Why do Solid State Drives (SSDs) crash?

And what are the typical SSD failure symptoms and error messages?

Why Do SSDs Fail?

Unlike traditional hard drives (HDDs), SSDs have no moving parts or a magnetic field to store the data. They predominantly comprise of electronic components utilising flash memory to store the data. This presents a different set of potential issues, and SSDs can fail, often without warning. Here are the most common causes:

Limited Read/Write Cycles (NAND Flash Wear and Tear):
- SSDs have a finite number of times data can be written to and erased from their memory cells. While modern SSDs are designed for longevity and employ wear-levelling techniques to distribute writes evenly, eventually, cells will wear out. This is a gradual process, but it can lead to data corruption and drive failure over time.
Controller Chip Failure:
- The controller chip is the brain of the SSD, managing read/write operations (data transfer), wear-levelling, garbage collection, and other critical functions. A malfunction in the controller chip can render the entire drive inaccessible. This can be due to manufacturing defects, overheating, or electrical issues.
Firmware Corruption:
- The firmware is the software that controls the SSD's operations. If the firmware becomes corrupted due to a sudden power loss, manufacturing bugs, or an unsuccessful update, the SSD can become unresponsive, undetectable, or behave erratically.
Power Supply Issues/Sudden Power Loss:
- Unexpected power outages or unstable power supplies can corrupt data written to the SSD or even damage the drive's electronic components or firmware. While SSDs have some built-in protection, severe power fluctuations can still be detrimental.
Overheating:
- Like all electronic components, SSDs can be damaged by excessive heat. Sustained high temperatures can degrade the NAND flash memory cells and other components, leading to premature failure. Poor airflow, especially in laptops or servers, can exacerbate this.
Manufacturing Defects:
- Though quality control is generally high, manufacturing defects can occasionally lead to premature SSD failure. These might include faulty components or soldering issues with some SSD models having known issues with firmware bugs, weak controllers, or poor thermal design.
Physical Damage:
- While more resilient to physical shock than HDDs, SSDs are not indestructible. Significant impacts, liquid spills, or other physical trauma can damage the circuit board or connectors.
Data Corruption:
- Software errors, viruses, or malware can lead to data corruption on the SSD. While this might not always mean the drive has failed, it can render data inaccessible and mimic drive failure symptoms.
Bad Blocks/Sectors:
- Similar to HDDs, SSDs can develop "bad blocks" – sections of the flash memory that can no longer reliably store data. While SSDs have mechanisms to manage and retire bad blocks, an excessive number can lead to performance degradation and eventual failure.

What are the Common Symptoms of a Failing or Crashed SSD?

SSDs often fail silently or suddenly, but recognising the early failure warning signs can sometimes allow you to back up your data before a complete catastrophe. Common symptoms include:

Drive Not Detected:
- The SSD is no longer recognised by your computer's BIOS/UEFI or operating system, or intermittently disappears.
Sluggish Performance:
- Your computer takes an unusually long time to boot up, or applications and files take significantly longer to load than they used to.
Frequent Freezes or Crashes:
- Your system frequently freezes, hangs, or experiences Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors (on Windows) or kernel panics (on macOS), especially during boot-up or when accessing files.
File System Errors/Need to Repair Drive:
- You may receive messages from your operating system prompting you to repair the file system on the drive.
Files Become Read-Only or Cannot Be Written:
- You can open files, but you cannot save any changes, or you cannot write new files to the drive.
Files Disappear or Become Corrupted:
- Files may suddenly become inaccessible, corrupted, or disappear altogether.
Frequent "Bad Block" and SMART Errors:
- While handled in the background, an increasing number of bad block errors reported by drive health monitoring tools (like S.M.A.R.T.) or a rapid drop in available capacity can indicate impending failure.
Automatic repair or reboot loops.
- These symptoms could be a result of an imminent component failure.
Overheating:
- The SSD feels excessively hot to the touch, even during light usage.
Noises (Rare for SSDs, but possible with related components):
- While SSDs are silent, issues with connected components or severe electrical problems could manifest as unusual sounds from the computer case. However, this is not a direct symptom of the SSD's flash memory failing.

What are the Common Error Messages Associated with SSD Problems?

Error messages can provide clues about what's going wrong with your SSD. Some common ones include:

"No Bootable Device Found" / "Boot Device Not Found" / "Insert Boot Media in Selected Boot Device and Press a Key":
- These errors often appear during startup and indicate the system cannot find an operating system to load, which could be due to the SSD failing or becoming undetectable.
"Operating System Not Found":
- Similar to the above, this suggests the SSD containing the OS is inaccessible.
"A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart:
- This classic error points to problems reading data from the drive.
"The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error":
- This indicates a serious hardware problem with the drive.
"Pri Master Hard Disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD Backup and Replace"
"Warning: Immediately back up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent"
- The last two error messages originate from the SSD Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) system, which can predict failures. If you see such a message from your BIOS or a utility, take it seriously.

File system-specific errors:

On Windows:

"No bootable device found"
"A disk read error occurred"
"Windows detected a hard disk problem"
"The parameter is incorrect"
"The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"
"Drive not initialised" or "RAW format"
"Drive is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect."
You might also see messages about chkdsk needing to run.

On macOS

"The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"
"macOS can't repair the disk"
"No startup disk found"
You might encounter messages in Disk Utility about the drive needing repair or errors related to APFS or HFS+ file systems.

On Linux

I/O error
EXT4-fs error
Failed to mount /dev/sdX
Buffer I/O error on device

Tip from a Recovery Expert:

If you suspect SSD failure, immediately:

Stop using the device - continued access may worsen corruption.
Avoid running disk repair tools like CHKDSK or fsck if the drive is unstable.
Contact us today if the data is critical.