[SOLVED] I think I killed my SSD...Please Help

[playstation1868]

Hello All!

Today I purchased a Crucial BX500 1TB SSD and threw it in my older laptop to use for practice. I was learning how to use linux terminal to partition and format and manipulate drives and storage devices. Essentially I was trying to set up a rather complicated dual booting scenario. Long story short, I ended up "accidentally" doing a FULL ntfs format on the drive. I was told this was bad for it maybe 70% of the way through and I cancelled the format in terminal with Ctrl-C. I then put it through a ringer of, often failed and wrongly typed, commands to get it back to normal. I even used some software such as Gparted to try and fix my mistakes. As of right NOW, though, no operating systems will even install on the drive. The installers always crash and windows even throughs a "missing device" error. This is all very strange considering the drive is STILL manipulable within the cmd prompt and linux terminal. I can still make partitions and run all of the commands. It also shows up in the original windows installer screen as well as a 931.5 GB "unallocated space." Even after a "clean" in cmd, though, the poor thing refuses to have any OS installed on it. I was told that these drives have millions or billions of reads and writes...could I have seriously burned through all of them in ONE DAY? I just need some closure on the issue and to know if I truly just wasted 100 dollars.

Thank you...

 

[USAFRet]

No, you did not kill it.

Attached as a secondary drive, in a Windows system, please post a screencap of the Disk Management window.

 

[Lafong]

I was told this was bad for it

You were misinformed.

 

[playstation1868]

No, you did not kill it.

Attached as a secondary drive, in a Windows system, please post a screencap of the Disk Management window.

I do not have a windows installation currently so I will make one now on the working boot drive. I will attach an image of the disk manager as soon as I can. Thank you!

You were misinformed.

And I was? Doesn't doing a full format rewrite every sector to a zero? That is A LOT OF WRITING for a solid state device with limited writes.

 

[Lafong]

Doesn't doing a full format rewrite every sector to a zero? That is A LOT OF WRITING for a solid state device with limited writes.

Would you refrain from using your new pair of shoes because they have "limited wear"?

How about your new refrigerator? It has a limited life.

Winding your new wristwatch will eventually wear it out, so.........................................what?

And on and on.

They are all tools with a purpose. You can use them for that purpose or not as you see fit.

 

[playstation1868]

Would you refrain from using your new pair of shoes because they have "limited wear"?

How about your new refrigerator? It has a limited life.

Winding your new wristwatch will eventually wear it out, so.........................................what?

And on and on.

They are all tools with a purpose. You can use them for that purpose or not as you see fit.

RIght but DOES or DOESN'T a full rewrite format kill SSDs? I just wanna know so I don't accidentally kill another one ...

 

[Lafong]

RIght but DOES or DOESN'T a full rewrite format kill SSDs? I just wanna know so I don't accidentally kill another one ...

A full format 10,000 times a month?

Once a year?

You can easily find out how many GB of writing each of those would be.

How much would alarm you?

Where did you draw the line as "that's too much" and why?

Suppose your SSD dies tomorrow or 10 years from tomorrow. How would you ever know why? Any of a number of things might cause total failure.

If new drives cost 100,000 dollars, maybe you make a different decision than if they cost 100.

If you lay awake at night thinking about this, maybe you make a different decision.

Ultimately....do what eases your mind.

 

[playstation1868]

A full format 10,000 times a month?

Once a year?

You can easily find out how many GB of writing each of those would be.

How much would alarm you?

Where did you draw the line as "that's too much" and why?

Suppose your SSD dies tomorrow or 10 years from tomorrow. How would you ever know why? Any of a number of things might cause total failure.

If new drives cost 100,000 dollars, maybe you make a different decision than if they cost 100.

If you lay awake at night thinking about this, maybe you make a different decision.

Ultimately....do what eases your mind.

...I am not really talking about the philosophy of why we use and abuse and eventually throw away our technology...nor am I attempting to make a cost benefit analysis. I am just interested in if you, as the more experienced party, to whom I am coming for help, are aware if it is a known thing that ONE full format in one day has been known to kill SSDs. I know that my SSD is a Crucial Bx500 if that helps and I know that it is one whole terabyte. I do not know what a sector is or how many bits of information they represent. I just want to know if this sort of thing is bad to do to SSDs IF your intention is to have them last more than a day. I just do not want to make the mistake again is all.

 

[playstation1868]

No, you did not kill it.

Attached as a secondary drive, in a Windows system, please post a screencap of the Disk Management window.

Here is the screenshot...that 931.5 GB drive IS my new (maybe broken) SSD (Crucial BX500 1TB 2.5). I am not sure what it means if the drive shows up but is...unusable?

Thank you!


EDIT: It is not mounted it seems...the drive is not accessible in the file manager.

https://imgur.com/a/k2f0961

View: https://imgur.com/a/k2f0961

 

[Lafong]

if it is a known thing that ONE full format in one day has been known to kill SSDs.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I just want to know if this sort of thing is bad to do to SSDs IF your intention is to have them last more than a day. I just do not want to make the mistake again is all.

"known to kill SSDs". That implies an identified cause from an autopsy of some type. I suspect autopsies on SSDs are rare. Most people treat computer parts as commodities...if the parts fail, they don't go to great lengths to identify why. You may be different in that respect.

I wouldn't be surprised if it has happened once. It might matter if its happened once rather than a trillion times.

But that would get into the likelihood of it happening to you....which isn't what you asked.

My first SSD died when the copper connector to which the cable was attached fell off onto the carpet. That rendered it useless. In a moment of foolishness, I bought another SSD.

I know there have been "torture tests" done on various SSDs 10 or more years back when they were first introduced and the "too much writing" scare was at its peak. Thousands and thousands of terabytes written. You can easily Google for those tests and draw your own conclusions.

I'm not at all sure you've made a mistake.

It's anybody's guess whether anybody's SSD will die at any moment. Yours and mine included. Regardless of 1, 2, or a thousand formats.

I'd be pretty sure some SSDs died instantly the first time they were turned on, before a format. I haven't researched it.

Entirely possible some SSDs have died during their first full format. I haven't researched it.

Entirely possible some SSDs have died seconds after their first full format. I haven't researched it.

Likewise, I'd suspect some SSDs are doing fine after being formatted 10,000 times. I haven't researched it.

I tortured my most recent SSD purchase with 3 TB of writes in the first 6 hours of ownership. It's still working fine 3 years later. Signifying very little. It could die before I finish the next sentence.

None of which helps you out much. If I were you, I'd do whatever let me sleep the best, but I don't know what that might be.

 

[Lafong]

Here is the screenshot...that 931.5 GB drive IS my new (maybe broken) SSD (Crucial BX500 1TB 2.5). I am not sure what it means if the drive shows up but is...unusable?

Thank you!


EDIT: It is not mounted it seems...the drive is not accessible in the file manager.

https://imgur.com/a/k2f0961

View: https://imgur.com/a/k2f0961

Have you attempted to give this drive a drive letter in Disk Management?

 

[playstation1868]

Have you attempted to give this drive a drive letter in Disk Management?

No I have not but the OS appears to see it as THE boot drive which is very very strange. I am looking into more things as we speak. My file manager and my disk manager seem to disagree with which drive is the main directory/installation drive.

https://imgur.com/a/xIx55ma

View: https://imgur.com/a/xIx55ma


thank you!

 

[Lafong]

Does the PC boot OK with this new 1 TB drive disconnected?

Not sure why you haven't given the drive a letter and attempted to use it.

You can't do anything with it without a drive letter.

 

[playstation1868]

Does the PC boot OK with this new 1 TB drive disconnected?

Not sure why you haven't given the drive a letter and attempted to use it.

You can't do anything with it without a drive letter.

That fixed it.

FOR ALL WITH A SIMILAR PROBLEM:

1.) I disconnected the 1TB NEW drive and rebooted the system.
2.) I used the free windows media creation tool as a bootable ISO in a flash drive to launch the command prompt.
3.) I ran a full clean on the 128Gb old boot drive.
4.) I ensured all partitions were deleted and then allowed windows to set its partition tables and install as normal.
5.) Once windows booted, I reconnected the 1TB drive and was finally able to run a full clean on IT as well.
6.) I then formatted it, allowed windows to set the partition table, and gave it a drive letter (F.
7.) I ran a check disk on both drives and they came back healthy.

PROBLEM SOLVED

WHAT WAS THE ISSUE:

To MY KNOWLEDGE, it seems as if the drives were competing for which of them got to be the main crash dump/boot partition for the installation. It seems, according to the last posted image, that There were windows boot partitions on BOTH drives and the system was facing unusual behavior as a result. My SSD is NOT dead. I will now learn my Linux terminal skills using...less expensive options...like my SD card! I shall make a Linux installation on an SD card and practice within. A virtual machine could also be of use.

Thank You All!

 

[Cj-tech]

That fixed it.

FOR ALL WITH A SIMILAR PROBLEM:

1.) I disconnected the 1TB NEW drive and rebooted the system.
2.) I used the free windows media creation tool as a bootable ISO in a flash drive to launch the command prompt.
3.) I ran a full clean on the 128Gb old boot drive.
4.) I ensured all partitions were deleted and then allowed windows to set its partition tables and install as normal.
5.) Once windows booted, I reconnected the 1TB drive and was finally able to run a full clean on IT as well.
6.) I then formatted it, allowed windows to set the partition table, and gave it a drive letter (F.
7.) I ran a check disk on both drives and they came back healthy.

PROBLEM SOLVED

WHAT WAS THE ISSUE:

To MY KNOWLEDGE, it seems as if the drives were competing for which of them got to be the main crash dump/boot partition for the installation. It seems, according to the last posted image, that There were windows boot partitions on BOTH drives and the system was facing unusual behavior as a result. My SSD is NOT dead. I will now learn my Linux terminal skills using...less expensive options...like my SD card! I shall make a Linux installation on an SD card and practice within. A virtual machine could also be of use.

Thank You All!

An SD card might limit the speeds on the Linux operating system that you choose. Virtual machines are fine for playing around with, but if you need to access certain hardware features, it gets more complicated.

It’s easy to dual boot something like Ubuntu with Windows 10. After you do a Windows 10 install, you can shrink the C drive by 60GB (or whatever you need) and leave it as unallocated space. In the case of Ubuntu, when you boot from the installer, you can choose the empty space to install to.

 

[Mr.Random]

so you basically just needed to format the drive and set it up as ntfs or ext4 ?