Windows 11 Update KB5063878 Causing SSD Failures
20 comments
·August 28, 2025dale_glass
But what's actually happening? There seems to be a lack of technical information.
And why does the SSD allow this to happen? A SSD has its own onboard computer, it's not just allowing the OS to do whatever it wants. Obviously the OS can write way too much and reach the endurance limit but that should have been figured out almost instantly, with OS write stats and SMART stats.
FirmwareBurner
>But what's actually happening? There seems to be a lack of technical information.
That's also what I want to know. All the information on this topic seems to be just circular anecdotes like a snake eating its own tail: a bunch of anecdotal reddit posts, quoting a Tom's hardware article, that's quoting more anecdotal reddit posts, that's quoting one Japanese tweet of someone's speculation.
Like how much of SSD deaths can actually be pinned on this update, and how much of this is just "Havana syndrome" of people's SSDs dying for whoever other reason, then they hear about this hubbub in the news and then they go on reddit and say "OMG mine too", then journalists pick up on it, and round and round we go, further reinforcing the FUD but without any actual technical analysis.
firesteelrain
Agree; any truth to the fact that this is push back for Windows 10 EOL?
mrcsharp
The latest as far as I know is that Phison couldn't replicate the issue. [1]
[1] https://wccftech.com/phison-dismisses-reports-of-windows-11-...
aaron695
[dead]
lxgr
"I installed a Windows update and my SSD died afterwards" doesn't seem like news, given that almost all Windows users periodically install Windows updates and SSDs sometimes fail.
bayindirh
Runaway processes are big problems for SSD life. A runaway file indexer, or a tool which re-writes large chunks of data can consume the TBW limit of an SSD pretty fast if it's left unchecked for long.
NKCSS
Wasn't this mostly a WD HBM issue? [1]
[1] https://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-latest-windows...
RedShift1
Is it actually killing the SSD (SSD can no longer be used) or just corrupting the data on the SSD? It's hard to make out from all the comments and news articles.
crest
"Just" corrupting your filesystem...
whatsupdog
Pro tip: before updating your windows, always make sure to uninstall it and install Linux.
jacquesm
I wonder what the commercial effect is of such a thing on MS. Because assuming that the SSDs are unrecoverable it might lead to sales of new machines or new Windows licenses. There is a fair chance that bugs like these end up making good money, the numbers are large enough that even a small fraction of the users being affected can translate into a serious windfall.
jokoon
If it breaks a SSD, would microsoft be liable for the damage?
ahartmetz
Install "Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2021 LTSC" if you don't mind buying grey market keys. Less crapware, more mature and less enshittified than 11, and security fixes until 2032.
I don't want to endorse Windows at all (use Linux if you can!). But maybe you need it to occasionally test something or whatever.
Zr01
That's why I don't install updates, unless and until they've been proven not to break things. I miss the old days when software was expected to work out of the box and updates, on the rare occasions when they appeared, were actually useful.
mrkramer
Any word from Microsoft?
This is doing the rounds on YouTube, too. But with pretty much the same information as everywhere else that tracks back to the same original sources.
* https://youtube.com/watch?v=mlY2QjP_-9s (JayzTwoCents)
* https://youtube.com/watch?v=sU_WepeHUd8 (ThioJoe)
* https://youtube.com/watch?v=7xS-CE-hy6Q (Dave's Attic)
* https://youtube.com/watch?v=zoHGSz-f6os (Pureinfotech)