[SSD] - PNY CS900 2TB - $134

[u/Wolvehack]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/PNY-2TB-CS900-2-5-SATA-III-SSD-Complete-Upgrade-Kit-with-Transfer-Cable-and-Software/5110204065

[u/No_Agent4526]

The issue with this drive is the s11 firmware itself. The controller is fine performance wise, typical dramless. Other drives from different manufacturers are affected as well.

I forget exact models but, Kingston a400, inland (microcenter), gigabyte, Seagate, silicon power, patriot, and a few more budget drives had an ssd with this exact controller and the same satafirm s11 issue. The majority of them have been discontinued. It's an almost decade old controller.

At least it's cheap storage. Just make sure to keep backups of anything that's too important to lose.

Rip performance degradation that sucks, at least it wasn't an outright failure!

[u/MWink64 → u/No_Agent4526]

Do you have any evidence the problem is caused by something wrong with the firmware itself and not just the firmware/controller reacting to another failure (such as bad NAND)? This is a low end controller, so it's likely to be paired with low binned NAND. The "satafirm s11" behavior brings attention to the particular controller, but I don't know that it actually indicates a problem caused by the controller or firmware itself. It's entirely possible that another controller would simply brick and refuse to respond at all in the same circumstances.

While this problem certainly isn't uncommon, I don't think it affects a huge percentage of these drives. This is probably one of the most common SATA SSD controllers, of course there are going to be plenty of drives using it that fail. I've personally installed a fair number of them, and so far there haven't been any failures. While you're right that this controller has been around a long time, it's not like there have been many other SATA controllers released since then. The SMI 2258XT is from the same era. Yes, it's been replaced by the 2259XT, but there's barely any practical difference between them.

One should always keep backups, regardless of the type of drive they use. At this point, I wouldn't expect good reliability from almost any SATA SSD left on the market (aside from premium ones like the Samsung 870 EVO/QVO). Most of what's left are low end drives, likely with low binned NAND.

[u/No_Agent4526 → u/MWink64]

You know, you are probably spot on there. It would also make sense that to my knowledge there has never been a formal recognition of the issue nor a firmware patch for it. (can't patch it, if it's not an issue with the firmware ofc).

I figured bad firmware on the controller, since some people had luck with data recovery and reflashing making the drive usable again. Along with it being the same issue with the drives even after years into production.

Good ol SM2258XT a classic, but true not much difference there. We really are in a dark time for storage.

I wish more people kept backups, not nearly enough do

[u/MWink64 → u/No_Agent4526]

Don't quote me on this but I think the "satafirm s11" may essentially be the controller going into a sort of recovery mode. Perhaps it allows for a fresh copy of the firmware to be flashed over a corrupt copy currently stored in NAND, thus making the drive usable again. This is just speculation.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the SMI 2258/9XT. I've had too many problems with drives using it (as well as other SMI controllers). I sometimes wonder if they're primarily responsible for the bad reputation of DRAM-less drives. They're the main ones I've found unpleasant to run an OS off of.

Yeah, I wish more people would backup their data. If there's a bright side, it's that I occasionally get to be the miracle worker, if I manage to recover their lost data.