Earlier this month, we reported on a potentially fatal issue for SSDs that could be breaking drives and corrupting user data. The issue was apparently a side-effect of buggy Windows 11 KB5063878 and KB5062660 updates that affected, among others, Phison controller-based NVMe SSDs.
About a day after we reported on the potential issue, the controller maker issued a statement on the matter saying that it was looking into it. Following its investigation, Phison issued a new statement to Neowin today about the progress:
As stated on August 18, Phison was made aware of the "KB5063878" and ‘KB5062660’ updates on Windows 11 that potentially impacted several storage devices, including some supported by Phison. In response, Phison dedicated over 4,500 cumulative testing hours to the drives reported as potentially impacted and conducted more than 2,200 test cycles. We were unable to reproduce the reported issue, and no partners or customers have reported that the issue affected their drives at this time.
Phison remains committed to the highest standards of reliability and continues to closely monitor the situation in collaboration with our industry partners.
Best Practices for End Users
While our validation testing has not identified any concerns related to these Windows 11 updates, we have shared industry best practices to support high-performance storage devices. We continue to advise users that for extended workloads, such as transferring large files or decompressing large archives, make sure a proper heatsink or thermal pad is used with the storage device. This helps maintain optimal operating temperatures, reduces the likelihood of thermal throttling, and ensures sustained performance.
Thus Phison suggests it could be an issue on the user side rather than on the side of the controller as rigorous 4500 hours, that equates to over 2200 test cycles, did not lead to the kind of problems experienced by the user testing as Phison notes that it was "unable to reproduce the reported issue, and no partners or customers have reported that the issue affected their drives at this time."
Regardless Phison says that users who are having any such trouble should get in touch with Phison support, and in general, it has asked users to be careful when doing sustained writes that can be heavily stressful on a drive. A heatsink or some other heatspreader that can serve a similar purpose is recommended by the firm.