The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ/Toshiba, Kingston, or Crucial drives, read the OP

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ/Toshiba, Kingston, or Crucial drives, read the OP

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Alereon posted:

I posted a Crucial M4 announcement thread here and added something to the top of the template thread in the Haus in the hopes of reducing the amount of firmware-related threads that are already cropping up. Make sure to tell your friends: update your Crucial M4 firmware to version 000F, but not the current version.

I've been running 010G for the last month or so (I have the 256gb M4), and I haven't had a single issue. I bought a new computer right around that time, and I got 010G just a day or 2 after release. I'm just one person, though. Has anyone here personally run into this 010G problem?

[edit]
http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/Crucial-m4-firmware-010G-is-now-available/td-p/107936 has some more info on it. Looks like people with a UEFI BIOS seem to be having the issue. I've got the Gigabyte ga-z77x-ud5h which does indeed have a UEFI bios, so who knows.

Fangs404 fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Oct 29, 2012

# ¿ Oct 29, 2012 00:03

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:21

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Just curious - do you guys know if Crucial is selling its m4 with the latest firmware? I mean it's one thing to get buy a drive running 000F and then experience issues after upgrading, but what of the people buying new drives with UEFI boards, experiencing failure right away, and returning them because they think they're defective? I haven't heard of this happening, but it seems like it'd be a big deal for them right now.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 17:05

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

It's a gamble, but I figured I'd try the 040H firmware on my 256gb Crucial M4. I updated last week, and I haven't encountered any issues (and I have a UEFI mobo). Is anyone else here running it? Any issues? The SSD-disappearing-and-not-showing-up-as-bootable bug seems to be gone for me (I encountered it once on 010G and rolled back to 000F).

# ¿ Jan 16, 2013 04:42

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

nickhimself posted:

I think this was overlooked on the last page; still need help with this please.

I have no clue, but the latest firmware update (040H) lists a different installer for Win 7 and 8 (http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx). I'd be willing to bet that the older firmwares are the same.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2013 08:15

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

balakadaka posted:

I've heard the Crucial M4's don't work with UEFI, has anyone here had similar issues?

The last BIOS had issues with UEFI boards not recognizing the drive on bootup, but 040H (the current firmware) seems to have fixed it. I have a UEFI board and a 256gb M4 running 040H for close to a solid month now without issue.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2013 05:39

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

breaks posted:

They are fine drives that had a couple scuzzy firmware releases. Do check the firmware and make sure it's 000F or 040H. Flash it back to 000F if you're concerned. 040H is mostly ok, but can sometimes cause a freakout if the drive suddenly loses power. It is still recoverable in that state, but kind of a pain in the rear end (there is a thread on the Crucial forums about it). Except for power outage situations, it's fine, so up to you how much of a concern that is.

So basically, make sure you have a UPS (you should have one anyway). For what it's worth, I've been running 040H on my UEFI mobo for almost 2 months now without issue.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2013 01:51

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

DrDork posted:

That's like scam-quality good deal. Bring a buddy for backup and open the box before you give him the money.

This is my first thought. It might be stolen.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 02:14

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

There's a new Crucial M4 firmware out, 070H:

quote:

Release Date: 04/02/2013

Firmware 070H is recommended for anyone currently running 040H or previous firmware releases. It includes incremental improvements and refinements over these versions which may improve the overall user experience.

Like recent firmware versions, version 070H has improvements over versions 000F which are specific for Windows 8 and new UltraBook systems, although systems running Windows 7 and other operating systems may also see improvements. Any m4 firmware version will function normally in Windows 8, even without these performance improvements.

The following is a summary of changes between 040H and 070H, which are independent of operating system:

* Resolved a power-up timing issue that could result in a drive hang, resulting in an inability to communicate with the host computer. The hang condition would typically occur during power-up or resume from Sleep or Hibernate. Most often, a new power cycle will clear the condition and allow normal operations to continue. The failure mode has only been observed in factory test. The failure mode is believed to have been contained to the factory. This fix is being implemented for all new builds, for all form factors, as a precautionary measure. The fix may be implemented in the field, as desired, to prevent occurrence of this boot-time failure. To date, no known field returns have been shown to be related to this issue. A failure of this type would typically be recoverable by a system reset.

Additional details can be found in the firmware guide

# ¿ Apr 7, 2013 03:11

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Just updated my M4 to the 070H firmware from 040H without any issues. I'm running a Z77 UEFI BIOS with AHCI enabled. Using Windows 7. AS SSD benchmarks before and after were essentially identical.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2013 23:53

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

bull3964 posted:

Can the latest M4 firmware be trusted? I have one of these drives lying around at work an I wouldn't mind putting it to some non-critical use if it won't blow up easily.

For what it's worth, I'm running the latest on a UEFI board and have zero issues. Been running it since it came out.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 04:10

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

neogeo0823 posted:

So, the other day I was given a free Crucial M4 64GB, loaded with firmware 010G. I thought I was pretty lucky, until I saw this thread.

My plan with this was to upgrade my 32-bit Windows 7 installation(I know, I know) to the 64-bit version, and put the OS on the SSD, leaving my regular hard drive there for everything else. After reading the OP, I'm not so sure. Can anyone give me any insight into the M4 64GB? Is it completely hosed as far as firmware? Will I be experiencing the random detection error thing a lot? I had originally hoped to get faster boot times by moving the OS to the SSD, but is that even a good idea, given that it's only 64GB?

Update the firmware ASAP. The latest firmware is very stable.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 01:30

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:21

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Factory Factory posted:

Let's be absolutely clear, because I'm not sure you gathered this: If you put an SSD in a closet for one year, you will lose the data on it. SSDs must be powered on to store data long-term.

I thought they just require a constant source of heat, kinda like a lizard. I may be mistaken, though.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2014 16:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ/Toshiba, Kingston, or Crucial drives, read the OP