Corsair F120 dead (?) after two years

[Beace]

The Problem

I've been using a Corsair F120 SSD for OS, programs and a game or two on occasion. Bought it January 2011, so it's been 21 months of what I'd consider heavy, but normal use.

A week or two ago Windows crashed, and upon reboot I got an error message about boot drive (the SSD) not being found. After turning the power completely off and on, the computer booted up normally. This did worry me a bit, so I made sure to back up everything of importance from the SSD.

After that everything worked normally until today. When I got home an hour ago, the screen showed an error message about boot drive not being found (I had left the computer on when I left home). Unlike the previous time, turning the power off and on did not help anything at all.

So far I've only tried to switch power and SATA cables from working drives, to the SSD. It didn't help, so obviously there's no problem with the cables or controller. I don't really know anything else I can try. The drive is not detected in BIOS.

Should I consider the drive as dead? Or is there anything else I can try to get it started? As I mentioned, everything of importance is backed up, so from that perspective everything is ok.


Warranty?

According to http://www.corsair.com/en/support/warranty, Corsair has 3 years warranty on SSD drives. I'm a bit hesitant about sending the drive away though. If they do manage to get it started somehow, they'd have access to everything on it. Now I don't really have anything illegal on it, but I'm pretty sure they in theory at least, could recover all my saved passwords, track my complete internet browsing history, etc. I don't think that's very likely to happen, but the idea that it could has me very worried about giving someone else access to the drive.

In addition, I suspect they would send me a cheap and slow (by today's standards) SSD back as replacement, and in that case I figure I might as well get a new fast one.

What's your thoughts on this?

 

[Zap]

Why would someone working for the manufacturer try to recover data from your drive? Are you a celebrity with a penchant for taking self portrait nudes? Are you famous for being wealthy? What would make them target YOUR drive over the hundreds of other returned drives they get daily? Or do you think that they have someone on the payroll who's job is to recover and sift through data hoping to find someone's password to online banking?

Then again, this would be the perfect opportunity for you to upgrade to something better. Keep an eye out in Hot Deals. Can get a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 in 256GB size for around $160 when deals roll around.

 

[tweakboy]

You need to call Corshair support and let them know what's going on before you consider the drive dead. SSDs wear over time, and looks like the cheap controller on yours died or something.

Get a 512GB SSD and put your OS, apps, all your games..... I have 14 and all my DAW and I still have 150GB free. With a 256GB SSD your gonna have about 235GB since you don't get all of the GB it says that's how windows works. You put a OS that goes to 190GB once again you have to worry about space and can only install a game or two.

I bought my SSD for $400 dollars and this was like couple month ago at www.amazon.com Then they reduced the price even more you could find them for 360 to 380 dollars. Then they increased the price back up to 420 dollars. Now I know its $400 or less... youll have like 485GB free to start with and have no worries about now or future and install all you want on it,, plenty of space....... 256GB SSD is weak..... no one can afford 512GB it seems like except couple of my guru friends...

 

[Coup27]

You need to call Crucial support and let them know what's going on before you consider the drive dead. SSDs wear over time, and looks like the cheap controller on yours died or something.

Get a 512GB SSD and put your OS, apps, all your games..... I have 14 and all my DAW and I still have 150GB free. With a 256GB SSD your gonna have 235GB since you dont get all of the GB it says thats how windows works. You put a OS thath goes to 190GB once again you have to worry about space and can only install a game or two.

I bought my SSD for $400 dollars and this was like couple month ago at www.amazon.com Then they reduced the price even more you could find them for 360 to 380 dollars. Then they increased the price back up to 420 dollars. Now I know its $400 or less... youll have like 485GB free to start with and have no worries about now or future and install all you want on it,, plenty of space....... 256GB SSD is weak..... no one can afford 512GB it seems like except couple of my guru friends...

More pointless and irrelevant waffle. You don't even know the OP's usage model and you are recommending a new 512GB SSD. Also the drive is Corsair, not Crucial.

OP - The only avenue left that you can do to attempt to fix the SSD is a secure erase. If you are not familar with the procedure, it erases every part of the drive and restores it back to when it was new (minus NAND wear obviously).

HDDErase is the obvious utility for this but I've tried it about 5 times on different machines and it's never worked so I've resorted to using a live Linux CD to do the job. There's plenty of guides out there so but if you get stuck I'll find the one I've used successfully before. If a secure erase doesn't work then the drive is most likely FUBAR and Corsair won't even bother messing around with it and will distroy it and send you a replacement.

 

[Dstoop]

Why would someone working for the manufacturer try to recover data from your drive? Are you a celebrity with a penchant for taking self portrait nudes? Are you famous for being wealthy? What would make them target YOUR drive over the hundreds of other returned drives they get daily? Or do you think that they have someone on the payroll who's job is to recover and sift through data hoping to find someone's password to online banking?

Then again, this would be the perfect opportunity for you to upgrade to something better. Keep an eye out in Hot Deals. Can get a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 in 256GB size for around $160 when deals roll around.

The OPs concern is legitimate. What if the drive just happens to decide to work again when the warranty tech puts it in a test rig? If that person is less than honest, they could easily dig through some documents, find the OPs saved tax returns from a few years ago, and pull out everything they'd need to steal their identity. Alternatively, the drive could get lost in the mail or stolen from the mail and that person could then perform data recovery in order to get at those documents.

Many businesses have strict policies on not sending drives in as part of a warranty claim without securely erasing them first specifically for these reasons, especially if you come under federal regulations such as HIPAA.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The OPs concern is legitimate. What if the drive just happens to decide to work again when the warranty tech puts it in a test rig? If that person is less than honest, they could easily dig through some documents, find the OPs saved tax returns from a few years ago, and pull out everything they'd need to steal their identity. Alternatively, the drive could get lost in the mail or stolen from the mail and that person could then perform data recovery in order to get at those documents.

Many businesses have strict policies on not sending drives in as part of a warranty claim without securely erasing them first specifically for these reasons, especially if you come under federal regulations such as HIPAA.

If the information on the drive is worth more (or the risk of sharing it is worth more) than the cost of the new drive, then forget the warranty claim, go buy a new drive, and take the loss. You wouldn't be the first or the last to do so. Hell, there's a PC recycler near here that decided it was cheaper to just shreds the donated drives and install new ones.

But even the most paranoid organization has to trust their (often outsourced and/or third party) IT support people at some point. Otherwise nothing ever gets fixed.

 

[tweakboy]

More pointless and irrelevant waffle. You don't even know the OP's usage model and you are recommending a new 512GB SSD. Also the drive is Corsair, not Crucial.

OP - The only avenue left that you can do to attempt to fix the SSD is a secure erase. If you are not familar with the procedure, it erases every part of the drive and restores it back to when it was new (minus NAND wear obviously).

HDDErase is the obvious utility for this but I've tried it about 5 times on different machines and it's never worked so I've resorted to using a live Linux CD to do the job. There's plenty of guides out there so but if you get stuck I'll find the one I've used successfully before. If a secure erase doesn't work then the drive is most likely FUBAR and Corsair won't even bother messing around with it and will distroy it and send you a replacement.

I made a mistake and fixed to Corshair , you replied soo fast it went as Crucial ...... sorry for that. Yes I didn't consider his situation you have a point there.

Some people are perfectly happy with a 128GB ssd and a 2TB hard drives.()

 

[tweakboy]

They never make 320GB SSDs ... that would give you 298GB free instead of 235GB on a 256GB model.

Weird. Also there is no way Im spending 700 dollars on a SSD which was my situation . I wanted the Sammy but I said to myself,, look tweak, your on sata 2.0 , there is no diff in boot time and app launch time and only diff is bulk copy 260mbps compared to sata3 @ 480mbps. Soo I grabbed the Crucial. Soo far its been a champ. I took this pic couple weeks ago when I hit 2222 hours hehe.. now Im a bit more then that.

 

[Coup27]

Are you seriously talking to yourself in this thread?

 

[Beace]

Thanks for all the input. I'm leaning more and more towards just letting it be, and buying a new drive. The Samsung 840 Pro 256GB looked awfully tempting at first, but after doing some more reading I'm currently thinking about the extremely priceworthy Samsung 830 256 GB instead.

OP - The only avenue left that you can do to attempt to fix the SSD is a secure erase. If you are not familar with the procedure, it erases every part of the drive and restores it back to when it was new (minus NAND wear obviously).

Is this possible to attempt on a drive that isn't found by the BIOS?

 

[Coup27]

Thanks for all the input. I'm leaning more and more towards just letting it be, and buying a new drive. The Samsung 840 Pro 256GB looked awfully tempting at first, but after doing some more reading I'm currently thinking about the extremely priceworthy 830 256 GB one.


Is this possible to attempt on a drive that isn't found by the BIOS?

Ah, I have overlooked that. Blame tweakboy's ramblings for effecting my judgement.

If its not showing up in BIOS then it's toast. The 830 is an absolutely stella drive.

 

[Beace]

Why would someone working for the manufacturer try to recover data from your drive? Are you a celebrity with a penchant for taking self portrait nudes? Are you famous for being wealthy? What would make them target YOUR drive over the hundreds of other returned drives they get daily? Or do you think that they have someone on the payroll who's job is to recover and sift through data hoping to find someone's password to online banking?

Maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but I got this picture in my head of a bored but curious tech, that gets the drive going and starts to look around. I know if I worked in the area and given the chance, I would be very curious to look around what people got on their hard drives. I'm sure there's very strict policies against it, and they'd probably risk loosing their job doing it, but still.

 

[tweakboy]

Are you seriously talking to yourself in this thread?

Can you leave me alone please. Your on me like sh*T on flys man relax.. back off me please

:thumbsdown:

 

[Coup27]

Can you leave me alone please. Your on me like sh*T on flys man relax.. back off me please

:thumbsdown:

I will leave you alone when you stop hi-jacking peoples threads to post your own nonsense.

You have nearly 400 words and 2 pictures in this thread and yet no attempt to actually help the user at all.

People around here are sick of you posting misinformation or general unrelated waffle.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but I got this picture in my head of a bored but curious tech, that gets the drive going and starts to look around. I know if I worked in the area and given the chance, I would be very curious to look around what people got on their hard drives. I'm sure there's very strict policies against it, and they'd probably risk loosing their job doing it, but still.

Please start a tech support case with our support guys. They'll work with you and address any concerns you have.

Thanks and sorry you had an issue.

TSX LINK

Also, please ignore any derogatory and unfounded remarks posted in this thread. Some people feel the need to pad their reputation at the expense of others. You are our customer and we'll take good care of you.

 

[Beace]

Please start a tech support case with our support guys. They'll work with you and address any concerns you have.

Thanks and sorry you had an issue.

TSX LINK

Also, please ignore any derogatory and unfounded remarks posted in this thread. Some people feel the need to pad their reputation at the expense of others. You are our customer and we'll take good care of you.

Thanks for your reply.

I dunno if this is something you can answer, but do you have any idea what drive is likely to be sent as replacement to a Force120? (I'm just assuming there are none of those around any more)

 

[Yellowbeard]

Thanks for your reply.

I dunno if this is something you can answer, but do you have any idea what drive is likely to be sent as replacement to a Force120? (I'm just assuming there are none of those around any more)

No, I'm sorry I don't know. The flow process is that you'll start by dealing with Tech Support. Once they approve an RMA, the rest of it is handled by Customer Service.

Tech Support can help you with your questions about the data on your drive. Customer Service will deal with you on shipping options, replacement options, etc.

Again, sorry you had a problem with this drive.

 

[Makaveli]

I will leave you alone when you stop hi-jacking peoples threads to post your own nonsense.

You have nearly 400 words and 2 pictures in this thread and yet no attempt to actually help the user at all.

People around here are sick of you posting misinformation or general unrelated waffle.

+1000

It just happends way too much.

Never reads OP then puts in a useless comment which has nothing to do with the thread at hand. Coup isn't the only one pissed off about it most people in the forum are. You would have been banned at any other forum along time ago. So we are wondering why its allowed to happen here over and over. Its to the point where you get private messages from strangers asking who the heck is that guy and why is he posting in my thread!

 

[bryanW1995]

No, I'm sorry I don't know. The flow process is that you'll start by dealing with Tech Support. Once they approve an RMA, the rest of it is handled by Customer Service.

Tech Support can help you with your questions about the data on your drive. Customer Service will deal with you on shipping options, replacement options, etc.

Again, sorry you had a problem with this drive.

Sorry to necro, but I've been away for a couple of weeks and just saw this. Perfect example of why I use so many corsair products; they not only have excellent warranty service, but they actually have yellowbeard here on the forums helping out consumers on a regular basis. :thumbsup: