Discovering the Root Cause of Windows 11 SSD Breakdowns and Corruption

Discovering the Root Cause of Windows 11 SSD Breakdowns and Corruption

Investigation into Windows 11 August 2025 Update Issues

The Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11 24H2, designated as KB5063878, has stirred significant concern among users. As is often the case with Windows updates, this release has not been without its flaws. Users have reported serious complications including NDI OBS streaming disruptions, installation errors, and particularly concerning issues with NVMe SSDs. Many reported that their SSDs were disappearing from Windows and experiencing potential data corruption when processing large amounts of data.

Phison’s Response to SSD Concerns

In light of the complaints, Phison, a manufacturer of SSD controllers, announced that it would investigate the matter. After approximately ten days, the firm released its findings, much to the disappointment of affected users. Phison reported that it had dedicated over 4, 500 hours to thorough testing but could not replicate the issues that users reported.

Microsoft’s Input

Following Phison’s statement, Microsoft echoed its findings, asserting that no evidence was found linking SSD failures to the August update. Despite this, chatter on social media suggested that perhaps there were undiscovered issues, as several users continued to experience similar problems with their SSDs.

Possible Coincidence or Firmware Issues?

It’s essential to consider that while NVMe SSD failures may have coincidentally occurred around the time of the Windows update, they might not have been caused by the update itself. Some drives may have been experiencing independent failures unrelated to the patch.

Insights from the PCDIY! Community

New insights emerged from a Chinese Facebook group dedicated to PC DIY enthusiasts, named PCDIY!.They proposed that the root cause of the issues may stem from pre-release versions of engineering firmware that were inadvertently triggered by the Windows 11 updates.

According to Rose Lee, an administrator of the PCDIY! group, Phison engineers substantiated this claim during laboratory analyses, lending credibility to their findings. Google-translated excerpts of her statement reveal significant backing for their claim.

Advice for Affected Users

For users who purchased NVMe SSDs from retail sources, there appears to be no grounds for concern. The firmware on production drives does not exhibit the reported issues, which explains why both Phison and Microsoft were unable to identify problems in their tests, likely only assessing retail-ready devices.

If you find yourself grappling with similar issues, it may be prudent to perform a firmware update on your SSD. However, before proceeding, ensure you back up any critical data to prevent loss.

Performance Slowdowns and Solutions

In addition, Phison has highlighted that performance slowdowns in drives can result from exhausting the SLC cache during intensive data transfers. Users encountering this slowdown should consider performing a Secure Erase to rectify the issue, as a standard Windows format may not suffice.

For more detailed insights, you can refer to the source from PCDIY! here.

Special thanks to Aryeh Goretsky for the tip!

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