Intel stops shipping SSDs following discovery of data loss

EnterpriseStorageForum.com reported on Monday that Intel has stopped shipping its new solid state storage devices, which have been on the market for less than a month. The latest crop of flash-based SSDs have been the subject of a lot of discussion in HPC, but not too much implementation

Intel logoIntel (NASDAQ: INTC) has halted shipments of its new X25-M and X18-M solid state drives (SSDs) after discovering a problem that could cause data corruption. The new drives were the result of a joint venture with Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) and used a new 34 nanometer manufacturing process that was supposed to offer more storage density at a lower cost.

…Intel found that if a user sets up a BIOS password on the SSD, then disables or changes the password, the contents of the drive become corrupted and irretrievably lost.

Intel has a fix and is working to implement it, at which time it will presumably begin shipping again. Not a good start for this relatively new class of device (not SSDs, but flash-based SSDs), though it it heartening that this problem seems to be entirely implementation-dependent, not having anything to do with the flash-storage technology itself.

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  1. […] Found via InsideHPC (quoting EnterpriseStorageForum.com): Intel found that if a user sets up a BIOS password on the SSD, then disables or changes the password, the contents of the drive become corrupted and irretrievably lost. […]

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