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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Junior Member
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
Senior Member
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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