Solid State Drives (SSD) Knowledge Base

[#1]

A sudden power loss is most common cause for a system to fail to recognize an SSD.  In most cases, your SSD can be returned to normal operating condition by completing a power cycle, a process that will take approximately one hour.

We recommend you perform this procedure on a desktop computer because it allows you to only connect the SATA power connection, which improves the odds of the power cycle being successful. However, a USB enclosure with an external power source will also work. Apple and Windows desktop users follow the same steps.

1.      Once you have the drive connected and sitting idle, simply power on the computer and wait for 20 minutes. We recommend that you don't use the computer during this process.

2.      Power the computer down and disconnect the drive from the power connector for 30 seconds.

3.      Reconnect the drive, and repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4.      Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5.      If the latest firmware has not been updated to your drive, do so.  You can find our firmware update page here.

A laptop computer will also work, but you’ll have to connect the drive and navigate to the system's BIOS menu. (Please refer to your system manufacturer’s documentation on how to access the BIOS.) Allowing the drive to sit in the BIOS will improve the odds that the power cycle will work. For laptops, we don’t recommended using a USB enclosure powered via USB. In addition, Apple users must hold the Option key while they power on the system (with the SSD installed). This will boot the Mac to the Startup Manager screen. The Startup Manager screen works like the BIOS screen on a laptop, in that it gives the drive power without any data throughput.

1. Laptop users will need to be in the BIOS menu, or Mac Startup Manager as stated above. The computer will need to stay powered for 20 minutes. We recommend you don’t use the laptop during this process.

2.  Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds, by removing it from the drive bay. If you have an mSATA drive, remove it from the port.

3. Reconnect the drive, and repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware is has not been updated to your drive, do so.  Click here  for our firmware updates.

[#2]

nice recommendation - BUT i would return such a drive: You can't reliably use it in a server i you newer know if that could happen again

[#3]

i had this happen i did the 20mins 2 times the sdd was bricked this does not work at least for me m4 512gb my drive just died

and will not come back to life

[#4]

My 512GB m4 SSD was disconnecting once an hour and it turned out to be a bug in the early m4 firmware. A firmware update fixed it. Too bad it was the last thing I tried. IMHO, if you have an m4 SSD that's about 4-5 months old that disconnects a lot, try the firmware update first.

Note there is a bug in the 000F m4 firmware that causes constant beachballs on Macs. If you have a Mac, then use firmware 0309 or else whatever is released after 000F.

[#5]

For my M4 on 0309 {000F is lower performance} it's don't resolved this issue.

only 1300 hours...

[#6]

The suggested fix did not work for my M4 512GB, firmware 000F, it remains bricked after less than 200 hours of use. Very annoying - I'm on a business trip with my laptop right now and have no way to replace the drive and install it from scratch until I return.

Any more suggestions to things I might  try?

Also, I'm interested why the proposed procedure should do anything in the first place. Is there some magic in the drive logic that attempts a repair when its powered on but not accessed for 20 minutes?

[#7]

I have 6 ssds on 6 machines. This happened on two of them in one week.  This fix worked for me.  I'm updating the firmware in all my pcs... 

[#8]

I installed my M4 yesterday. I restarted my desktop a few times because of installation processes, and turned it off when I wasn't home.

Today when I restarted it after installing sound driver it said I had to choose a proper Boot device. For some reason my M4 is not being recognized.

I tried this solution but it didnt work for me... I don't know if I did right, because this is the only SSD with windows installed, my other HDD500GB is acting as a secondary... So I left it on the "select proper Boot device" for the 20 minutes, is that right?

[#9]

kinhow,

The boot device selection screen works just as well as booting into BIOS, so yes, leaving your computer on that screen should have worked.

If you did that twice for 20 minutes, and disconnected the SSD for at least 30 seconds after each 20 minute strech, and the SSD still is not recognized, I would recommend that you contact Customer Service for your region, for more indepth troubleshooting.

[#10]

My 64G M4 disappeared last week. I've gone through several power cycles with disconnections, it is still not seen by my BIOS. However, when I purchased it I got the kit with USB connector and transfer software. I installed a new SSD, loaded W7, then connected the M4 via USB cable. The EZGIG software can see my drive (asked me to format it, I declined for now). It appears the drive is functional via USB  I reconnected the drive to a known good SATA connector and power cable, the BIOS is still not seeing the drive. I would really like to get this thing working in order to get my configured OS and programs back and save the headache of configuring a new system.

What else do you recommend to get the drive working again?

[#11]

If your computer sees the drive when you connect it with the SATA-to-USB cable, then this power cycle process may not change the situation you have with your SSD. I would suggest that you contact Technical Support for your region at this point. They can assist you with further troubleshooting, and if necessary they would also be able to help with an RMA.