Kingston SSDNOW 64GB drive dead !

[varunkrish]

I purchased a Kingston SSDNow V100S2/64G at Fry's in May 2011.

Been using the drive as my boot drive for OS, Programs last few months and suddenly last week, powered up the system ( it shutdown properly the previous night)

Drive wont get detected and say a bootmgr not found message. I initially suspected a sata cable problem or a power cable problem but the worst thing happened. The drive was not getting detected even while using a USB enclosure on another system.

Kingston support told me I can claim warranty and get a free replacement.

Really upset about loosing my data on that system. Is there any way to find out how the drive failed ? I love SSDs for their performance and cool noise free operation but when you are left without a working system all of sudden , im thinking of going back to normal HDDs

 

[Kantastic]

Even if you find out where the drive went defective, it'll be almost impossible to extract your data. There's a reason I only keep Windows and apps installed on the SSD. If I have important data, it goes onto the HDD and also an external or thumb drive.

I would suggest you consider a more reliable drive from Intel, Crucial, or Samsung because they make their own NAND and controllers. Having full control over every component of manufacturing is a major bonus for reliability and stability.

 

[PhoenixEnigma]

It's worth trying again a few times - I had a similar (same?) drive die in the same way. Sometimes I'd get lucky and it would boot (and then, generally, BSOD fairly quickly), but enough to get most of the important data off. Hotplugging it into a working system is also worth a shot. Killing power to the PC at the PSU after shutting down seemed to improve the odds for me, ymmv.

Once you send it back to Kingston, by the way, the data is toast. I can't find the link at the moment, but their policy is to start with an ATA secure erase, and if the drive isn't in a condition where that can be done, physical destruction of the NAND.

 

[DirkGently1]

I love SSDs for their performance and cool noise free operation but when you are left without a working system all of sudden , im thinking of going back to normal HDDs

HDD's fail too, and in some cases more often than SSD.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/810-6/components-returns-rates.html

 

[corkyg]

Never be without a good reserve drive.

 

[Burner27]

Intel's reliability is why I kept my 2 x 120GB Intel SSDs in my machine.

Seriously, sorry about your loss of data but you should heed the previous posters advice and get yourself some external backup device.

 

[Coup27]

I think it's pretty unlikely Kingston will tell you how the drive died. I sent off a Patriot USB3 thumbdrive the other month and they never told me what happened to that.

I know it shouldn't be this way, but I echo the sentiments above about the "top three" brands being Intel, Samsung and Crucial. Personally while Samsung may not be the absolute fasted on the market, I do think they have the best reliability record in the industry.

 

[razel]

Really upset about loosing my data on that system. Is there any way to find out how the drive failed ? I love SSDs for their performance and cool noise free operation but when you are left without a working system all of sudden , im thinking of going back to normal HDDs

Wow, don't go back to HDD, just take it as a lesson learned. I've lost data plenty of times, all often my fault. Be happy that backing up is much faster, easier and cheaper than before. It wasn't too long ago that the cheapest way to back up was onto CDs. That alone kept me from backing up regularly just because it was a chore.

Now with external USB storage and Win7 you can image your system while you take a shower. You can even read/write that Win7 image as a regular drive on any Vista/7 machine.

 

[varunkrish]

Thanks for the tips guys. A good lesson learnt. luckily had a back up of critical data on another drive and dropbox absolutely rocks.

Lost mainly OS and Programs, not very bad.

I figured out my board had support for e-SATA, bought a cable on ebay and backed-up data to a spare unused drive using a dock. Pretty fast actually.

Using Acronis True Image 2011. It saved my ass last year while moving from a HDD to SSD.

Also ordered a Synology NAS which is going for 199 on Amazon currently.

I would love to go for an Intel SSD ( Been using one at a server at work) but sadly they have stopped selling their SSDs in India due to demand in USA and Europe.

Any one heard/using OWC SSDs ? They seem to be popular amongst the Mac community

 

[varunkrish]

Intel's reliability is why I kept my 2 x 120GB Intel SSDs in my machine.

Seriously, sorry about your loss of data but you should heed the previous posters advice and get yourself some external backup device.

Which SSD ? 310 or 510 ?

 

[Coup27]

I think he's referring to the X25-M G2. Could be wrong though.

 

[Burner27]

I think he's referring to the X25-M G2. Could be wrong though.

You are correct. I am referring to my G2s.

 

[flexy]

There is something wrong with those older 64 GB drives because that #### happened to me already 2 times.

The only way to get the SSD back to life is setting to factory mode (jump/switch) and using whatever factory flash tool they have and re-flash the firmware.

DATA WILL GET LOST!

I am telling you this is a pain in the *** especially if that happens after months of use without problems AND if you depend on your PC for work.

Backup OFTEN so you can restore a backup if this happens.

 

[flexy]

HDD's fail too, and in some cases more often than SSD.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/810-6/components-returns-rates.html

The last time i had *HD* fail on me was in 1950....seriously..i dont think a conventional HD EVER failed on me...

 

[Obsoleet]

Even if you find out where the drive went defective, it'll be almost impossible to extract your data. There's a reason I only keep Windows and apps installed on the SSD. If I have important data, it goes onto the HDD and also an external or thumb drive.

I would suggest you consider a more reliable drive from Intel, Crucial, or Samsung because they make their own NAND and controllers. Having full control over every component of manufacturing is a major bonus for reliability and stability.

Crucial doesn't make their own controllers. Intel does but only for SATA3gb, their 6gb drives were Marvell and now Sandforce.
Only Samsung makes their own NAND, flash buffer and controller. Yet, only Samsung and Intel has a SSD toolkit included.

That said, if you stick with those 3 you'll be OK. I'd personally stick with Samsung.

 

[Obsoleet]

Any one heard/using OWC SSDs ? They seem to be popular amongst the Mac community

If you're looking for a SSD for a Mac, the Samsung 830 is the best recommendation, even over the Intel 520.

 

[BFG10K]

HDD's fail too, and in some cases more often than SSD.

Yeah, but when HDDs fail you can often get your data off them before they fail outright. SSDs have a tendency to suddenly fail without warning.

In either case I’d still recommend regular backups, no matter what storage technology you use.