[SOLVED] SSD Vanishes During File Transfer

[MartinTech]

Hello everyone! Newbie so please be kind

Bit of a headscratcher here. I built a system with an M.2 drive as the main drive but wanted to add a 2.5" 1TB SSD for media & data storage, so went with the Samsung 870 QVO. BIOS picks it up fine as does Win10, but when transferring my old files the QVO vanishes part way through. On restart BIOS can no longer see it and it doesn't appear in Win10, but after a full shut-down it reappears on BIOS and Win10. If I transfer just a few files at a time instead it works ok for a while before eventually the problem reappears during a random file transfer - could be after 50 files, could be after 1, and the file size doesn't matter.

Samsung Magician shows it runs at a steady 32oC but on failure it instantly shoots up to 65535oC! It's still comfortable to touch (and not melting through the earth's crust) so this is probably just an artefact of the disconnection rather than a genuine overheating - it's genuinely instant and not a rapid increase either. All drivers and BIOS files are up to date. Changing SATA cables and ports makes no difference. During file transfer my CPU's barely hitting 6% usage and my RAM's just (silently) ticking along.

I exchanged it for another QVO and have since upgraded to the EVO instead, but both replacements have exactly the same problem, suggesting it's either a Samsung thing, or a rest-of-the-system thing. I've seen a few other reports of the same problem, but no solution. I've even spoken with Samsung directly and they couldn't figure it out, but perhaps one of you has greater knowledge. My next step is to switch to a WD Blue SSD instead, but can't think why a different (and cheaper) brand might make any difference. I've also got a regular HDD in the post, intended for backups with the SSD for regular use, but it's not a satisfactory solution to completely ditch the new tech for old!

My system:
i5-12600k
MSI PRO Z690-A
16GB (2x8) DDR4 3200MHz RAM
Corsair TX550M

Thanks for any suggestions!

Rob

 

[rgd1101]

test with different different power cable?

 

[dwd999]

Hello everyone! Newbie so please be kind

Bit of a headscratcher here. I built a system with an M.2 drive as the main drive but wanted to add a 2.5" 1TB SSD for media & data storage, so went with the Samsung 870 QVO. BIOS picks it up fine as does Win10, but when transferring my old files the QVO vanishes part way through. On restart BIOS can no longer see it and it doesn't appear in Win10, but after a full shut-down it reappears on BIOS and Win10. If I transfer just a few files at a time instead it works ok for a while before eventually the problem reappears during a random file transfer - could be after 50 files, could be after 1, and the file size doesn't matter.

Samsung Magician shows it runs at a steady 32oC but on failure it instantly shoots up to 65535oC! It's still comfortable to touch (and not melting through the earth's crust) so this is probably just an artefact of the disconnection rather than a genuine overheating - it's genuinely instant and not a rapid increase either. All drivers and BIOS files are up to date. Changing SATA cables and ports makes no difference. During file transfer my CPU's barely hitting 6% usage and my RAM's just (silently) ticking along.

I exchanged it for another QVO and have since upgraded to the EVO instead, but both replacements have exactly the same problem, suggesting it's either a Samsung thing, or a rest-of-the-system thing. I've seen a few other reports of the same problem, but no solution. I've even spoken with Samsung directly and they couldn't figure it out, but perhaps one of you has greater knowledge. My next step is to switch to a WD Blue SSD instead, but can't think why a different (and cheaper) brand might make any difference. I've also got a regular HDD in the post, intended for backups with the SSD for regular use, but it's not a satisfactory solution to completely ditch the new tech for old!

My system:
i5-12600k
MSI PRO Z690-A
16GB (2x8) DDR4 3200MHz RAM
Corsair TX550M

Thanks for any suggestions!

Rob

How is the ssd mounted; is it in some sort of mounting plate? The first thing I would try is letting it float free in the open air not attached to anything other than its cables so be sure it wasn't a heat problem. Also as far as it only reappearing after a cold boot you might try turning on Virtualization in your bios since that usually flushes the computer's memory on soft reboots and may at least help there. Also is there a video card in the system; I would have gone with an 850 watt power supply for greater reserves.

 

[MartinTech]

Thanks for your response dwd99.

The SSD is floating free a few inches behind the case intake fan, so it's getting about as much cooling as possible. I've also tried sitting it on the steel drive bay to act as a rudimentary heat sink, which made no difference.

I have no GPU as this series of i5 doesn't need one - unless you're working really high-end graphics packages or doing some serious gaming. All I'm doing is playing MP4s. Without a GPU I doubt I'm drawing a huge amount of power, especially with the CPU only <6%.

I'll try your virtualisation suggestion and will report back...

Thanks again!

 

[MartinTech]

test with different different power cable?

I'll give that a try rgd1101 - I have a bunch kicking around somewhere... Thanks!

 

[Bob.B]

I'll give that a try rgd1101 - I have a bunch kicking around somewhere... Thanks!

Be careful you don't want to use a power cable that did not come with that psu.

 

[MartinTech]

Rgd1101 & Bob.B - it may have seemed a simple suggestion but you fixed it! I switched to a different internal power cable (PSU to SSD) and file transfers are stable and much quicker. They look exactly the same but must have a terminal or two switched round.

Thank you both so much! 👏