Crucial’s M4 SSD is inherently faulty - AVOID

[olmer]

Just had my 256 GB M4 fail (os/primary drive) - loads of pain.

Point is - RMA gives you the same inherently faulty drive expected to survive <6 months. Even used/refurbished - so you cannot say how long it will last and have to back up weekly. Posted just to warn you off - AVOID.

Crucial’s forums (heavily moderated): http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/0x00000f4-error-on-M4-64GB/td-p/76392


Update:

Issue is dealt with by new firmware 0309. Please update. This issue affects ALL M4 drives and guaranteed to come up after 5184 hours of power-on unless you upgrade.

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/Firmware-Update-Notifications/m-p/80282#M24370

 

[olmer]

Crucial&#8217;s forum being moderated as we speak 6 pages down to 4:

http://imageshack.us/f/269/crucial.jpg/

They are trying to cover up a serious flaw with their chips, and by any means, apparently.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Anybody who is reliant on a functional computer already backs up their main drive weekly or even more frequently. Or they're doing it wrong.

Sorry, but your post is next to worthless without more information.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

They are trying to cover up a serious flow with their chips, and by any means, apparently.

That or they don't want angry on the internet types spreading FUD. My bet is on the latter.

 

[olmer]

Sure, how many working M4s do you have?

Check all posts that are still there but had been ‘moderated’ – you’ll get it.

I’m not against Crucial per se, have plenty of their memory which is solid. Unfortunately their reaction to a bad product is unacceptable. Instead of working with their customers to fix it they just delete forum posts.

Go ahead, register and try asking what is wrong with your M4. You’ll see then.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I've installed 17 M4s in customers' computers in the last year or so. I haven't heard anything from anyone.

 

[olmer]

So you did.

You may also admit if there was a problem – why don’t Crucial?

To be frank – i’ve RMAd mine and have no issue apart from them covering it up in such extreme way. Even if <5% of drives are affected they make it sound much worse and discourage their customers for no good reason.

 

[Tsavo]

They could also be trying to keep the signal to noise ratio in favor of signal, so I doubt there's some vast conspiracy to screw people that get a faulty product.

 

[Diogenes2]

Sure, how many working M4s do you have?
....

I have three.

You do realize there are thousands of these drives out there, don't you ?

Your links show a handful of people having problems; hardly a reliable data set that indicates some type of general product flaw.

 

[olmer]

Just watch that thread and see how many of new posts are removed.

 

[TJCS]

But but but -- this forum is not moderated by crucial yet I have very rarely seen people complain about painful crucial ssd failures. Actually it is just the opposite. Many people on the forum who have used the drive recommends them to other members(myself included).

If the failure rates is really that high, don't you think people would say something here? Take a look at postings relating to OCZ SSDs on here. There is an invisible line of people lining up to rant about their negative experiences with their OCZ ssds.

You can not wrap fire in paper. If the M4 is truly a crappy ssd, no matter how heavily their forums are moderated, crucial can not silenced the voice of the internet. Just like how I have never visited the OCZ ssd forum, yet I have read an abundance of horrid stories regarding ocz ssds from many other forums/reviewers.

I am not denying you might have a dud drive(since the failure rate is still around 2%), but simply denouncing all M4 is faulty because yours broke is... just blowing things out of proportion here.

 

[exdeath]

LOL one of the most reliable SSDs out there. You should buy lottery tickets.

 

[CKTurbo128]

I am not denying you might have a dud drive(since the failure rate is still around 2%), but simply denouncing all M4 is faulty because yours broke is... just blowing things out of proportion here.

Agreed. It sucks that you got a bad drive and that Crucial is deleting any negative posts on the M4 on their forums, but until I start hearing about mass failures (like that of OCZ's SSDs), I won't be making any negative conclusions about their SSDs.

 

[Zap]

Even if <5% of drives are affected they make it sound much worse and discourage their customers for no good reason.

Right. However, an EXTREMELY VOCAL MINORITY could make a 5% failure rate sound like 50%.

You do realize there are hundreds of thousands of these drives out there, don't you ?

Fixed. Maybe. I wouldn't be surprised if at least there were that many drives out there with Marvell controllers.

 

[imaheadcase]

Avoid Cruical M4, it smelled funny when you take it out of antistatic wrap. Its a on going issue that they refuse to admit. Also it just hangs in my case, it refuses to insert itself into a adapter i don't even have yet. selfish ssd.

anyway, Crucial M4 256 been running flawlessly.

 

[Homer Simpson]

my m4 has been running great for a few months now. i also have a WHS that backs up the computer nightly so if it did happen to fail, im safe. no regret here on my purchase.

 

[ikachu]

I just had to RMA my 128GB M4, ran fine for 6 months and then suddenly, every hour or so it would stop communicating with my PC and I needed to cold reset to get it detected again.

 

[NatePo717]

I've used a good.... 350 to 400 of the M4's. 256's - 512's. Haven't had a single one fail as of yet.

 

[sequoia464]

Avoid Cruical M4, it smelled funny when you take it out of antistatic wrap. Its a on going issue that they refuse to admit.

I can't remember for certain, but mine might have smelled funny too!? I'm starting to smell conspiracy and cover up here also.

Just using two 128's in raid - seven months now - no issues.

 

[capeconsultant]

I've used a good.... 350 to 400 of the M4's. 256's - 512's. Haven't had a single one fail as of yet.

That is a fair amount of drives. I would love to get all my clients onto SSD for 2012. Cannot understand why anyone would still use the old type

What are you using those drives for? Just curious. Dave

 

[Zoom123]

I just ordered the 64GB version and the main reason I did this was the high score with reviews at Newegg. 86&#37; give to it 5 eggs and just 1% gives it 1 egg. I ordered several parts for a new PC and those ratings must be the best from all products I ordered.

 

[chimaxi83]

My M4 has been flawless as well, both in SRT cache duty and as my primary OS drive. I've had it since May.

 

[Makaveli]

You guys with your success stories are gonna scare aware the OP.

He may want to still live in the my drive is the status quo fantasy.

 

[RU482]

question for the OP....what version of Firmware did your drive have? (are you gregh on the crucial forum?)

Also curious, what chipset do you have and what OS are you running?

 

[NatePo717]

We're using them for live video processing/encoding and archiving video footage/images all HD stuff. Our systems have six of the 512's each so we use a fair amount of them with more to go. We also use them as they go into hazardous environments and spinning drives are a liability. No moving parts is a big plus.

That is a fair amount of drives. I would love to get all my clients onto SSD for 2012. Cannot understand why anyone would still use the old type

What are you using those drives for? Just curious. Dave