As the title says, I have always been disgusted by Samsung’s products, especially SSD. Samsung always give me the impression that it is good at packaging itself, naming its high-end products. Problems have emerged one by one in the past two years, and the company’s positioning, selling price, and some operations make me uncomfortable.

• 0E Error and cache invalidation

The first is the 0E error event that directly affects the use, and the cache invalidation problem at the beginning of the launch of PCI-E4.0. I have detailed both events and will not repeat them. If you are interested, please check the previous tweets.

Compared to the previous cache invalidation BUG, I said at the time that it would not affect usage significantly, basically ignoring the “self-use SSD has not been updated with firmware”, although until now this BUG has not been solved perfectly… But we must get by and just make do with it.

Recently appeared 0E error events will directly affect the use, this problem will seriously affect the service life of SSD and data safety directly, and a wide range of high probability of the event. That time we will not be able to muddle along. Only if the problems can be solved by the manufacturer, or else people’s interests might get hurt.

In terms of Samsung’s size and strength, there should be no problem at all, let alone in a short period, all products have this problem, complete disqualification, I don’t know how to advertise themselves as “high-end” and “stable”, lmao.

• Aggressive current and temperature control

Some time ago, the PM983 3.84T in my hand suddenly died (which has nothing to do with the removal of the iron sheet on the main panel). There is a short circuit in the main control panel, causing extremely high temperature. This problem appeared without warning and could not be restored. Since the OEM products did not have a channel warranty, we directly lost 2200 RMB ≈ 310 USD (and 3T video files, nothing else).

After scrutinizing it, I just learned that the solid is 3.3 V, 4.8 A, large current, almost twice the mainstream SSD products (is also the max power supply M.2 interface can provide). To improve the product utilizing the large current order to read and write performance, completely regardless of the products of high temperature. Temperature control measures are also very aggressive, on standby without additional cooling measures, it reaches more than 70 degrees Celsius. The company disregard data security and products life expectancy.

This is PM983, Samsung’s alleged “data center quality”.

Considering the high current of the product, the power amplifier heat dissipation mentioned before is used as heat dissipation, so the main control will not have sudden death due to high temperature caused by a short circuit …

And the subsequent PM9A3 will reduce the current, presumably because of problems caused by the large current outflow on 983.

• Not environmental-friendly

After the sudden death of PM983, I know that I can’t sell it as secondhanded, so I think I can find someone to dismantle the chips and re-patch them into a 4T SSD or USB drive, which can also turn waste into treasure, reduce losses. However, after asking around, I can confirm that there is no way to recycle the chips.

PM983 main control and NAND chips are encrypted, and one-to-one binding, so the board is useless.

At present, there is no official chip unlocking tool leaked out.

Because of the encryption process, the chips cannot be transplanted, and the common main control cannot make it work.

After checking with several companies, I could not find a way to repair and re-patch the chips. When you are out of warranty or uninsured, and it is broken, you will not get a single dime back.

Other SSD manufacturers, such as Kioxia owned by Toshiba, Micron, West Digit, and Hynix, even after confirmed damage, most storage chips can be repaired using various tools. Or even better, sell the storage chips second handed for some cents per GB, and you’ll make a little money back. But Samsung products in recent two years can’t do the same. When it becomes malfunctioning, it is gone forever. Think about the resources used to produce such products, what a waste.

“Some Samsung solid state can be forced to repair, such as PM963, but it is difficult to confirm.”

In general, due to Samsung’s unreasonably high pricing, domestic licensed products are not a good choice. OEM and overseas ones have no after-sales service. 

The way to avoid losses is not to buy

I will never buy Samsung SSD unless I am a national-grade fool.

PS: SSD has no noticeable difference, including Samsung’s so-called “high-end” 980Pro (Just like any other brand, it depends on your luck). Just choose the middle range, large capacity, high-cost performance radio products. 

If you need high-end products, there is always Optane available.