Is my SSD dying?

[Mitsu3000gt]

The SSD in question is a 4-5 year old Crucial M4 256GB (Windows 7). I have done the firmware update a year or two ago for this SSD.

Yesterday I was just browsing the internet, and updating a game (stored on the SSD). I noticed my update slowed to a crawl, and my computer slowly became completely unresponsive. I couldn't click on anything except the Windows 7 Start button, and I couldn't shut down the computer. I originally thought my internet cut out, because webpages stopped loading, and my game update stopped, but my computer ended up freezing. I couldn't even get into the task manager. It behaved like it was just running from whatever was in the RAM, not the SSD. I've never seen anything like this happen before in the several years I've had the computer. Double-tap of the hard power button did not do anything either (that normally initiates a shutdown same as going START --> Shutdown).

Eventually I had to do a hard reset (held power button down). When the computer booted back up, I got a black screen and it asked me to insert bootable media and press enter. I go into my BIOS and sure enough, it can see all of my stroage drives and my optical drive, but no SSD (where of course the OS is stored). Several more reboots do not fix the problem, the SSD simply is not recognized. I shut my computer down again, wait 20 mins, try again, and by some miracle it asks me if I want to start windows normally or boot in safe mode. I started windows normally and so far so good, zero issues since.

What do you guys think - is my SSD on it's last legs or was it just a freak error? Should I run an error-check or any other diagnostics on the SSD? I know some SSD's are sensitive to instant power-downs (had a similar non-discovery issue a year ago when I accidentally turned off my power bar with the computer running, but several power cycles fixed the issue), specifically the Crucial M4, however a separate issue caused my need for a hard shutdown.

I see I can get a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro for about $170, along with a 10 year warranty, so I won't be that upset if I need a new SSD, but I don't want to go through the trouble of replacing it 'just because'.

Thanks!

EDIT: Started googling the issue at a broad level, and most links bring me to people describing the identical issue, and often after some sort of power outage. Also a lot of them seem to be with Crucial M4's. The drive has been flawless for so long, I wonder if it's finally just dying after 4-5 years of fairly hard use.

[rage2]

Is losing data/reinstalling worth the $170 cost of the new drive? That's the question you should be asking.

[schocker]

I don't know if I would chance it like rage said.

You might check this program and see what it says:
http://ssd-life.com/

For a little bit more money though you could get a 480gb ssd instead for some extra room
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11231119716

[Xtrema]

I never keep anything on a single SSD that I can't lose.

I'm sure there are some Crucial 500GB drive for $200. Just replace and reinstall.

Even if all the firmware is up to date, you are still dealing with write wear, especially on C:\. If you do a lot of video encoding and use SSD as temp space, wear and dead cell could be quite high after 4-5 years.

[locust]

There's actually a bug with that drive.
If you run a firmware update it should fix this error.
There is a possibility that all your data could be lost so back it all up on another drive first.

Lookup Crucial M4 5200 hour bug

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks guys - I agree the safest option is probably to replace. Unless I'm missing something, I think it will be the same amount of effort replacing it now as when it fails though, since there are only applications on the drive, and I'd have to reinstall them all regardless. Or can I buy a new SSD now, mirror it, and do a simple swap? Might be good to do a fresh install anyway though, as much as I don't like doing that haha.

There is no storage data on the drive I would lose, the only thing on it is applications. I was just trying to avoid the hassle of re-installing everything, especially annoying little things like several photoshop plug-ins with activation keys, hard to find programs, etc. I barely even have half of the 256GB full, so I don't think I need any extra room, but I was also looking at the Samsung 950 Pro PCI-E SSD ($350). I don't think I need that for my usage though haha.

My Newsgroup downloads first write to the SSD, then they unpack and move to a storage drive, so I've probably put the SSD through some fairly hard usage. It's also been 4-5 years which is a fair bit of time for any primary hard drive.

I spent some time making a big list of programs I have on Google Sheets, along with activation keys, just in case, so I think I have saved myself a lot of work whenever I replace it. I also put the installers for my hard to find programs on a USB stick.

I can try running some diagnostics on it tonight as well.

Is there anything better than the Samsung 850 Pro? I don't mind spending $200 or so on a good drive, prices seem to have come down a lot over the last few years. I just want fast & reliable (that was the M4's claim to fame at the time).

Originally posted by locust
There's actually a bug with that drive.
If you run a firmware update it should fix this error.
There is a possibility that all your data could be lost so back it all up on another drive first.

Lookup Crucial M4 5200 hour bug

Thanks, I'm aware of the bug. I applied the firmware update when it was first released a couple years ago.

[ShermanEF9]

i had a similar issue not too long ago. replaced the SATA cable and it worked fine afterwards. not an issue since.

[ipeefreely]

Crucial M4 are know to lockup sometimes... just power cycle it a few times and it will work again like normal!

My wife's had the same issue a few years ago and it's still working fine.

Wouldn't hurt to check the cable too as ShermanEF9 said.

I use my spare M4 for UseNet downloads too, no issues with the amount I've downloaded.

Oh ya, I have 2 Samsung 850 Pros 256GB & 512GB they're great if you want to go that route!

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by ipeefreely
Crucial M4 are know to lockup sometimes... just power cycle it a few times and it will work again like normal!

My wife's had the same issue a few years ago and it's still working fine.

Wouldn't hurt to check the cable too as ShermanEF9 said.

I use my spare M4 for UseNet downloads too, no issues with the amount I've downloaded.

Oh ya, I have 2 Samsung 850 Pros 256GB & 512GB they're great if you want to go that route!

My gut tells me that is the case. In fact, when I came home from work today and fired up my computer, it started up faster than I have seen it do in a while (usually takes a few seconds to grab the SSD and boot but today it was instant). Also, after I accidentally cut the power to it a couple years ago, it disappeared but power cycling fixed it, and it has been flawless since (until yesterday).

The problem is, can I trust it? Maybe it just needs a kick in the ass every couple years, or maybe it's failing, I'm not sure I'll be able to tell.

I can replace the cable, that's a cheap test. I think I will use it until Black Friday, and see if there are any 850 pro deals haha. It wouldn't hurt to start fresh anyway, as much of a pain that is. At the end of the day I have nothing I care about on my SSD, so it's just the hassle factor should it fail or if I swap it out.

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
It wouldn't hurt to start fresh anyway, as much of a pain that is. At the end of the day I have nothing I care about on my SSD, so it's just the hassle factor should it fail or if I swap it out.

Just create an image of your drive incase it dies (right now) or clone it when you get a new one. Samsung drives come with the software or use clonezilla.

No need to re-install everything again!

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by ipeefreely

Just create an image of your drive incase it dies (right now) or clone it when you get a new one. Samsung drives come with the software or use clonezilla.

No need to re-install everything again!

Thanks I did not know you could clone a drive with the OS on it and just switch over. That may be the way to go here for minimum hassle.

[Swank]

I hope you don't mind a little hijack, but it might be helpful for you too. When cloning an OS drive do you have to take both the source and destination drive out and put them in another PC running clonezilla (or some other mirroring app) to perform the cloning?

I'd be surprised (but impressed) if you could clone the source drive while the OS and clonezilla is running on it. With all of the background tasks running that might be writing to the OS hard drive during the process, wouldn't some data get corrupted/missed? Maybe I'm overthinking this

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by Swank
I'd be surprised (but impressed) if you could clone the source drive while the OS and clonezilla is running on it. With all of the background tasks running that might be writing to the OS hard drive during the process, wouldn't some data get corrupted/missed? Maybe I'm overthinking this

Nope!

Probably uses some sort of Volume Snapshot Service...

Samsung Data Migration Software