Upgraded to a 2TB Samsung 970 Pro NVMe recently...

[the86d]

(<$200 is usually my happy-place for Windows main drive upgrades.)
Linux VM distros galore tried, Win 10 VM for testing, Steam games-galore, and STILL have 1.3TB free...
(Gotta Zero the free space and compress VMs from time to time, after updates... though.)
Like Mickey-Deez, I'm LOVIN' IT!!! TONS of play space, running everything generally pretty-LEAN, coming from a 512GB NVMe, and a 256GB SATA SSD prior to that...

Just disabled Win10's paging file, to see how she chooches...
NOW I have to look for a backup option...

I only really keep VM's backup on OneDrive with Oraface 365's OneDrive subscription, but no pics or other data like that there... they can parse for info.

[ibanezfoo]

We use those Samsung drives almost exclusively at work. 1tb and 2tb versions. 960/970/980/990 They just work. We need that speed because even with 128gigs of ram these huge *** Revit models need lots of cache space.

[xfer42]

Im not sure what to think about Samsung's SSDs these days. Ive had 4 go out after about 4 years of use (about 1/10 of the max writes).

I got a call from them today. I sent in a 1TB nvme that started to alert on critical SMART errors, then went to read only. I could not boot from it, and could not get it out of read only. Apparently, that's a built in "feature" to prevent further damage. I was able to clone it using Clonezilla and ignore errors. When trying to manually copy data off it, I noticed lots of errors around temp files, so it looks like the damage was limited to non important data. The other failed drives (SATA), I could wipe them (with errors, of course), but this one was was locked so it could only be read. I had regrets after mailing it in.

Anyways, I sent it in and they said they cannot replace it, so they are sending me a full refund of $277. I mean those things are like $50 now. Thats great they are sending me a full refund, but so far they havent seemed to be as reliable as magnetic. I dont know if its Samsung, or the specific technology, bad chips, or what.

It was this model:
1 of: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7E1T0BW)
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Condition: New
$277.99

[SactoDoug]

Do not disable the paging file. That is there in case you run out of RAM so the OS will start putting applications into paging files on the hard drive. If you run out of RAM, such as during video editing, and you have no paging file, your system will lock up and you will have to do a hard reboot.

[Preston-CLB]

Agree. Don't disable the page file.

I am running an Intel 240GB SDD as my main drive that I purchased in 2012. Its operation has been flawless and according to diagnostics it still has 95% life remaining.

Xfer42, that's the first bad Samsung I've heard about. Glad you got things resolved.
-P

[hitdank]

I have been saying to use an m2 drive as the page file. I am still gaming on 8 gigs of ram.

[Dan_Eastvale]

did you use Samsung Magician to clone or Macrium or?

[Mute]

Im not sure what to think about Samsung's SSDs these days. Ive had 4 go out after about 4 years of use (about 1/10 of the max writes).

I got a call from them today. I sent in a 1TB nvme that started to alert on critical SMART errors, then went to read only. I could not boot from it, and could not get it out of read only. Apparently, that's a built in "feature" to prevent further damage. I was able to clone it using Clonezilla and ignore errors. When trying to manually copy data off it, I noticed lots of errors around temp files, so it looks like the damage was limited to non important data. The other failed drives (SATA), I could wipe them (with errors, of course), but this one was was locked so it could only be read. I had regrets after mailing it in.

Anyways, I sent it in and they said they cannot replace it, so they are sending me a full refund of $277. I mean those things are like $50 now. Thats great they are sending me a full refund, but so far they havent seemed to be as reliable as magnetic. I dont know if its Samsung, or the specific technology, bad chips, or what.

It was this model:
1 of: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7E1T0BW)
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Condition: New
$277.99

There was a recent firmware that had a problem with erroneously detecting bad sectors on the drive, eventually making the drive unusable. It seemed though that it was mostly confined to the 980 Pro and Evo models. Hadn't heard of it happening on a 970. There is a firmware update that fixes the issue as long as you catch it before the drive goes DOA. Download Samsung Magician and check if there is a firmware update available for your drive and do the update. As far as I know, everyone who has installed the update no longer have the problem.

I've been using Samsung SSDs exclusively since the 470 series. Haven't had a problem yet.

[xfer42]

There was a recent firmware that had a problem with erroneously detecting bad sectors on the drive, eventually making the drive unusable. It seemed though that it was mostly confined to the 980 Pro and Evo models. Hadn't heard of it happening on a 970. There is a firmware update that fixes the issue as long as you catch it before the drive goes DOA. Download Samsung Magician and check if there is a firmware update available for your drive and do the update. As far as I know, everyone who has installed the update no longer have the problem.

I've been using Samsung SSDs exclusively since the 470 series. Haven't had a problem yet.

Ive seen the issues with the latest. Ive purchased 11 Samsung SSDs since 2016, and use Samsung magician often. At the time, magician did not indicate a new firmware for the 970 Evo. That was the first thing I checked when I saw the SMART warning. Strangely, no tests were supported for the drive as well (all other drives supported tests). Ive had four drives die on me (1 850 EVO, 2 870 EVO SATA, 1 970 EVO NVMe). Two of the SATAs reported CRITICAL in Magician, and the test showed bad sectors all over. For those, I was able to write zeroes to (with errors) and send it back to Samsung. They sent new ones back. One of them I didnt bother with warranty because I didnt realize it was 5 years.

This last one was a 970 EVO (Not 970 EVO PLUS) that was purchased back in 2018. It went into Read Only mode while using Samsungs Data Migration tool to clone it a replacement 970 EVO Plus 2TB. I could not write zeroes to this one as it was locked in low level read only. Oddly, they called yesterday and said they do not have any replacements for this and will send a check for $294. I didnt even request that. Thats all they offered. Thats more than 2x what I paid for the 2TB NVMe.

Im still going to buy Samsung. Their warranty is great. Its five years. You call them, they email you a 2 day UPS label, you drop it off and they handle it. The fact they are willing to refund me on a nearly 5 year old purchase kind of says they are owning up to the problem.

Sorry to thread jack.

If you have a Samsung SSD warranty claim this is what I do:
1. Go to samsungs site, register your product (even if its 5 years later).
It will show you if its still in warranty.

2. CALL Samsung (1-800-726-7864) and open a ticket. Forget trying to open a ticket online. The call will last about 2 minutes with the tech, as he/she will email you a form.

3. Fill out form with receipts, steps taken, problem, etc.
(give them an export of the SMART data from Samsung Magician)

4. They email you a shipping label.

[the86d]

Im not sure what to think about Samsung's SSDs these days. Ive had 4 go out after about 4 years of use (about 1/10 of the max writes).

I got a call from them today. I sent in a 1TB nvme that started to alert on critical SMART errors, then went to read only. I could not boot from it, and could not get it out of read only. Apparently, that's a built in "feature" to prevent further damage. I was able to clone it using Clonezilla and ignore errors. When trying to manually copy data off it, I noticed lots of errors around temp files, so it looks like the damage was limited to non important data. The other failed drives (SATA), I could wipe them (with errors, of course), but this one was was locked so it could only be read. I had regrets after mailing it in.

Anyways, I sent it in and they said they cannot replace it, so they are sending me a full refund of $277. I mean those things are like $50 now. Thats great they are sending me a full refund, but so far they havent seemed to be as reliable as magnetic. I dont know if its Samsung, or the specific technology, bad chips, or what.

It was this model:
1 of: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7E1T0BW)
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Condition: New
$277.99

I have never had issues with a Samsung Pro models of SSD, nor NVMe, and my son and daughter haven't had issues with the EVO models, yet.

At work we had some issues with some Intel SSDs, can't recall the models. Weird thing is that bitlocker kicked in, but went away if you left them off for a few hours, then turned the machine back on...

I do recall the first Micron SSDs that came out had a 5000 hour bug, in their M4 models...

[ibanezfoo]

We have about 500 or so of those deployed and I can’t remember the last time one failed. We’ve had Intels go bad, Toshibas… Now, I don’t see what the help desk guys do all day but they do report failures and such to me and it hasn’t come up, so maybe some Samsungs slipped in there. Also admittedly we are Samsung fanbois since we build all their factories.

Our CAD dept beats the hell out of those drives. We have their paging hard set to either 128gb or 256gb