The gen 3 solid state drives of Intel have become quite famous for their reliability issues because of the Intel 8MB bug that was widely talked about by SSD users all over the internet. It was a glitch that bricked the drive making its size be displayed as only 8MB and all of its contents become inaccessible. This was caused by the controller of the drive making the wrong call when the power suddenly gets cut off. Instead of shutting itself down, it will insist on connecting to a SATA port. After several patch notes, it was finally confirmed that Intel has successfully prevented the bug. It is not unreasonable to say that something similar to the 8MB bug might happen again so it is best if we know what we can do to avoid turning our SSD into an Intel 320 Series Bricked Drive.
Be Vigilant with Updates
Firmware updates are free so there is absolutely no reason to download and install them. The firmware is the brain of a solid state drive and updates can be treated as lessons. The more lessons learned, the smarter the brain becomes. And the smarter the brain is, the less likely it is to get tricked into making mistakes that may lead to glitches. Check Intel’s official website or message boards regularly for any news of firmware updates. You may also install auto-updaters from third parties that will notify you when something is out-of-date.
Avoid Sleep and Hibernation
Solid state drive controllers for some reason have a high tendency to get confused when the computer is put on “sleep” or “hibernate”. Doing so regularly will likely lead to the controller making a mistake.
Uninterruptible Power Supply
A UPS will be the saviour of your solid state drive when a blackout happens. It will provide a few minutes’ worth of power so that you can shut down your pc correctly. It will also allow you to save any unfinished work so it is highly worth it.
Create a Backup
Backup your files even if just the important ones. Though there is a DIYer way of restoring an Intel 320 Series Bricked Drive, there isn’t any for retrieving any of the files. If your Intel 320 Series SSD drive does get bricked, Brian Cometa and the other data recovery technicians of “300 Dollar Data Recovery” can restore your drive as well as your files.
