- #SAMSUNG SSD FIRMWARE UPDATES FOR MAC USERS SOFTWARE#
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The older, TLC-based 840 Series is unaffected, and so is the upcoming 850 EVO, which will use the three-bit version of 3D V-NAND. For what it’s worth, Samsung says the problem is unique to the 840 EVO and not an artifact of that drive’s TLC NAND. Samsung is confident that the problem has been addressed, though, and the company has updated its validation procedures to look for similar issues in future products. Given how the bug manifests, we won’t know if the EVO is truly fixed until at least a month from now, when freshly written data will be old enough to exhibit slower read performance. Bruno ran a couple of quick CrystalDiskMark benchmarks before and after applying the fix, and the scores are pretty much identical.
We don’t have hard data on how the fix impacts load times, but OS and application files are likely to be older, so they’re good candidates for a speed boost.Īpart from addressing read speeds with older files, the new EVO firmware is supposed to perform identically to the previous release.
#SAMSUNG SSD FIRMWARE UPDATES FOR MAC USERS WINDOWS#
He says Windows now boots faster, too, particularly after it reaches the desktop and starts filling out the taskbar. Your mileage may vary, of course, but Samsung’s fix seems to work as advertised.Īfter applying the EVO update, Bruno also noticed snappier application load times. Some of the individual files load more than 2X faster after the fix, and one of them experienced a massive 6X speedup. The differences here aren’t as striking, but there’s a definite improvement in read performance for older files. Again, use the buttons to switch between the before and after results. The graphs below depict the range of file read speeds based on the age of the data. Samsung recommended running HD Tach to evaluate the fix, but we also had Bruno try SSD Read Speed Tester, which was developed specifically in response to the EVO issue. They’re nowhere to be found after the fix, where read speeds are much more consistent overall. Those dips before the fix correspond to performance slowdowns with older data. Click the buttons below the image to switch between results from before and after the fix was applied. Below is a screenshot from HD Tach, which tests read performance across the extent of the drive. The restoration process went off without a hitch, though it took over an hour to condition Bruno’s drive. Having already noticed slower performance with older files, he bravely volunteered to test Samsung’s fix. Fortunately, our resident developer, Bruno “morphine” Ferreira, has been running an 840 EVO 500GB in his personal system for more than 10 months. The data on the 840 EVOs we have in the lab isn’t old enough to be affected by the flaw.
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That said, the target drive must have at least 10% free capacity for the tool to work its magic. The entire process is non-destructive, so it shouldn’t compromise any data on the drive. Then, it reboots the system and completes the restoration process, which we’re told involves “conditioning” the NAND. First, the utility flashes the SSD’s firmware with the new EXT0CB6Q revision. The EVO’s flash management routines evidently haven’t been responding to voltage changes correctly.įixing the problem is a two-part process managed by Samsung’s appropriately named Performance Restoration tool. Read-retry is used to compensate for changes in cell voltages, suggesting that voltage drift over time was a key factor here. This only occurs if the data was kept in its initial cell without changing, and there are no symptoms of reduced read performance if the data was subsequently migrated from those cells or overwritten.
#SAMSUNG SSD FIRMWARE UPDATES FOR MAC USERS SOFTWARE#
Due to the error in the software algorithm, the 840 EVO performed read-retry processes aggressively, resulting in a drop in overall read performance. SSDs usually calibrate changes in the statuses of cells over time via the flash management software algorithm. The company promised to address the issue with updated firmware, and we’ve been experimenting with the fix.īefore we get into the results of our testing, we should spend a moment on the problem itself. Last month, Samsung confirmed that its 840 EVO SSD can suffer from slower read speeds with older data.
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