Samsung Fixes 840 EVO SSD Performance Drop With Firmware Patch

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Samsung released a patch to fix the performance your 840 EVO SSD might lose over time.

Samsung Fixes 840 EVO SSD Performance Drop With Firmware Patch : Read more

 

[dgingeri]

Wouldn't this degrade the drive over time, costing extra write cycles even if the data is mostly just read only? I keep my games on a 500GB 840 EVO. They don't see a whole lot of writes (Magician shows barely one fifth the writes to that drive compared to my 840 Pro OS drive that is half the size) so I figured the drive would last for a long time. This doesn't sound like a fix. More like a workaround.

(I need to update this since it is so high on the comments list. I was wrong. I admit it. I misinterpreted the description of how the patch worked. The firmware isn't continually rewriting the data. The firmware does actually fix the performance issue for future written data, but then the utility rewrites the existing data so it isn't stuck with the poor performance. If you just run the firmware update, the old data may still have the performance issue. So, use the utility. It fixes everything up nicely.)

 

[ldun]

Wouldn't this degrade the drive over time, costing extra write cycles even if the data is mostly just read only? I keep my games on a 500GB 840 EVO. They don't see a whole lot of writes (Magician shows barely one fifth the writes to that drive compared to my 840 Pro OS drive that is half the size) so I figured the drive would last for a long time. This doesn't sound like a fix. More like a workaround.

The majority of fixes turn out to be just that- workarounds. Probably the only real fix they could do would be a HW change that would affect only new models. I'd rather deal with a workaround "fix" than having to buy a new SSD to get my performance back...

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

I agree with the initial poster's concerns. I don't want a drive that is rewriting itself to preserve it's data, especially if it's in relation to the amount of data I have stored on it. The more data on the drive that is considered old, the more writes to the device? There seem to some unknowns that are not being mentioned. What determines if data is being considered old? Date from time written, number of reads, etc.? Why is the data degrading over time? Is this due to how it is being read, or something else, such as the need for higher power levels when reading multi-level cells? Did Samsung cut a corner to achieve certain performance levels with their product? Did they expect customers to have replaced the units before the problem manifested or was Samsung unaware also? I am glad they addressed the issue, but again, it seems more of a workaround, and not a satisfactory one, than a true solution to the problem.

 

[dgingeri]

I prefer my preset workaround: every 4-6 months, when things start getting intolerable, I wipe the drive and restore from backup. It looks like fewer writes than this new firmware, and it only takes me about 20 minutes. It also gives me much more consistent behavior from the drive. Of course, I've only done this once, and that was just before I heard Samsung acknowledged the problem as not being my imagination.

 

[dovah-chan]

Indeed this may be just a workaround but I find this better than them ignoring the problem and not trying at all.

 

[baldmosher]

Amazingly Samsung Magician says there's no new firmware available (yet)... not quite joined up thinking from Samsung!

 

[dovah-chan]

I know that was the first thing that I checked after I read this article. You'd think they would distribute it over some more accessible networks rather than hoping that the user has the benefit of the word of mouth as chances are the regular common consumer doesn't keep up with stuff like this.

 

[nitrium]

You can do it manually using the freeware utility DiskFresh (http://www.puransoftware.com/DiskFresh.html). Worked a treat on my 840 EVO. I guess Samsung is effectively doing the same thing with this "fix". Won't do the drive's longevity any favours, that's for sure.

 

[ThisWasATriumph]

The article is misleading. Samsung is supplying a utility that updates the firmware and rewrites old sectors. The utility fixes the problem. The firmware prevents it from happening again. Samsung Magician does not provide either part at the moment.

 

[dgingeri]

The article is misleading. Samsung is supplying a utility that updates the firmware and rewrites old sectors. The utility fixes the problem. The firmware prevents it from happening again. Samsung Magician does not provide either part at the moment.

ah, that's good to know. Thanks for that. I haven't been home to check it out yet.

 

[nitrium]

This fix seems to only work on the 840 EVO drives and the regular 840 which suffers from the exact same issue.

 

[firefoxx04]

My 840 pro has never shown any type of speed degration. Boot speed is always almost instant and time to open programs has always been consistent.

Samsung stated that not all EVO drives are affected by this issue but im not sure. I did install an EVO in a customer's machine and he did complain that it seems to have 'slowed down'. Ill have to look into this.

 

[nitrium]

@firefoxx04
The 840 Pro is NOT affected by this issue, only drives that use TLC NAND (your 840 Pro uses MLC NAND).

I just installed and ran the "restoration" app, and it didn't brick my drive and was non-destructive to the data, although it take quite a while (maybe 45 mins or so on a 250GB drive). Windows startup is indeed markedly faster afterwards.

 

[Dave Danger]

Looks like Samsung has again left out the Apple users. From what I can see in the instructions will only work on an NTFS formatted partition. I guess I will just have to periodically backup, format and restore, or update to another brand that is more friendly to Apple such as the crucial mx100 which seems to have similar performance numbers.

 

[Led Weappelin]

For what it's worth I went to the Samsung website link provided in the article, downloaded the zip file "Samsung SSD 840 EVO Performance Restoration", hit Start and the installer did the rest. Checked it with the Samsung Magician software after installing. All is good.

 

[SteelCity1981]

I tried it and I saw no real diff in performance with benchmarks. maybe it only effects certain chips on the evo and instead of Samsung just trying to sort out which chips on certain evos it effects they just issued a mass update for all evo's instead.

 

[dachness]

ISO firmware update is provided for Mac OSX users. However it looks like we don't have the Performance Restoration portion of it. So looks like performing the firmware update would prevent it from slowing down going forward but not restore any speed that has been lost.

So firmware update then restore drive from a backup looks like your best bet.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

[dachness]

ISO firmware update is provided for Mac OSX users. However it looks like we don't have the Performance Restoration portion of it. So looks like performing the firmware update would prevent it from slowing down going forward but not restore any speed that has been lost.

So firmware update then restore drive from a backup looks like your best bet.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

[nitrium]

I tried it and I saw no real diff in performance with benchmarks. maybe it only effects certain chips on the evo and instead of Samsung just trying to sort out which chips on certain evos it effects they just issued a mass update for all evo's instead.

It only affects data over a month old, and this is also why it has taken so long to even be noticed. You will NOT see any degradation in standard benchmarks due to this particular issue since those simply write new data to the drive and then read it back. What you will notice with this issue is that Windows boots slower, or a game/app you installed over a month ago is now taking longer to load.

 

[confuoco]

The article is misleading. Samsung is supplying a utility that updates the firmware and rewrites old sectors. The utility fixes the problem. The firmware prevents it from happening again. Samsung Magician does not provide either part at the moment.

Yeah you are right. Here is the statement from Samsung :


“Because of an error in the flash management software algorithm in the 840 EVO, a drop in performance occurs on data stored for a long period of time AND has been written only once. SSDs usually calibrate changes in the statuses of cells over time via the flash management software algorithm. Due to the error in the software algorithm, the 840 EVO performed read-retry processes aggressively, resulting in a drop in overall read performance. This only occurs if the data was kept in its initial cell without changing, and there are no symptoms of reduced read performance if the data was subsequently migrated from those cells or overwritten. In other words, as the SSD is used more and more over time, the performance decrease disappears naturally. For those who want to solve the issue quickly, this software restores the read performance by rewriting the old data. The time taken to complete the procedure depends on the amount of data stored.”

 

[SteelCity1981]

nitrium, I haven't seen any slow downs from windows boot times nor programs I have opened up that's been on my pc for a year or so...

 

[cwbrr50]

That link is for the "Performance Restorantion" Ding Dong Merrily on High and is NOT for the FW only. Thus far, the FW only correction route does not exists other than that Performance Restoration Junkie doing something unholy to your SSD.

Just because many are unable to realise that there is a fault in the EVO's design other than the myriad of justifications for being His Holiness Sammy 3-Stars favourite pet toyboy does not mean that the design fault should be tolerated. Not when perhaps gazillions of the thangs have been sold and a recall for Design Correction cannot be tolerated or else war is the only way out of emptying the pockets. Ahh Sorr...... Especially when a correction via most on high worship of His Sammyness is the way forwards. Amen to that.

If there is no design fault, let His Lordship Oh Sammy On High explain that one, a design fault being a detrimental variation to the avowed design prowess of EVO da EVA.

 

[Monarch1]

Apparently they don't have love for AMD users either. I tried to run the performance restoration application and it kicks me out and tells me I am running a third party driver and need to update to the latest drivers. I had driver version EXT0BB6Q but Magician said I had the most up to date driver so I downloaded EXT0CB6Q and ran that. I tried the performance restoration again and the same issue. I read the PDF and apparently if you are using AMD drivers you have to have the most up to date to use the application. They walk you through uninstalling your driver, restarting your computer and then going back in to update the driver and then magically it should work. Ha! not the case. I am using an ASUS motherboard and went to their site put in my motherboard and downloaded the latest drivers and still nothing and now I have been reverted back to EXT0BB6Q. I'm going to try to call Samsung later today after work to see what they suggest but from their PDF it looks like i'm only having this issue because i'm using AMD. If I had Intel it wouldn't have this issue and if I had AMD with Windows drivers running it I would be fine. God I can't wait for my next upgrade. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.

 

[Giuseppe Sorce]

I have Ubuntu... are there some method to update firmware?