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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2023-05-22, 17:43

A recent price drop in prices allowed me to purchase a portable SanDisk 4TB SSD for less than $300. Unheard of a short time ago.

Thing is, I'm slow about implementing, which is a good thing after reading this article about those drives failing.

Mine is still mint in package, but I'm now afraid to use it even AFTER I do the pending firmware fix. I wonder if I should send it back...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2023-05-22, 20:04

I would return it personally. If I don't have faith in my drive to protect my data then I don't want to use that drive. Backups and all that, if I were to keep it then it would be for backups. So nothing lost if it died.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2023-08-21, 21:50

So I waited too late to return this drive to the place I purchased it.

It was, in fact, one of the drives affected in the big SanDisk (Western Digital) debacle with their SanDisk Extreme V2 portable external drives.

I had to be dogged about pursuing replacement from WD through the warranty process, explaining that I had no means of updating the firmware in the drive since I did not have a Windows computer (which was the only means of updating the firmware).

They issued me an RMA but then I heard nothing and prodded the system with an appeal, showing documentation of the chain of custody on the delivery of the shipment.

I decided to check tonight and it showed that the replacement has been shipped.

Now, do I trust the replacement?

It will be tough to trust it as anything but a redundant backup at this point.

In the meantime, I ordered a Crucial 4TB X10 external SSD, which is a tiny little gizmo.

I don't know how you photography fans do it.

...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2023-08-21, 23:37

Hell no don't trust that replacement. Are you out of your mind?

I've been in the 'Where am I going to store my digital shit?' game for 3 decades now, and in that time I've had to swear off Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi at different times and for, probably, near a decade each at a time. Bad press goes a long way if your main selling point is reliance.

Toss that bullshit.


[edit]: I'd replace it with a Samsung T7. I have a T5 and a T7 Shield and I'd recommend the latter to anyone. I don't generally give reviews but I'm super happy with both of them. For spinning HDs I've been buying the Western Digital WD_BLACK D10s. The case is kind of...I wish I was metal, but the performance is better than any external I've ever owned. If you buy either of these on my recommendation and your shit blows up my warranty is that I'll buy you a coffee/beer, put my hand on your shoulder, and say "Well that sucks."

So it goes.

Last edited by 709 : 2023-08-21 at 23:53.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2023-08-22, 07:33

I would use the replacement SSD as a backup of your backups. In other words, not trust it at all but allow it to provide the second copy that you likely will never need. Then if it fails you have no loss but if it lives then it provides some level of extra peace of mind.

I use a Samsung T7 and am happy with it. My Intel mini uses it as local storage expansion for VMs.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2023-08-22, 08:47

After reading Drew's link and bouncing over to the Verge for more it really looks like SanDisk is in some real shit. Makes me a little nervous about my WD drives now, especially after the shady goings on with NAS drives. Sucks because I really do like the Blacks.

So it goes.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2023-08-22, 09:15

Now that is some pretty stupid crap to pull right there. I've not really been a fan of WD lately anyway. I just put two new Seagate Ironwolfs into my smaller NAS and Toshiba N300s in my bigger NAS.

The drives I'm replacing in the smaller NAS were due to I/O errors... after running for 8.35 years. They were WD shucked from externals.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2023-08-23, 17:12

My replacement drive arrived today. I searched the serial number in the Western Digital "firmware required" page and it came back as "not affected".

I will find a use for it. So, so disappointed that I don't trust it. :/


...
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2023-08-24, 14:01

Time Machine backup volume?
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2023-11-22, 05:50

I'm sorry that I missed your question. Yes that's what's I'm using it for, but I am not trusting it.

This week I've started getting ads for the Samsung T9 4TB portable SSD. It runs on USB 3.2 Gen2x2.

It's priced at an aggressive $250, which is pretty spiffy, and it's fast, with sustained read and write speeds of up to 2,000MB/s.

However, to be a shopper in this market you really need to be educated on the confusing myriad of specs out there now.

B&H Photo includes this note on their listing for this device:

Quote:
Originally Posted by BHphotovideo
Note: To achieve maximum advertised speeds, please make sure your computer or host device is certified to support the 20 Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 connection. Apple devices, including those with Thunderbolt/USB4, do not support 20 Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 and will be limited to 10 Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen2.
And it appears that dedicated PC software is required to achieve the stated speed.

I cannot keep all the new USB and Thunderflap capabilities and requirements straight in my head. It's a really messy place for casual consumers now.

One review said that the new coating is a dust and lint magnet, which can matter when you're on the go.

That's the end of my report.
...
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2023-11-22, 09:30

I wouldn't get bogged down in the specs. Yeah, faster is better... but if you aren't going to be moving massive files all the time you won't really notice the difference that much if you don't max out the advertised specs.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2023-11-22, 09:42

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
I wouldn't get bogged down in the specs. Yeah, faster is better... but if you aren't going to be moving massive files all the time you won't really notice the difference that much if you don't max out the advertised specs.
Agreed. The importance of how GB/s in SSDs is a bit overstated. It'll matter for workflows like video editing, where you may be required to write massive amounts of data… but otherwise, it's just nice to have for those rare bursts where you copying big stuff.

During regular use, I imagine you'll rarely even go into the 100s of MB/s.
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Send a message via Skype™ to PB PM 
2023-11-22, 20:09

If you intend to use the drive for a long time, avoid anything with QLC flash.
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