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Take this story as a warning—you should always keep backups of your backups. Several Reddit users warn that their newly-purchased SanDisk Extreme or Extreme Pro SSD randomly deleted all of its data (or became unreadable).
As reported by Ars Technica, complaints related to SanDisk Extreme failures go back to the beginning of 2023. Most of these complaints focus on the 4TB model, though several users say that their 2TB SanDisk Extreme suffers from the same problem. Thankfully, drives purchased before late 2022 appear to be unaffected.
In response to an inquiry by Ars Technica, SanDisk shared the following:
“Western Digital is aware of reports indicating some customers have experienced an issue with 4TB SanDisk Extreme and/or Extreme Pro portable SSDs (SDSSDE61-4T00 and SDSSDE81-4T00 respectively). We have resolved the issue and will publish a firmware update to our website soon.”
If you recently purchased a 4TB SanDisk Extreme or Extreme Pro SSD, I strongly suggest that you keep it unplugged until Western Digital releases its firmware patch. Or, try to return the drive and get your money back—if you’re outside of the return window for your purchase, read Western Digital’s limited warranty policy and see if you can file a claim.
Frustratingly, Western Digital did not mention its 2TB drive, which may also be affected by this problem. The company also failed to explain why its drives are acting up. Is firmware to blame, or did something go wrong during manufacturing?
We’ve reached out to Western Digital for additional information. Though we mainly want to know when this firmware update will be published, and what steps affected customers can take.
Please remember to keep backups of your backups. All drives fail, and they always fail at an inconvenient time. Generally, the 3-2-1 rule is the way to go—keep two copies of important data on storage devices at home (SSDs, computers, NAS devices, etc) and save a third copy outside of your home or in a cloud storage service.
Source: Ars Technica
