirkGently1

Senior member
Mar 31, 2011
904
0
0
Yea, I lost about a month's worth of work. I secured erased it and it now seems to work and no SMART warnings...

Man this sucks. I wonder if this has anything to do with me enabling sleep + hibernation in the hybrid state.

sigh...

A months work with no backup? Sorry to rub salt in the wound, but that one's on you pal!

I think the forums are melting. A thread about an Intel drive being not reliable...

There's a chance you just got a bunk drive, so maybe an RMA is in order?

First time i've heard of an Intel failure in the wider forums! Maybe it's a sign of the impending Apocalypse...
 

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
I think the forums are melting. A thread about an Intel drive being not reliable...

There's a chance you just got a bunk drive, so maybe an RMA is in order?

Well, now the SMART values are telling me it's Good and it's at 100% expected life or whatever the toolbox says. I would have trouble RMAing it now even if I tried since the diagnostics are telling me it's a 100% healthy drive. Right now I'm running on it but I learned my lesson. I'll try to migrate to another drive and use the Intel SSD drive for non critical applications.
 

Coup27

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2010
2,140
3
81
There have been many reports of the 8MB bug after the firmware update to fix it all over the place. One particular thread about it has been running over at the Intel "community" support forum for a while now and has been entirely ignored by Intel and their forum "reps".

I like Intel drives as much as the next guy (apart from groberts obviously ;p) and have purchased 4 in total. The continuing 8MB bug in the wild does seem to have been brushed under the carpet by many people, me included, and tech sites such as AT.
 

Anonemous

Diamond Member
May 19, 2003
7,361
1
71
Yea, I have the latest firmware and I got hit by the 8MB bug. Guess Intel 320's are not that reliable IMO. Best thing is not to use sleep/hibernate or even putting it in a laptop (because what's the point of not using sleep/hibernate).
 

Obsoleet

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2007
2,181
1
0
I've been using hibernate with my old 40GB G2 for near 3 nears now, on two different laptops and never saw a hiccup yet. I don't use sleep mode because I hibernate the laptop, pull the drive out, and then put a completely different drive in. This is done at least once daily, on average I hibernate and swap drives twice a day, many days even more than that. Sleep mode being the low-power state that it is, won't work well with this so I've never used it extensively. I did try it though when I had non-critical data on the drives and while the Intel SSD didn't have an issue, the HDD was corrupted after a few pulls (WD Scorpio Black).

Not every SSD out there has an issue with sleep or hibernate. That said, the Intel G2 is one if not the most reliable SSD ever created outside of the Intel 510.

I'm surprised this 8MB bug is still in the wild, esp considering the 320 is based on the G2. Maybe there's an issue with all the (mostly needless) features they added to the 320.
Makes me feel even better than I already did about jumping on G2's when I did (near launch for each respective drive), as I've gotten constant use out of the 160GB G2 since 2009, same format, still amazing, best $550 I've ever spent.

If you do work on your laptop, a $100 USB3.0 external HDD is well worth the cost, run the backup weekly or daily, if it's everyday you're putting in 8+ hours of work. Or buy a cheap NAS storage, even if it's network adapter limited junk like most cheaper NAS drives, the backup over your network will be painless. Yeah, if you buy a backup solution now you won't have a crash for 100 years, but it's a requirement to do so.

I just can't recommend Intel drives over the Samsung stuff anymore.. as good of luck as I've had with mine, my love for that shiny new Samsung 830 is increasing on a daily basis. Can't tell people to go buy G2s

The market has really narrowed down to the everyman's drive with the 830 series and the 520 for those who need something different, a little faster and more exotic.
 
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