Whatever you do, do not update your Samsung ssd firmware as of mid Feb 2015!
It's sad, but unfortunately very true. The latest firmware update (popularly distributed through Samsung's own Magician Software) bricks your shiny SSD. Many complaints are going through to Samsung and social websites are buzzing with people trying to share their situation and maybe find a solution to the problem. That being said, the only one as of this date is the RMA the darn thing.
Just trying to give a heads up, maybe someone will have a bit more luck than me and the rest of the people who trusted $amsung. I guess it's a lesson for the future... I wouldn't want to be in Samsung's shoes right now, lots of bad publicity will ensue after f***ing up their flagship product (in my case a 128Gb 50 Pro).
sounds like Samsung's answer to people complaining about slow downs on their SSDs. "Don't like the slow down? Upgrade beotch!!" One big reason I did not go with a Samsung SSD.
Might be a stupid question but do all Samsung SSDs have the same firmware?
Edit: There's not much information on this to be found currently, but Anandtech has a thread in their forum about this issue ( http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2421585 ). It seems (not confirmed) that only the firmware update of the 850 Pro does this.
I personally have a 840 Evo as my boot drive and have not been urged to update the firmware by Samsung Magician.
I just about had a heart attack from my desk at school, I had updated it soon after it came up and it ran fine. It looks like it won't effect me since it worked but still, *Sigh of Relief* that really could have screwed up my system.
I have two 840 boot drives that I bought cheap after the first patch :), but I'm glad I decided to hold off a bit to do further firmware upgrades.
EDIT: Just benchmarked 457 M/Bs read 280 MB/s write and 0.05ms. access time compared to about 117 read and 103 write and 15ms. access time on my platters, not blazing but in spec. I'll pass on messing with firmware for a minute:)
850 Evo is having the same problems apparently. The 840 series had a few problems back in the day, so I guess it's now time to screw with the newest generation.
Same reason I went for the 850 Pro. The 10 year warranty doesn't help here much, as compensation in this case most likely comes in the form of a refurbished ssd. Not too happy with that fact... The least they could do is offer up a new replacement, it's not like it is the individual consumers fault.
Slow downs are one problem, but firmware bricking your own flagship product? Total bummer. I personally haven't had anything bricked by firmware in ages. Seems kind of pathetic when you think about it.
I guess you were one of the lucky ones then :P Were you by chance using a Sata 2 port with the ssd? I read some place that people using Sata 2 ports didn't brick their ssds.
The best part of it all is the Magician Software. I mean, who cares about a firmware update to a solid state drive? It's not like it was badly needed. If it hadn't been for the constant nagging from the software I would have never bothered with the update. Samsung knew about this problem since the 19th of Feb, why they didn't pull the firmware right away is beyond my comprehension. I guess they like dealing with RMAs.
Regarding the Performance Degradation issue of the 840 Evo....yeah, that's still a thing even after running the tool Samsung provided. Speeds are back up for a short time and then they degrade again....
I guess in the future I'll just get the 2nd most recommended/popular thing of everything, since the "too good to be true" stuff seems to reveal the flaws after some time.