Major flaw in SandForce SSD controllers (as used in SSD 520, etc)

[idata]

Hello.

I am posting this here as a warning to others to stay away from any SandForce based SSD (as used in Intel's 5xx series and others, included).

We have now had a number of catastrophic failures of these drives. It is patently apparent that SandForce couldn't design a compliant and stable SATA based SSD controller if their lives depended upon it.

The AES256 issue itself was unforgivable, but it at least it didn't lose data, although it shows well enough that such a "flaw" to pass any kind of due diligence and testing means that either there wasn't any proper testing, or worse, that they knew about it and just hoped that no one would discover it.

Now users are having major issues with the failure of the SSD's SATA controller to properly respond to ATA Sleep/Wakeup and SATA Disconnect/Reconnect events. The result is bad context restoration and corruption of the drive state information resulting in a drive locked in a "panic mode" where the controller will fail to reset and the drive will no longer appear as a SATA device to the host.

Basically, if you have an SSD that is SandForce based, you *will* lose your data at some point. It is only a matter of time.

For those shills proclaiming that "it's an incompatibility with SATA controllers", it's most definitely not - it's an incompatibility with their moron "engineers" who can't read and properly implement the SATA specification documents.

For those who will claim "mine is still working fine" all I can say is consider yourself lucky and ensure you back up your data whilst you can.

In our testing the issue is most prevalent when using SATA6G host interfaces, but it may well also occur at lower speeds.

We are in discussions with Intel and some recovery companies attempting to recover our data, but are hindered by SandForce's use of forced encryption as an attempt to obscure the data. This is not about your data security, it's really all about them trying to hinder attempts at analysis of their controllers after such failures to hide their culpability.

Not that I blame Intel directly, but I would have expected a company that values its global reputation to have performed more stringent in house testing before it committed to using and putting its name on drives that used such a flawed controller.

Mario.

[IB_]

Joe can you please help me?? i really need help!

My computer right now exists of

Coolermaster SPH850W

INTEL DX58SO2

INTEL I-7 950 + NOCTUA D14 FAN

KINGSTON 6X2GB TRIPPLE CHANNEL 1600

EXTERNAL USB CD-ROM LG

LATEST BIOS

AND LAST A GAINWARD NVIDIA 9500GT 1GB VIDEO CARD

That's my computer... no other hard drives nothing connected... i am trying to do a clean install..

Computer sees CD-ROM & INTEL SSD 520 240GB and i put the ssd as first boot and second the cd-rom

i am starting installation from CD-rom windows 7 pro 64-bit and after choosing language for installation it starts and then immediatly stops and asks for driver... but doesn't say nothing... it's a clean screen

Please help. Shop won't take it back. i am stuck with this hard drive ssd which i paid 300$

HELP ME PLEASE

[NRoma2]

The issue you are discussing is far different than what we are talking about. This thread is about the SDD completely failing and losing it's data.

Your issue is about installing an SSD into your computer. First, the Intel 520 SSD does NOT require drivers. Second, you need to enter your BIOS and switch the drive mode from IDE to ACHI. Then your computer will recognize the disk.

Edit: Also, make the Windows 7 disk the first Boot option, not the SSD.

Message was edited by: Nicholas Romano

[Jose_H_Intel1]

BigNick is right, the thread's subject is completely different and I was just trying to give a quick suggestion.

Ika, I would recommend using the Intel® SSDs with the Intel® SATA Controller instead of Marvell*'s. If you need further assistance please post your inquiry in the /community/tech/desktop Intel® Desktop Boards Communities.

[SJoha2]

This was only with OCZ drives, Intel never had any issues with the BSODs and their Sandforce controller. I own 2x 520 series Sandforce controlled SSD's for over 3 years now(as well as 2x 535 series SSDs) and none of them have/had any BSOD issues that OCZ had.OCZ is probably bottom of the barrel when it comes to SSDs, so no shocker.

Intel is no 1 when it comes to SSD reliability, maybe not speed, but they aslways last 7+ years- As it was tested here -http://www.extremetech.com/computing/173887-ssd-stress-testing-finds-intel-might-be-the-only-reliabl... SSD stress testing finds Intel might be the only reliable drive manufacturer | ExtremeTech

Read here about the Sandforce issue and how it affected all but the 520/530 series- http://www.anandtech.com/show/5508/intel-ssd-520-review-cherryville-brings-reliability-to-sandforce Intel SSD 520 Review: Cherryville Brings Reliability to SandForce