Question Tricky issue with new SATA SSD

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 17, 2023

Hello good people.

I ordered an SSD a few weeks ago from AliExpress for external data storage. It was a 512Gb SATA drive SSD. Once I received it, I viewed the SMART data for the SSD. Everything checked out and the health was good. I used CrystalDiskInfo - I'll share a screenshot of the SMART data here. I performed a speed test on the SSD. The speeds were exactly as advertised.

The challenge I have is that when I try to torrent old files to the SSD, the data often gets corrupted. Once I disconnect the drive and reconnect it. It's quite interesting really. If I copy files sequentially to the SSD. The files remain intact. I've tested it several times to be able to recreate it.

I've tried fixing the filesystem using CHKDISK on windows. I've inspected the drive on Linux. I've tried a different USB data cable with the SSD. I've tried a different USB port as well. I've tried upgrading the firmware on the SSD (which corrupted the files that I had on it) but the issue persisted.

I've done some research to confirm if the torrent client that I use - Qbittorrent has a bug or something similar - but I've confirmed that Qbittorrent would treat a SATA SSD in a similar fashion as a SATA HDD.

I probably should have gotten a Kingston SSD.

Can I get some technical regarding the drive? What is the reason for this incidence? If this isn't the right community to post this information, I apologize and ask to be directed to the right community.
Thank you for your help and time.

USAFRet · Feb 17, 2023

Ebiye Idumange Elton said:
I ordered an SSD a few weeks ago from AliExpress for external data storage.

Primary mistake.

"The challenge I have is that when I try to torrent old files to the SSD, the data often gets corrupted. "
Not sure what you mean with this.

torrent, from where, and how?

SkyNetRising · Feb 17, 2023

Ebiye Idumange Elton said:
Can I get some technical regarding the drive?

What is model name of the drive?
Could be some fake/counterfeit product with altered firmware and showing fake capacity.

Can you show a photo of the drive? Or link to the product?

USAFRet · Feb 17, 2023

SkyNetRising said:
Could be some fake/counterfeit product with altered firmware and showing fake capacity.

I suspect this as well.

randyh121 · Feb 17, 2023

Ebiye Idumange Elton said:
I ordered an SSD a few weeks ago from AliExpress for external data storage.

big mistake
return it (if you even can), get a ssd from amazon
you can get a good 512gb one for under 30 bucks

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 17, 2023

USAFRet said:
Primary mistake.

"The challenge I have is that when I try to torrent old files to the SSD, the data often gets corrupted. "
Not sure what you mean with this.

torrent, from where, and how?

Thank you for replying timely.

What I meant by "torrenting old files" is that I use QBittorrent to download files into the SATA SSD that I use as an external hard drive. The files being corrupted means that when I disconnect the SSD and reconnect it, there's often a problem with the files. When I transfer files sequentially from another drive, after disconnecting and reconnecting the drive, the files are fine.

Like I said earlier, the SMART data of the SSD is fine.

Well unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have a commercial presence in my country. Which is why I turned to Aliexpress.

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 17, 2023

randyh121 said:
big mistake
return it (if you even can), get a ssd from amazon
you can get a good 512gb one for under 30 bucks

Thank you for your timely reply.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have a commercial presence in my country which is why I turned to Aliexpress. I think I would use H2testw to verify the true capacity of the drive.

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 17, 2023

USAFRet said:
I suspect this as well.

Thank you for your timely reply. I started testing the drive with H2testw and I will update the drive with the results.

USAFRet · Feb 17, 2023

And still looking for a link to this device from AliExpress.

fzabkar · Feb 17, 2023

I would use a hex editor (eg HxD freeware) to compare a corrupted file with a good copy. That should help to visualise what is going on.

I expect that the USB-SATA bridge is the problem rather than the SSD itself. For example, some older JMicron bridges had a silent data corruption bug.

Your SMART report looks like a Silicon Motion SSD.

If you copy the Identify Device and SMART data to the clipboard (from CDI's menu), you could then paste it into your next post. This will identify the SSD's controller and NAND flash type.

BTW, CDI has a menu option which redacts the serial number from your reports.

randyh121 · Feb 17, 2023

Ebiye Idumange Elton said:
Thank you for your timely reply.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have a commercial presence in my country which is why I turned to Aliexpress. I think I would use H2testw to verify the true capacity of the drive.

I'm sorry to hear that
If there is any computer stores in your area, go there rather than Aliexpress
Hell, even Ebay would be a preferable option

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

USAFRet said:
And still looking for a link to this device from AliExpress.

Thank you for your timely reply. Here's a link to the drive. I was able to verify the storage space of the drive using H2testw, and it was exactly as advertised.

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

randyh121 said:
I'm sorry to hear that
If there is any computer stores in your area, go there rather than Aliexpress
Hell, even Ebay would be a preferable option

Thank you for your timely reply. I think I would seriously consider that. Although I wonder if the right brand/stores might make a difference. I mean Western Digital, Lexar, HikVision have Global stores in Aliexpress. Wouldn't their products be authentic?

USAFRet · Feb 18, 2023

I wouldn't put a lot of trust in this:

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

fzabkar said:
I would use a hex editor (eg HxD freeware) to compare a corrupted file with a good copy. That should help to visualise what is going on.

I expect that the USB-SATA bridge is the problem rather than the SSD itself. For example, some older JMicron bridges had a silent data corruption bug.

Your SMART report looks like a Silicon Motion SSD.

If you copy the Identify Device and SMART data to the clipboard (from CDI's menu), you could then paste it into your next post. This will identify the SSD's controller and NAND flash type.

BTW, CDI has a menu option which redacts the serial number from your reports.

Thank you very much for your timely response and help. I've updated the link in the first post. You suspect it's the bridge in the USB enclosure? The funny thing about that is that I got a USB enclosure from AliExpress, two in fact. One of the enclosures I inserted an old Seagate Hard disk drive. And in the other one, I inserted this SSD. What's interesting is that the issue only occurs with the SSD and not the HDD. It makes me wonder if the USB enclosure could entirely be the culprit here.

I would like to identify and isolate the cause of this behavior for future reference and learnings. I can't return either the drive or the enclosure. Here's the data you requested from the CDI;

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 8.17.13 (C) 2008-2022 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows 10 [10.0 Build 19045] (x64)
Date : 2023/02/18 16:06:17

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
- Intel(R) 400 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
+ USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device [SCSI]
- JMicron Generic SCSI Disk Device

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(03) ACOS-SSD
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ACOS-SSD
Firmware : HPS1A30C
Serial Number : ****
Disk Size : 512.1 GB (8.4/137.4/512.1/512.1)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 1000215216
Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
Interface : UASP (Serial ATA)
Major Version : ACS-2
Minor Version : ACS-2 Revision 3
Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
Power On Hours : 87 hours
Power On Count : 33 count
Host Reads : 818 GB
Host Writes : 602 GB
NAND Writes : 1083 GB
Temperature : 54 C (129 F)
Health Status : Good (100 %)
Features : S.M.A.R.T., NCQ, TRIM, GPL
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : ----
Drive Letter : E:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 100 100 _50 000000000000 Read Error Rate
05 100 100 _50 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
09 100 100 _50 000000000057 Power-On Hours
0C 100 100 _50 000000000021 Power Cycle Count
A0 100 100 _50 000000010002 Uncorrectable sectors count when read/write
A1 100 100 _50 00000000005F Number of Valid Spare Blocks
A3 100 100 _50 00000000012F Number of Initial Invalid Blocks
A4 100 100 _50 000000000006 Total Erase Count
A5 100 100 _50 000000000017 Maximum Erase Count
A6 100 100 _50 000000000001 Minimum Erase Count
A7 100 100 _50 000000000003 Average Erase Count
A8 100 100 _50 000000000000 Max Erase Count of Spec
A9 100 100 _50 000000000064 Remain Life
AF 100 100 _50 000001000000 Program fail count in worst die
B0 100 100 _50 00000000007F Erase fail count in worst die
B1 100 100 _50 000002020191 Total Wear Level Count
B2 100 100 _50 000008000000 Runtime Invalid Block Count
B5 100 100 _50 000000000000 Total Program Fail Count
B6 100 100 _50 000000000000 Total Erase Fail Count
C0 100 100 _50 000000000004 Power-Off Retract Count
C2 100 100 _50 000000000036 Temperature
C3 100 100 _50 000000000238 Hardware ECC Recovered
C4 100 100 _50 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 100 100 _50 000000000008 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 _50 000000000000 Uncorrectable Error Count Off-line
C7 100 100 _50 000000000002 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count
E8 100 100 _50 00000000005F Available Reserved Space
F1 100 100 _50 000000004B4D Total LBA Written
F2 100 100 _50 00000000664E Total LBA Read
F5 100 100 _50 000000008763 Flash Write Sector Count

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
000: 0040 3FFF C837 0010 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF
020: 0000 0000 0000 4850 5331 4133 3043 4143 4F53 2D53
030: 5344 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8008 4000 2F00
050: 4000 0000 0000 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 9101
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0007 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 0C00
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F E50E 0006 0044 0040
080: 03FC 0110 706B 7400 4163 7469 B400 4163 407F 0001
090: 0001 0000 FFFE 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 12B0 3B9E 0000 0000 0000 0008 4000 0000 0000 0000
110: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 4008
120: 4008 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0021 4143
130: 4F53 2D53 5344 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
140: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2100 0000 8901 ACD3 C632
150: 0000 4100 2220 2112 000C 5359 0000 0000 0000 0000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0003 0001
170: 2020 2020 2020 2020 0000 0000 2020 2020 2020 2020
180: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
190: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
200: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 0000 0000 0000 4000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 10FF 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0010 0010 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 F9A5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 01 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 32
010: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 32 00 64 64 57
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 64 64 21 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 A0 32 00 64 64 02 00 01 00 00 00 00 A1 32
040: 00 64 64 5F 00 00 00 00 00 00 A3 32 00 64 64 2F
050: 01 00 00 00 00 00 A4 32 00 64 64 06 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 A5 32 00 64 64 17 00 00 00 00 00 00 A6 32
070: 00 64 64 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 A7 32 00 64 64 03
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 A8 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 A9 32 00 64 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 AF 32
0A0: 00 64 64 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 B0 32 00 64 64 7F
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 B1 32 00 64 64 91 01 02 02 00
0C0: 00 00 B2 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 B5 32
0D0: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B6 32 00 64 64 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 32 00 64 64 04 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C2 32 00 64 64 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 C3 32
100: 00 64 64 38 02 00 00 00 00 00 C4 32 00 64 64 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 32 00 64 64 08 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 C6 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 32
130: 00 64 64 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 E8 32 00 64 64 5F
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F1 32 00 64 64 4D 4B 00 00 00
150: 00 00 F2 32 00 64 64 4E 66 00 00 00 00 00 F5 32
160: 00 64 64 63 87 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 00 00 5D
170: 02 00 01 00 02 04 00 4F 63 74 20 32 39 20 32 30
180: 32 31 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 51

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 01 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 32
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 32 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 A0 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A1 32
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A3 32 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 A4 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 A5 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A6 32
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A7 32 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 A8 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 A9 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AF 32
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B0 32 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 B1 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 B2 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B5 32
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B6 32 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 C2 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C3 32
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C4 32 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 C6 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 32
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E8 32 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F1 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 F2 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F5 32
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F5

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

USAFRet said:
I wouldn't put a lot of trust in this:

Thank you for your timely response. Yes, I wouldn't put a lot of trust in it either. The drive was not purchased for critical use but as a download location for the files I was torrenting. The weird behavior is what I would like to isolate and understand the cause of.

USAFRet · Feb 18, 2023

Ebiye Idumange Elton said:
Thank you for your timely response. Yes, I wouldn't put a lot of trust in it either. The drive was not purchased for critical use but as a download location for the files I was torrenting. The weird behavior is what I would like to isolate and understand the cause of.

Does this happen with any other drive in your system?

If not, the 'cause' is a $17 device from AliExpress.

fzabkar · Feb 18, 2023

Attribute 0xC5 suggests that the SSD is starting to degrade. The other attributes look suspicious, but it's hard to be sure because attribute values are not standardised.

Code:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name

A0 100 100 _50 000000010002 Uncorrectable sectors count when read/write
AF 100 100 _50 000001000000 Program fail count in worst die
B0 100 100 _50 00000000007F Erase fail count in worst die
C3 100 100 _50 000000000238 Hardware ECC Recovered
C5 100 100 _50 000000000008 Current Pending Sector Count

I was hoping to find the name of the controller in the SMART dump, but I only found a date.

Code:

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F

160: 00 64 64 63 87 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 00 00 5D
170: 02 00 01 00 02 04 00 4F 63 74 20 32 39 20 32 30  -> Oct 29 2021
180: 32 31 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Your USB-SATA bridge IC is a JMicron, but I can't see whether it is a problematic one. You can open up the enclosure and examine the chip's markings.

Code:

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
- Intel(R) 400 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
+ USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device [SCSI]
- JMicron Generic SCSI Disk Device

This describes the insidious data corruption problem:

Possible flaw in popular USB-SATA adapter cables :
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=632

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

fzabkar said:
Attribute 0xC5 suggests that the SSD is starting to degrade. The other attributes look suspicious, but it's hard to be sure because attribute values are not standardised.

Code:

-- S.M.A.R.T. -------------------------------------------------------------- ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name A0 100 100 _50 000000010002 Uncorrectable sectors count when read/write AF 100 100 _50 000001000000 Program fail count in worst die B0 100 100 _50 00000000007F Erase fail count in worst die C3 100 100 _50 000000000238 Hardware ECC Recovered C5 100 100 _50 000000000008 Current Pending Sector Count

I was hoping to find the name of the controller in the SMART dump, but I only found a date.

Code:

-- SMART_READ_DATA --------------------------------------------------------- +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F 160: 00 64 64 63 87 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 00 00 5D 170: 02 00 01 00 02 04 00 4F 63 74 20 32 39 20 32 30 -> Oct 29 2021 180: 32 31 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Your USB-SATA bridge IC is a JMicron, but I can't see whether it is a problematic one. You can open up the enclosure and examine the chip's markings.

Code:

-- Controller Map ---------------------------------------------------------- - Intel(R) 400 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [ATA] + USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device [SCSI] - JMicron Generic SCSI Disk Device

This describes the insidious data corruption problem:

Possible flaw in popular USB-SATA adapter cables :
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=632

Thank you for your timely reply. Could you tell me how you were able to interpret the SMART data? I would like to learn to do so as well.
If I understood you correctly you think the data corruption has to do with the USB cable?

Or the USB-SATA bridge? I went through that article - it seems to be discussing affected USB-SATA bridges? Luckily the drive enclosure is transparent, I can try to identify the bridge IC

Okay, I've got a JMS576B (2151) SATA R1.0 2022 07 18.

A nice person on Reddit wrote that "It could be the UASP compatible USB chipset that can't keep up when torrenting hammers the drive with I/O requests. I've seen this corrupting SATA SSDs in USB enclosures many times.
If it's actually an internal SSD in an enclosure, try connecting it to SATA directly and see if that helps."

Unfortunately, I can't connect the drive via a direct SATA connection.
It's looking more likely that the USB-SATA bridge might be the reason for the reason for the data corruption. Cause when I transfer files to the drive sequentially, I don't experience this problem.

fzabkar · Feb 18, 2023

This article should explain the SMART attributes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis_and_Reporting_Technology

I agree with the reddit poster.

Ebiye Idumange Elton · Feb 18, 2023

fzabkar said:
This article should explain the SMART attributes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis_and_Reporting_Technology

I agree with the reddit poster.

Alright. Thank you for your timely reply and your advice.

Question Tricky issue with new SATA SSD

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