Samsung SSD 980 Pro and 990 Pro problems

[Marcin Pabich]

Does the latest firmware of Samsung 980 PRO and 990 PRO drives fix all errors? I read that there was a problem with the 980 PRO in terms of sudden failures and in the case of the 990 PRO with the rapid degradation of the life of the drive?

Generally at this point, which drive is better to buy 980 PRO 2TB or 990 PRO 2TB? Is it worth paying extra around 50 euros for a newer version?
Is it enough to buy the version without a radiator, or is it worth paying extra for the version with a radiator? Temps are ok without rad?

And the last question, do you know when the 990 PRO in the 4TB version will come out, it was supposed to premiere in February or March but it's still not there?

Thanks for help! :)

[James Vella]

My 980 Pro 2TB just failed after 2 years a couple months back. Just out of the blue I had some blue screens and then it was cooked. No idea about the new one thought I would just share my experience. Also just a couple months out of warranty so that sucked lol.

[Juraj]

I have plenty of 980 PRO 2TBs, bought them before I knew there was massive amount of fakes of them out there :- ). I could get them very cheaply (like 130 Euro) from one grey market supplier.

Half of them had latest firmware, half of them didn't. Samsung Magician will tell you and install the latest. Both should be fixed.
But the Magician apparently can't tell if they are genuine or fake..the firmware can fake this now. Didn't have time to run tests for comparisons. I mean they work, so :- ).

Truth be told, if I knew all this now (fakes, issues), I would just buy WD SN850 (or SN850X if you have more budget). Those are pretty much flawless.
Samsung was a household name for me for SSDs but looks like they don't care as much for QA for their non-enterprise drives. For how expensive they are..

I would never count on something to come at specific date, buy what is available.

[Marcin Pabich]

Thanks Juraj! I also bought always Samsung SSDs, this time i also went with 990 PRO 2 TB. But i am buying always form official resellers or directly from Samsung (sometimes they had the lowest price from all shops).

James did You update firmware regulary? Do you know how many TB of data you had written on the drive just before it went bad? Did you control the disk usage and its lifespan in percent by an application, e.g. CrystalDiskInfo?

[James Vella]

James did You update firmware regulary? Do you know how many TB of data you had written on the drive just before it went bad? Did you control the disk usage and its lifespan in percent by an application, e.g. CrystalDiskInfo?

I updated the firmware when I had it installed, nothing after that unless it came with the optional windows updates.

I think I was down to about 600gb remaining when it crashed. But from my understanding SSD drives have a higher failure rate when used often, I thrash that drive since due to my job I'm always downloading, moving, deleting tens/hundreds of gigabytes per day so that would be my guess.

I only used CrystalDiskInfo to test the speed, didnt know it has some lifespan information - I should check that on my replacement 970 evo plus. I couldn't get stock so I just purchased that in a hurry to get back to work.

[Juraj]

That's definitely a warranty case, 980 Pro 2TB can last decade(s) as system drive being fully utilized 24/7.

[James Vella]

That's definitely a warranty case, 980 Pro 2TB can last decade(s) as system drive being fully utilized 24/7.

Thanks Juraj, I will contact Samsung see if they will play ball.

[Juraj]

Something that might help is that Samsung promised at least for 990 to warranty them even outside of warranty or 1st purchase owner. Maybe the same goes for 980. If they're not willing I would just send them one of the popular articles on the net to push the case. That's not an issue in Europe where the warranty is by shop but could be helpful in US/Canada/Australia region.