Guru3D Rig of the Month - November 2020
Teamgroup MP33 PRO NVMe M2 SSD review
ASUS Radeon RX 6800 XT STRIX OC LC Review
Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT NITRO+ review
XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT Speedster MERC 319 review
Corsair MP400 4TB NVMe M2 SSD review
ASUS ROG Z11 mini ITX chassis review
Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini chassis review
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X review
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X review
Samsung investigating 840 EVO slowdowns
A couple of weeks ago we already reported that the Samsung 840 EVO SSDs are still experiencing slow read speeds with old data. basically TechReport placed a couple of SSDs on shelf, didn't use them. Then after three months they connected them again and boom, slow performance of the old data written.
The issue was supposedly fixed with a firmware update (EXT0CB6Q-firmware) issued in October, but some patched drives continue to exhibit the problem, including one of our own. Late Friday afternoon, Samsung issued the following statement on the matter:
In October, Samsung released a tool to address a slowdown in 840 EVO Sequential Read speeds reported by a small number of users after not using their drive for an extended period of time. This tool effectively and immediately returned the drive’s performance to normal levels. We understand that some users are experiencing the slowdown again. While we continue to look into the issue, Samsung will release an updated version of the Samsung SSD Magician software in March that will include a performance restoration tool.
If you look at the screenshot above you can see the performance degraded. This test unit 840 EVO SSD spent more than three months of the shelf, he results are pretty shocking: the months old data on the disk was only recoverable with an average read speed of 35.1MB/s.
After formatting the disk and loading it with new data the disk averaged 430MB/s in HD Tach, there's a abvious issue with long-term degradation of data stored in the triple-bit-per-cell memory.
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Samsung 840 EVO TLC NAND still suffering from read speed slowdowns - 01/28/2015 09:40 AM
The chaps at TechReport noticed that the Samsung 840 EVO TLC NAND is still suffering from read speed slowdowns. A few minths ago this created a lot of contoversy, after which Samsung was fast to ree...
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SirJamesDTech
Junior Member
Posts: 17
Joined: 2014-10-30
Junior Member
Posts: 17
Joined: 2014-10-30
#5018555 Posted on: 02/23/2015 02:59 PM
So in other words, unless you get into multiple games regularly it's not worth having a bunch installed.
Hope this gets fixed because otherwise a 1TB EVO is potentially useless.
So in other words, unless you get into multiple games regularly it's not worth having a bunch installed.
Hope this gets fixed because otherwise a 1TB EVO is potentially useless.
Robbo9999
Senior Member
Posts: 1510
Joined: 2012-10-07
Senior Member
Posts: 1510
Joined: 2012-10-07
#5018585 Posted on: 02/23/2015 03:47 PM
i guess when samsung release the speed restore thingy we will be using it quite often then :/
although saying that, just tested and mine seems fine atm
http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/stevevnicks/huh_1.png" alt="" />
You can't measure the read speed degredation using 'normal' benchmark tools, because the read speed only affects old data - most benchmarks write new data, and then read that newly written data to determine the speed - that's why your drive looks ok when you test it in Samsung Magician. To test it probably you need to use a little program that a user has created in this forum (called SSDReadSpeedTester2.04.exe):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1512915/read-speeds-dropping-dramatically-on-older-files-benchmarks-needed-to-confirm-affected-ssds
I've been testing it on mine and read speed slowed after somewhere between 4-8 weeks, this is while using the supposedly fixed firmware.
Also, the read speed degredation happens on drives that are regularly used (not just sat on a shelf like the article says) - I'm using mine as a system boot drive, so the data is accessed/read a lot, but just not written to much.
i guess when samsung release the speed restore thingy we will be using it quite often then :/
although saying that, just tested and mine seems fine atm
You can't measure the read speed degredation using 'normal' benchmark tools, because the read speed only affects old data - most benchmarks write new data, and then read that newly written data to determine the speed - that's why your drive looks ok when you test it in Samsung Magician. To test it probably you need to use a little program that a user has created in this forum (called SSDReadSpeedTester2.04.exe):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1512915/read-speeds-dropping-dramatically-on-older-files-benchmarks-needed-to-confirm-affected-ssds
I've been testing it on mine and read speed slowed after somewhere between 4-8 weeks, this is while using the supposedly fixed firmware.
Also, the read speed degredation happens on drives that are regularly used (not just sat on a shelf like the article says) - I'm using mine as a system boot drive, so the data is accessed/read a lot, but just not written to much.
stevevnicks
Senior Member
Posts: 1440
Joined: 2014-10-02
Senior Member
Posts: 1440
Joined: 2014-10-02
#5018590 Posted on: 02/23/2015 03:51 PM
You can't measure the read speed degredation using 'normal' benchmark tools, because the read speed only affects old data - most benchmarks write new data, and then read that newly written data to determine the speed - that's why your drive looks ok when you test it in Samsung Magician. To test it probably you need to use a little program that a user has created in this forum (called SSDReadSpeedTester2.04.exe):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1512915/read-speeds-dropping-dramatically-on-older-files-benchmarks-needed-to-confirm-affected-ssds
I've been testing it on mine and read speed slowed after somewhere between 4-8 weeks, this is while using the supposedly fixed firmware.
Also, the read speed degredation happens on drives that are used - I'm using mine as a system boot drive, so the data is accessed/read a lot, but just not written to much.
oh ok thanks, i will try the test you recommend, did not realize.
same here i use the SSD for my OS drive only.
retested with the software you advised averaged 421MB/s
http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/stevevnicks/2015-02-23%2014.56.36%20Results%20for%20C.png" alt="" />
You can't measure the read speed degredation using 'normal' benchmark tools, because the read speed only affects old data - most benchmarks write new data, and then read that newly written data to determine the speed - that's why your drive looks ok when you test it in Samsung Magician. To test it probably you need to use a little program that a user has created in this forum (called SSDReadSpeedTester2.04.exe):
http://www.overclock.net/t/1512915/read-speeds-dropping-dramatically-on-older-files-benchmarks-needed-to-confirm-affected-ssds
I've been testing it on mine and read speed slowed after somewhere between 4-8 weeks, this is while using the supposedly fixed firmware.
Also, the read speed degredation happens on drives that are used - I'm using mine as a system boot drive, so the data is accessed/read a lot, but just not written to much.
oh ok thanks, i will try the test you recommend, did not realize.
same here i use the SSD for my OS drive only.
retested with the software you advised averaged 421MB/s
The Laughing Ma
Senior Member
Posts: 4325
Joined: 2008-04-12
Senior Member
Posts: 4325
Joined: 2008-04-12
#5018623 Posted on: 02/23/2015 04:58 PM
Yeah loosing faith in Samsung over this. Firstly my 840 Evo, which hasn't been sitting idle for a few months is affected by this slow down issue, despite running the refresh tool and the firmware update prior to using it for the first time only 3 or 4 months ago. Second just tried to use their Magician Software, the only magic this piece of cr*p software could pull was to lock my computer up and render it utterly unuseable, a hard reset, boot and then it locks up again, I am assuming that the software has some sort of auto start option.
So yeah in to safe mode and removed that pile of rubbish and now the computer at least doesn't lock up anymore.
Yeah loosing faith in Samsung over this. Firstly my 840 Evo, which hasn't been sitting idle for a few months is affected by this slow down issue, despite running the refresh tool and the firmware update prior to using it for the first time only 3 or 4 months ago. Second just tried to use their Magician Software, the only magic this piece of cr*p software could pull was to lock my computer up and render it utterly unuseable, a hard reset, boot and then it locks up again, I am assuming that the software has some sort of auto start option.
So yeah in to safe mode and removed that pile of rubbish and now the computer at least doesn't lock up anymore.
Click here to post a comment for this news story on the message forum.
Senior Member
Posts: 1440
Joined: 2014-10-02
i guess when samsung release the speed restore thingy we will be using it quite often then :/
although saying that, just tested and mine seems fine atm