Kingston SSD suddenly unreliable

[Mark Phelps]

I've been using a Kingston Hyper-X 240GB SSD for nearly 8 months now but starting the end of last year, started experiencing filesystem corruption. I was getting forced CHKDSKs on nearly a daily basis.

So, I download an ISO of Win8.1 64-bit (from MS), created a USB stick from it, and used it to install a fresh copy of Win8.1 64-bit on a spare HDD. That's been working fine for the last two weeks without any problems.

I decided to replace my old Win8.1 32-bit install with the new 64-bit install, so I used MR to image off the 64-bit install and "restore" it to the unallocated space on the Kingston SSD (the space previously used by the Win 8.1 32-bit install).

When I rebooted (this time, into the Win8.1 64-bit install on the SSD), I ran into problems almost immediately! I got a working desktop, but trying to launch programs failed, one after another. So, I rebooted. This time, I was greeted with a black screen and "Hi" -- MS was trying to setup Win8.1 from scratch!

SO ... I rebooted back into the Win8.1 64-bit on the HDD and brought up CrystalDiskInfo v6.2.1, and exported the info in the page for the Kingston SSD. I shamelessly admit that I don't know what to make of the results and am hoping someone vastly more knowledgeable than me can tell me what the numbers indicate:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 6.2.1 (C) 2008-2014 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows 8.1 Pro [6.3 Build 9600] (x64)
Date : 2015/01/18 13:04:37

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
- ATA Channel 0 (0)
+ ATA Channel 1 (1)
- ASUS BW-12B1ST a ATA Device
- TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C ATA Device
+ Standard SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
- WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0
- KINGSTON SH103S3240G
- ST31000528AS
- SATA SSD
- Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller [SCSI]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) KINGSTON SH103S3240G
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : KINGSTON SH103S3240G
Firmware : 526ABBF0
Serial Number : 50026B723C0C645A
Disk Size : 240.0 GB (8.4/137.4/240.0/240.0)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 468862128
Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ACS-2 Revision 3
Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
Power On Hours : 1946 hours
Power On Count : 752 count
Host Reads : 4776 GB
Host Writes : 1638 GB
Temperature : 25 C (77 F)
Health Status : Good (100 %)
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
APM Level : 00FEh [ON]
AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr Raw Values (7) Attribute Name
01 _95 _95 _50 000000011B2E12 Raw Read Error Rate
05 100 100 __3 00000000000000 Retired Block Count
09 _98 _98 __0 1B39920000079A Power-on Hours
0C 100 100 __0 000000000002F0 Power Cycle Count
AB __0 __0 __0 00000000000000 Program Fail Count
AC __0 __0 __0 00000000000000 Erase Fail Count
AE __0 __0 __0 0000000000001D Unexpected Power Loss Count
B1 __0 __0 __0 00000000000000 Wear Range Delta
B5 __0 __0 __0 00000000000000 Program Fail Count
B6 __0 __0 __0 00000000000000 Erase Fail Count
BB 100 100 __0 00000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BD _25 _34 __0 00001100220019 Vendor Specific
C2 _25 _34 __0 00001100220019 Temperature
C3 120 120 __0 000000011B2E12 On-the-Fly ECC Uncorrectable Error Count
C4 100 100 __3 00000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C9 120 120 __0 000000011B2E12 Uncorrectable Soft Read Error Rate
CC 120 120 __0 000000011B2E12 Soft ECC Correction Rate
E6 100 100 __0 00000000000064 Life Curve Status
E7 100 100 _10 00000000000000 SSD Life Left
E9 __0 __0 __0 00000000000E57 Vendor Specific
EA __0 __0 __0 00000000000666 Vendor Specific
F1 __0 __0 __0 00000000000666 Lifetime Writes from Host
F2 __0 __0 __0 000000000012A8 Lifetime Reads from Host

 

[softwaremaniac]

There have been some reallocations made and you should test it with: SSDlife Free Download - Softpedia.

 

[Mark Phelps]

I already has SSDLife Pro but had quit using it because CrystalDiskInfo actually provided more info.

But the image below is the SMART details on the Kingston drive:



The firmware version is the most current -- I just checked the Kingston site to confirm that.

BTW, I just read through another thread about someone who installed Win8.1 on a new Kingston SSD and was having problems with it. Looks like I might be better off acquiring an MX 100 SSD to use.

 

[softwaremaniac]

Retired blocks and reallocation = some of the NAND chips have defects (kind of like a LCD panel with dead pixels). Usually retired blocks and reallocated sectors start to appear only after the user has written TERABYTES worth of data to the drive (many, many write/erase cycles and user wear on the flash).
I'd backup immediately.

 

[MaXimus]

Kingston SSDs use the crappy SandForce controller which can only achieve the advertised speeds when it deals with compressed data. That's why on the box of my previous Kingston HyperX 3K SSD it said "These results were achieved with ATTO Disk Benchmark" because it uses compressed data. But in the real world, I was getting around 170MB Read/Write, no where near the advertised speeds. I would never use a Kingston SSD even if you paid me.

upgrading from ANY HDD to even the slowest SSD would be a night and day difference. ANY SSD will blow an HDD out of the water. But when comparing these crappy Kingston SSDs with the high performers such as Samsung840/850 PRO or SandDisk Extreme II / SanDisk Extreme PRO / Crucial M550/Crucial MX100 they would leave the Kingstons in the dust.

you never know how much faster it would be until you try it

Just my 2 cents worth

 

[CountMike]

AHCI = on ?. Trim enabled ? Make sure Defragmenting is OFF ?

 

[Mark Phelps]

AHCI = on ?. Trim enabled ? Make sure Defragmenting is OFF ?

All those are set.

So, I did a LOT of reading about SMART stats for SSDs -- and the consensus appears to be that, because of a lack of standards about stat collection and reporting, only a few (possibly, even one) of the stats are of any use.

Quite a few of the counts start out at 100 and get decremented over time -- reflecting the "percentage" remaining of that count. For example, Retired Block Count starts out with a "baseline" of 100 and decrements as blocks get used. That means, on my Kingston, 64% of the blocks are still available.

To make matters even worse, different apps use different methods to arrive at the stats and some even get the stat name wrong.

I ran two apps on the Kingston, one said 100% health, the other said 96% health -- but any attempt to use the Kingston results in nearly immediate filesystem corruption -- something I would NOT expect from a drive that "healthy".

Anyway ... I've replaced it with a Crucial MX 100 -- and will see how that goes.

 

[Tully]

SSD

I think I am the one you referred to about the Kingston HyperX 480GB with problems!

Yes, I installed it & it never worked right! It would not run APPS from the Tiles,( the only help I received from my post was to call the tiles,Tiles, not charms!)
It would run the MS programs only. Then it went from bad to worse!

So I took a WD 3.0TB SATA 6MB WDEZRX HDD 2013 vintage & Formatted it. Loaded Win 8.1 OS on it & some MS programs.
Put it in the computer & cloned it to the SSD.

Works Great!

The only thing that I have to work out now, is that sound will not work on my TV HDMI.
I am using external speakers off of the Motherboard through the green port.
Also the Homegroup Network is recognized on the other computers but can not be accessed.

I don't know if the HDD had any effect, but the original HDD was an old Hitachi 2.0 TB drive from 2011
which had a 6MB Cache as opposed to a 64MB Cache of the WD drive.

Seems we don't get much help from Kingston.
Have you tried?

Keep in touch for mutual help & info,

Tully

 

[CountMike]

I'm using Kingston 120GB V300 with 505 FW last couple of years and never a single problem. Not a speed demon but speed as it is never deteriorated. An older V200 in other computer is in just as good shape and to my surprise slightly faster. Only problems I encountered is when older HDD is on the same SATA3 controller, when I moved HDDs to SATA2 controller there were no system problems although one of them (320GB) is in poor shape and used to crash system even while not accessed.

 

[Mark Phelps]

Seems we don't get much help from Kingston.
Have you tried?

Not really -- this time. Last time (last April) I was having similar problems and when I went to the Kingston site to upgrade the firmware, it told me that my SSD could not be upgraded! I got into an email conversation with Kingston tech support -- which ended in me RMA'ing my SSD and getting a replacement -- which already had the new firmware.

Since, like other vendors, all they do is retain the original warranty when they do a replacement, this SSD is probably out of warranty now.

 

[Tully]

Mark:

Thanks for your reply.
I am aware that Kingston has a good reputation.

However my problem is with the latest technology, Solid State Drives (SSD as opposed to HDD).

This new technology along with USB drives, I think will change the world of desktop computers.
The Big HDD will give way to the smaller, faster SSD, the CD drive will be replaced by the USB drive.
Also the big power hungry Power Supply will be downsized.

This means that the whole desktop will have to be redesigned!

Smaller case, better power supply, smaller & faster SSD, elimination of the CD drive ETC.!

The implementation of the SSDs is the first step in this evolutionary process.
This means the SSD must be fully capable of the running the latest editions of software & APPS.

This is my view, but in the 85 years of my life I have so many companies miss the market in computers.
To name a few Gateway, Dell, DEC, IBM, Radio Shack, Blackberry, Etc,

That old FART

Tully