[drewprops]

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...

[turtle]

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.

[drewprops]

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.

...

[709]

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."

[turtle]

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.

[709]

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.

[turtle]

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.

[drewprops]

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. :/


...

[turtle]

Time Machine backup volume?