Windows 11 SSD issues blamed on reviewers using ‘early versions of firmware’

Reports have been circulating for the past few weeks that recent Windows 11 updates (KB5063878 and KB5062660) were causing some SSDs using Phison controllers to fail. While plenty of YouTube and TikTok videos have blamed Microsoft for the issues, Phison has identified “early versions of firmware and BIOS” as the problem instead.

“Many of the reports originate from media testing conducted on hardware running early versions of firmware and BIOS,” says Michael Wu, GM and President of Phison US, in a statement to The Verge. “These versions are performance preview drives and are not identical to those provided to end users through official distribution channels. We have observed that outdated firmware is still being used on some SSDs and we encourage any reviewers facing this to leverage updated channel firmware readily available through manufacturer-provided update utilities.”

YouTuber JayzTwoCents claimed last week that the “Windows update and SSD problem is WAY worse than we thought!” JayzTwoCents showed a Crucial T500 drive (with a Phison E25 controller) failing after Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 security updates, and needing a power cycle to come back to life. It’s not clear whether JayzTwoCents was using pre-release SSD firmware, or even an early motherboard BIOS.

Phison was able to replicate issues reported by the PCDIY! community though, and found that these were down to engineering preview firmware. “Phison examined the exact SSDs used in the PCDIY! testing and determined PCDIY! was utilizing an engineering preview firmware, which is not the final firmware used in the Corsair Force Series MP600 SSD 2TB and other drives with the E16 controller available for sale to consumers on the market,” explains Wu. Phison also performed the same tests on consumer SSDs and found no crashes or failures.

Microsoft said late last month that it had “found no connection” between its security updates and the drive failures reported on social media and elsewhere. That didn’t stop many people, including prominent YouTubers, from blaming Microsoft for the SSD issues. That’s hardly surprising though, given Microsoft’s history of chaotic Windows updates.