Samsung believe it has fixed the file read issues with its 840 EVO drives and has released the firmware and restoration program. To see a quick look at how it works and what kinds of performance improvements you can see from it you can click here.
I was personally holding out to use my 840 EVO but now that this has come out I'll probably pop it in my new build. You can go to Samsungs support website and download the program directly. I was contemplating even selling my EVO until now. Cheers!
i hadn't realised that there were issues with the drives!
What's weird is that when I ran benchmarks in Windows on old files, I saw the slowdown everyone was talking about.
I ran dd if=<old file> of=/dev/null in Linux, and there was no slowdown. Not sure what to make of it.
Looks like that 1tb Evo is a back on my to-buy list again. However, I don't know if this Performance Restoration software will erase my 256gb Evo since it's where my OS is currently installed.
I don't think it erases anything. I think it just updates the firmware and fixes your files so they read fast again.
It doesn't matter what is installed on it. I just ran the Performance Restoration software on my 120GB 840 Evo that has my OS and all the drivers on it, went for a smoke and when I came back it was finished (okay, I had to power on my PC after it shut down but that's part of the process and the first step). No problems whatsoever.
There's a pdf that guides you through the whole process and gives you a list of requirements (supported drives - models and types (MBR,...) - , possible problems,....).
Just take a look at the user guide here -> http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html
The rectification is visible when you run a program like HDTune (before and after you did the performance restoration).
http://imgur.com/503lQC8
I've been waiting for this to come out. I've been looking at getting a 500gb Evo, but I wanted to hold off to see if their firmware fix actually fixed the issue. If it holds up and there aren't any issues, I'll probably snag one. If not, then I'll spend the extra $$ to get the 840 Pro. Now we play the waiting game... again.
=)