If your computer is experiencing performance issues and lacks physical RAM, using an external hard drive as additional RAM can be a cost-effective solution. By configuring the external hard drive as virtual memory, you can effectively increase the available memory for your computer system. To maximize the effectiveness of using an external hard drive as RAM, best practices include selecting a reliable external hard drive, monitoring system performance, and ensuring sufficient storage.
Using more virtual memory allows a computer to multitask and complete tasks faster. To upgrade your notebook’s RAM, plug it into your PC as an external hard drive and check its health using CrystalDiskInfo. If your external hard drive is running out of storage space for backup files, replace it with a larger one to prevent the computer from getting clogged up with downloads and large files.
Using external hard drives is an affordable way to back up data on your PC and keep it safe from system crashes and other potential problems. Microsoft allows users to use an external hard drive as RAM on Windows 10, so open Control Panel, access Advanced system settings, and choose the external hard drive to configure manually.
Fast USB flash drives can add extra swap memory to computers with low amounts of RAM, but they won’t be as fast as actual RAM but can be helpful. However, adding a pagefile can alleviate some memory issues but is not a substitute for RAM for reasonable system performance.
Additionally, it is important to note that hard drives and RAM are two completely different things, and one cannot convert the other into the other. Adding additional RAM or replacing the internal hard drive with an SSD will speed up your laptop, but connecting an external drive will not. Storage devices like USB drives can help OS store and fetch data from them to RAM, but it is not possible to expand the RAM modules.
📹 DON’T buy this external SSD! Watch before you buy
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Can I increase my RAM with an external hard drive?
Random-access memory (RAM) is a high-speed, temporary storage area in a computer that holds running programs, open documents, and intermediate results of calculations and file processing. It can be upgraded by adding or replacing memory modules attached to motherboard connectors. Insufficient RAM can lead to poor performance, so adding more boosts the PC’s speed for little cost.
Adding a second hard drive does not increase RAM. Instead, it is set up with another letter in accordance with other drives on the computer. For example, if a PC has a “C:” hard drive and a “D:” DVD drive, assign the letter “E:” to the second hard drive. This allows you to move seldom-used files to “E:” to free up space on “C:”.
Virtual Memory is a trick Microsoft Windows uses to maximize a computer’s capabilities by combining RAM and some hard drive space. It allows the PC to run more programs simultaneously than with RAM alone. Although not as fast as RAM, the flexibility it offers is worth a small performance penalty. By adding a second hard drive and freeing up space on the “C:” drive, you can use the extra space to make the paging file bigger, which is helpful for programs requiring large amounts of memory.
Can you use a USB drive as extra RAM?
USB flash drives are external devices used for data storage and transfer, and can also be used as RAM to improve system performance. Two methods to achieve this are using USB as Virtual RAM and using USB as RAM with ReadyBoost feature. However, it’s important to note that a USB drive formatted as FAT32 cannot store files larger than 4GB. To save files larger than 4GB, format the USB to NTFS file system.
Is it OK to use SSD as RAM?
SSDs cannot be used as RAM due to their connection to the computer as a disk drive, rather than RAM. RAM is fast, volatile, and not cycle limited, while NAND is less fast, non-volatile, and wears out. Mechanical disks are sequential R/W write devices, while memory is random access. Current SSDs are designed to look like sequential R/W devices, but they are actually memory. A new interface could allow memory-style random access to the memory in an SSD while distinguishing it from RAM.
This would allow for better performance and compatibility with different data types, such as RAM and NAND. By implementing a new interface, SSDs could be able to perform better than RAM in terms of performance and compatibility.
Can I replace my RAM without losing data?
Files, documents, and data are saved on the storage drive, not RAM, so they remain unaffected during the installation process. To ensure the new RAM is properly seated in its slots, press down firmly on each stick until a click is heard. If the issue persists, try booting the computer with one RAM stick at a time to identify if one is faulty. Check the motherboard’s manual to ensure the RAM is installed in the correct slots for dual-channel operation.
If these steps don’t resolve the issue, update your BIOS as older versions may not support newer RAM modules. After installing new RAM, enter the BIOS to ensure it is configured correctly. One common setting to adjust is the XMP (Extreme Memory Profile), which allows the RAM to run at its advertised speed rather than the default speed. Restart the computer and enter the BIOS by pressing a key like F2, Delete, or Esc during startup. Enable XMP to automatically configure the RAM to its optimal settings.
Is it possible to use external RAM?
When purchasing an external RAM for a laptop, ensure it is compatible with the specific model’s chipset and port requirements. External storage units typically use USB 2. 0/3. 0 ports for data transmission, while external hard drives require an additional power supply. Laptops typically have internal memory, or Random Access Memory (RAM), which is not upgradable. External RAM is installed in external device slots and requires an external power supply.
External storage chips are available for PCs, but most require less battery backup, so they may use an external power supply. External RAM for laptops requires less power consumption, so there is no extra wire or connector needed. Users can use an external hard disk drive without worrying about battery drain by connecting it to a laptop port.
📹 SAVE Your Mac And Your MONEY! External SSDs For Mac Explained
Going over why you should use Portable SSDs for your MacBook or Desktop Mac. ALL THE GEAR IS IN THIS VIDEO IS LISTED …
Aha, at 03:44 that makes me feel much better for you! Any professional knows that sinking feeling of a lost drive/batch/file collection… insert storm clouds over their lives… then that sunshine and rainbow that show up when a recovery program works! Question, is it worth doing a Full Format of a new SSD no matter who makes it? Will that not fix any bad sectors ahead of time? Also, you likely won’t respond, but just in case – do you use their installed backup software, or do you just format and use it as extra space? Thanks. 2 is 1 and 1 is none… 🙂
Hi all, it’s probably worth reminding everyone of the 3-2-1 Backup process as 1 is not a backup unless it’s a duplicate. The formula is 3 copies on 2 different media (as in two brands of drive) and 1 offsite. As I’m not a working photographer anymore I back up my entire drive and leave it offsite (a friends, a Banks SDBox) and a duplicate I keep securely away from my computer (my logic being thieves may steal the computer but unlikely to steal my socks) I do this tasks every month or before and after a vacation away.
I have 4 TB extreme and a few 2 TB SSDs. Never had any issues. I have a big job coming up and was thinking about either getting another 4 TB Sandisk or a 4 TB T7. I was leaning toward the Sandisk because I had thought it reliable, and I read review online saying the T7 was slow on Macs, but you’ve absolutely terrified me now. Especially with their customer service being this terrible. Got to go reevaluate the T7. Thanks for sharing this!
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:14 🛠️ The speaker experienced a significant failure with the SanDisk four terabyte SSD shortly after purchase. 01:37 📉 Many users reported the same issue with SanDisk SSDs, questioning their reliability. 02:32 📧 SanDisk’s customer service response denied widespread failure, despite numerous user complaints. 03:40 🚫 The speaker switched to Samsung T7 SSD due to SanDisk’s failed reliability, recommending it as a reliable alternative. 05:06 💡 A potential “bad batch” issue might have affected the SanDisk SSDs, emphasizing informed purchasing decisions. Made with HARPA AI
I bought a 6 tb western digital hhd external drive for a great price, I was going to put all my art drawings and original music onto it, after about I day, I dropped it and as soon as it left my hand I knew it was toast. long story short. the upmost amount of data I will put on a ssd or hhd is 2 tb and I use that 1,2,3 rule kind of, I have all my drives at home and if there’s a fire I’m really up “toilet creek alley”😄 but better safe than sorry, I have a 1tb and two 2 tb san disks that one that i just got in the mail today, it was powder blue so I paid an extra 10 dollars for it, but colors not only look cool they are easy to find in the dark, I wish that more companies would use juicy colors 😜
Run on SanDisk Extreme Pro 2TB Version with no issues also faster than Samsung – but part of the reason for using SSD is the non-failure rate vs HDD, so this is a concern. I normally attempt to keep more than 1 backup of my files, but again if testing new methods or software something forgetting to backup can happen. Perhaps a bad batch or something else specific to 4TB versions – as we push the tech into a smaller box, heat increases maybe it gets too hot.
My SSD is the 1TB version of SanDisk Extreme Pro V2. The first time, I experienced file loss which led to the disappearance of all my files. Even though I used EaseUS software, the recovered article files turned out to be damaged. Fortunately, I had file backups. So, I decided to format the SSD, changing the file format from ExFAT to APFS, as it’s said to be better for Apple systems. With a mindset of giving it a try, I decided not to return the SSD and continued using it. However, after a week of formatting, the same issue occurred again – all files were lost! Within just two weeks, this SSD lost my files twice. I can no longer use a drive that is prone to randomly losing files; it’s unbearable for me!
I remember this situation omg 😳, I’m so glad you were able to recover your files. I’m thinking of moving away from Sandisk as well, this makes my nerves bad lol, I’ve lost footage before… so many photos and articles files that I’ll never get back off of a western digital SSD, and western digital owns Sandisk
If you got all your data back with a software based recovery utility, your SSD never failed. It is possible the OS simply did not see the files, because either the file format was different, because you did not use disk management to allow the OS to detect the files, or because there was a problem with your computer’s USB connection. Anecdotal accounts of portable SSD are very unreliable, because people often use external SSD to try to transfer files from one PC to another, and many issues they encounter will simply be caused by software or user errors during that process. Many of these “external SSD” are simply internal SSD with a USB enclosure, in theory these should have similar review scores, but they don’t, that’s not the fault of the SSD.
Welcome to the growing list of Samsung T7 users, these things rock we use them on the BMD 6k Pro and they have never (touch wood) failed, not so much as a dropped frame even when using 6k BRAW 😀 also really childish I know but I like that they come in different colours, so we can use them for different shoots and know which is which 😀 of course we could just label them, but you know
It’s so important that you have pointed this out – I have lots of SanDisk drives and like you I’ve invested heavily in them for around. decade. However, that email they sent you simply demonstrates that protecting their reputation is more important that supporting loyal customers who have their faulty drives and for the reason I won’t be buying from SanDisk in future… Thank you!
If you really want to help other people, consider doing backups and advertising doing so instead of depending on „trust” which is never good for data. The rule is: what is not saved at least twice is not saved at all. To your problem:: there obviously was no hardware issue as otherwise the data recovery would not have worked at all. Anyway, happy to hear you could come to a solution that got your data back. Even more important you‘ll never rely on one physical copy again.
Thank you for this article, the same happened to me. I bought 2x4tb and both failed on my M1 Mac, I was abroad and it lost a 2tb project folder, as you can imagine I wasn’t a happy bunny. I could literally see files corrupting in Adobe Premiere, then the whole drive disappeared and wouldn’t mount, I got an “unreadable disk” message, I had to reformat to get it working again. After the second time the trust was gone, I returned them both to Amazon for a full refund. I think it could be a Ventura OS or M1 issue, I can’t see any PCs users with this problem. I’ve now also gone for the slower but reliable Samsung T7.
Sorry this happened to you. Most of our articles are edited on sandisc 2nd and 4tb ssd drives. We have like 10 drives of these specific drives and none of them have failed yet over the last 4 years. Not trying to say you or any of these other people are wrong, there definitely seems to be a bad batch or something. But just wanted to put it out there that not everyone is having a bad experience. I’m sure now that I’ve said this it’s bound to happen to us 😂
Did everyone experience this issue about a year ago on Apple devices ? If so then I might be due to a Apple update. I just tried to update my files and I didn’t do it for a long time and my drive doesn’t work either. It seems like some people are able to retrieve the files by software so the problem might be of compatibility. Have you formatted the disk from the beginning ? Is it possible to retrieve the files with windows if it’s still in exfat ?
SSDs are terrible for external storage that you don’t plan to use very often. It’s not commonly mentioned fact because people rarely verify integrity of their data and just not notice it but all SSDs are prone to data retention issues if drive is left unplugged for a long time (especially if you leave it exposed to sun and heat). It’s case for all flash storage devices. It’s non issue for internal drives since they’re rarely unpowered for long period of time and those drives automatically refresh data if there’s need for it IF they’re powered on. But I did have my ssd severely corrupt data just lying on desk for 2 years unused. So if you plan to use ssd for rarely used external backup – just don’t.
I’ve purchased many of these over the course of several years for 4k to 8k article editing, and then suddenly: received THREE defective drives in a row in the span of two weeks. This was about 6 months ago. Something must have happened over there… all of the ones I received prior to then continue to work great to this day.
Got mine over 2 years ago from Target. Still working and its just the 1tb version. You just never know if its the batch, ssd with larger storage or the region they’re bought and resold from. Lots of issues with tech on Amazon, its a gamble. You also never know how they’re handled and stored. Just because Amazon ships and sells it doesnt mean it was in their hands the whole time.
I’ve used and loved SanDisk for years, all my pen drives and memory cards are from them. I was going to purchase this SSD to edit off of, however, reviews had put me off, and then hearing that this happened to you has helped me make my mind up. I was put off the Samsung T7 due to reviews of it being slow on the Mac, however I’ve just purchased the 2TB version and will see how it goes! Shame to hear that the customer service experience sucked, you would expect better from an organisation of that size!
Happened to me. 3 months in, my Sandisk Extreme failed and I lost all files. Moved to T7’s. They are doing great so far. Now I have to deal with my Western Digital Elements 5TB HDD, which is failing after 3 months of usage and took 4TB of footage hostage. I can’t believe how hard drives are weak these days…
Same happened to me, I have the 1TB Extreme. It was not possible to rescue the data in my case but the weird thing is that after formatting it with ExFat instead of NTFS it now works just fine… The is the trust issue of course, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy one. The is plenty of options now days and you probably want one with encryption and possibly “military grade”
I gave up on SanDisk SD cards many years ago after having many of the extreme cards fail on me. I have a 1Tb extreme pro SSD and thankfully it’s been fine so far but I have looked at the Samsung drives before and I think I’ll head that way next time – on the memory card front Prograde and Lexar are my tools of choice instead
Over the weekend, I decided to move my files from a 5TB Lacie to a 4TB SSD Sandisk to maximize speed. I successfully moved around 2.5 TB of Audio, article, Design and Photo files over. However, after I deleted all of my files off of the Lacie now my Sandisk will no longer mount to my computer (MAC). Checking the format it is showing the Sandisk as MS-DOS, even after I had successfully moved over my files using a MAC. Now I have 2 empty hard drives and have potentially lost all of my files. Any help would be appreciated…
Great article! As someone who values quality family time in the great outdoors, having a reliable backup power source is crucial. The Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series seems like a perfect solution with its massive capacity, fast recharge time, and waterproof design. Definitely worth considering for any camping or RV trip. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for making this article! I got mine for $400 from B&H and I had the exact same experience you did. SanDisk didn’t allow me to return it since it was out of the return window so I am waiting for the replacement to come but I feel like it will be the same thing. Their response to you was EXACTLY the response I got. They need to do better!
And this is why we use cloud storage instead. Sure if you don’t have internet you have to do what you have to do, but these can always fail. It’s a storage device with no failsafe and it can happen to any drive. If you search the internet about any drive you will find these stories. It’s not their responsibility to retrieve your files, but it is your responsibility to use more than one device so you have a backup. Splitting files is very important and I’ve done this for over 20 years now to make sure I don’t lose files. I use Sandisk, Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung and so many other brands. But here is the main take… They all use the same chips no matter what brand you get, and these are the ones that fail. And if a company get a bad batch, it will create a domino effect down the line where CC like you starts making articles instead of practicing good backup habits instead. Sorry but drives fail all the time… The only thing the brand can do, is give you a refund if the drive is brand new.
I was also a loyal customer, and they started to fall behind. I am moving little by little to ProGrade for camera storage. Yes the NAS is great, but it’s important to back up it outside the premises, just in case it fails, and even with 10gbe is not exactly fast for today’s standards, although it’s fast enough for most tasks. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have done some looking up on this it seems most of the issues have been reported using it on the MacOS and Sandisk has reported there was a firmware issue causing Disconnects from the system and you can check the SSD Seriel on thier site and find if you need to update the drive since this article was posted. and it seems they have been working in some level of good faith to try and address this issue so I appreciate the honesty in the article though but woudl remind folks reading this and perusal this article is is over a year old and alot can happen to improve (or worsen I am not going to lie that things can’t get worse but not deny they also can get better) so please keep that in mind before deciding., Do you’re due diligence first then go from there and do what I do . Have More than one backup device on different media types 🙂
I just bought one of these last week and copied another hard drive onto this little drive and have no problems with this drive. I’ve been using Sandisk products for years, especially the USB flash drives and never had an issue issue. she has either bought a lemon or she works for Samsung and is promoting their little hard drive but the only way you could tell if a drive don’t work is if you buy it yourself and see for yourself.
LITERALLY! when I watched this 4 weeks ago I had a 4tb arriving in the post around that time. I watched this and thought, I understand the concern but I’ve been using 1 other 4tb, 4 other 2 tb and a 1tb religiously. This morning that new 4tb that was in the post failed me with a wedding on it. Lila 😂(in the nicest way) I think you know something. Have they got a new hardware manufacturer or something? because they’ve been marketing the hell out of these in the last few months, maybe they knew something was going to be up… it’s sad, currently looking at diskdrill and the £90 fee. Do you have any other recovery software for mac alternatives you could recommend?
Sometimes I wonder if it has something to to with APFS. I had a Samsung SSD, used it for years on not-APFS (don’t remember), then I formatted it to APFS, used it some time and then it died. My Mac didn’t recognize it in the Finder, in the disk manager all tries to fix/repair didn’t work. Interestingly I had Windows via Bootcamp and when I used windows with the ssd attatched the ssd showed up and could be used as usual (using APFS for Windows or something like that). The Apple nor the Samsung support didn‘t know about a solition, I found it by accident. Idk if there are APFS optimized SSDs or not but if there are some, I‘d look to get those
I’ve had a samsung ssd t5 ssd for 5 years now, worked beautifully until (funny enough) the other day it got fried somehow and is trying to draw power from my computer, so it won’t read the ssd and I think it’s just done. Worked beautifully until then, now I’ll probably have to use a data recovery service when I have the time and spare money.
I always. make 2 back ups before I even start editing. I have the Non Pro version of these and they have been all good so far, Knock on wood. I actually prefer the T7. Bummer you had this happen. I also usually stick to 1-2 TB max as it is too much information to possibly loose with th 4Tb… Maybe it is just a PC problem?
Louis Rossmann also did a article last week about this issue in which he referenced an Reddit post and an email about a conversation with a SANDISK representative: according to the rep this issue is caused by more requests by the Mac(!) SSD controller than the SanDisk Controller can handle – which results in a higher probability in „accidentally flipped bits” on high capacity drives (4TB), which lead to the failure of the SSD. SanDisk supposedly silently rolled out a firmware update, which should fix the issue – if the consumer installs it.
SSDs or any memory based solutions will loose data over time if you not povering them up. HDDs on the other hand only loosing data if the moving mechanics fail overtime (7-10 years is the safe timeframe). For long term storage, I recommend two HDDs mirrored (not a true software RAID 1), both in machine and external drives. Yep, piece of mind is not cheap. Best software right now is DrivePool, which just multiplying the files on both drives at the background real time. Windows Storage Spaces putting your files in an image, not cool. There are dual bay DAS (not NAS) with USB or even eSATA connectors. FYI, also stay away from WD My Passport’s. Doesn’t have a standard SATA connectors. The USB port is soldered in their MOBOs.
bro ive had that exact 4tb SSD for almost a year now, and its never failed me. i literally upgraded it from the 500gb one which i had for over 2 years before that, which had also never failed SSDs failing is always a possibility though, theres no such thing as a failproof SSD. just keep your important data backed up on multiple drives, and youre fine
I recorded an entire wedding (I shoot wedding articles) with black magic cameras which eat up terrabytes on terrabytes. The SSD started ti act up which i thought was weird because we use the 1tb and 500gb versions and had no issues. Luckly before the SSD died I was able to move over 1.5 TB of footage. You can say I got extremly lucky. It seem sthe Sandisk 4 TB have internal heating issues, we are still trying to recover footage from other jobs on them though. Update We actually got to run miraculously after plugging it in after a few days, transfered remainder of footage and updated the firmware as recommended by the manufacturer and now it’s connecting, will update to see if more issues arise after a few days!
Three things. First yes I know this is an older article. Blame YouTube. Second, everything can fail at any point and this doesn’t mean the whole company or even model of the product is faulty. Bad lack and hardware failure can happen to everything. Third, I am not a fan of Wester Digital as I have “99%” failure rate with everything I have bought from them in the last 30 years. Exactly 30 years actually as my first WD HDD was bought back in 1994. Few years ago I decided to just stop buying them as other than the very first drive, every other one I bought was dead from arrival to a year. Every, Single, One. I have zero trust for WD and I will never buy anything again from them. BUT, and this is a huge but, the proportion of their hardware going bad on me is so ridiculously high that I can’t accept it as it being close to the real situation with the company and their products. I seriously am not blaming them. I know this is me being very unlucky with WD or I am alive in an episode of The Outer Limits or something. But having only one copy of your important files, ie you MOVED the files instead of copying them. That’s just such a mistake. I mean seriously. I have done it before, but there is no excuse for that. Unless I misunderstood what you said. Thanks for the article and I hope everything is better now.
You said that you could recover all of your files from the SSD with a recovery app: this doesn’t sound at all as an SSD failure but sounds more like a software related problem with the filesystem into the SSD was formatted. I think that this could have happened with any storage device, it was probably an issue caused from the OS.
I am also still wary with 4TB SSDs… I tried one from Samsung twice and I couldn’t even make it work on my M1. However, I have now around 6 2TB SSDs from San Disk and they have never failed me. But I wouldn’t try their 4TB SSD just yet… I think it might be more of that issue than a San Disk SSD in General. Great you got your files back! I guess you can never be 100% sure with Hard Drives- For me the Samsung T7 was causing a hell lot of problems. That’s why I also use backups. Recently one of my LaCie hard drives just decided to cause issues, So I reformatted it and put the files form the backup back on it and all was well. But in the end, you never now.
I’m from Brazil and here I’ve also read a lot of reviews about Sandisk SSD failures of different models. I’m considering buying a “Kingston XS2000 SSD” because the specification looks better than the Samsung T7. What do they tell me about Kingston? Don’t they use it in the USA? And Corsair EX100U? And Lexar? And Seagate?
They were shipped with faulty software that crashes the disc on macs. Some immediately, some much later. So, you need to upgrade the software. Problem fixed. Not ideal, but if you have one you don’t need to throw it out. Also, rule #1 with new gear. Don’t use it on a trip untested. Goes for lenses, cameras, computers, hard drives (of course), gps units, etc. Back in the bad old days, you used to buy products with a “tested” sticker on them. Not anymore. The big companies realised it was cheaper to have customers “test” their gear and just replace or do warranty fixes for those that fail. Such is life. Caveat emptor.
I am paranoid, so I have things backed up to about 10 different disks by different manufacturers every day. Well, maybe only 6 or 7 because i forget to plug everything in. These days I do more writing than I do article, so the terabyte disks are overkill, but paranoia can be useful. I wish I could say I had a weird mystery novel coming out, but I’m only partway there.
See I have the ssd sandisk usb drive. Never had an issue and I have abused it daily with plugging and and pulling out of multiple computers daily. The extreme ssd portable drive though. I’ve used 4 times. And treat it with more respect than my laptop. Welp. Now doesn’t work. Can’t even reformat it. Lost everything important. Disappointed. Luckily I do multiple different backup drives. Paranoid
When you are a creator, storage must be reliable, in 99% of cases data is 10 if not 100 or 1000 times more valuable than a drive itself. I’m looking for storage for myself I was considering SanDisk, but now I’m going to avoid even if it is 1% chance to face this kind of problem I would prefer not to risk. Now I’m between Samsung and crucial thoughts.
Dear Lila, Thank you for this very important article! I’ve just encountered your website now and you’ve got a new follower here 🙂 SanDisk had just lost yet another customer. I’m glad you’ve managed to restore your lost data. Is there a better way to backup data than a Google Drive storage? Thanks and Best Regards from Israel, Eyal 🙂
naturally i keep program files on my C drive, of course i do stuff on my D drive. but, to be safe i back that up to and F and G drives, the only difference being any files i generate i don’t bother backing up, if i need them again i can generate them. because i’m OCD i then back all that up to 2 2TB externals, again one will have everything on, and the other just the essentials. my D drive has been feeling slow though, it’s SSD so why it takes five or ten seconds to fire up i don’t know, so i thought about getting new F and G replacements (they are possibly 20 years old!) as they might be interfering with the speed (i can hear the F drive cranking up to speed and it really does take about ten seconds to wake up), so anyway, memory is much more expensive than it thought it would be and i did nothing. until last week, i found an unbranded 4TB external portable HDD for £15, so, i got two, thinking i can replace both “round and round” drives. i’ve had all kinds of problems, which i have yet to fix, they copied files okay, then decided not to copy them anymore, they appear, they act fine but as soon as i copy they freeze up. anyway, i expect i’ll stumble on a solution. if you delete files and then want them back “recuva” saved me from wiping 15 years of guitar music, photos and recordings, and it’s free and easy to use.
I’m glad you made this article. I have the SanDisk 1TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD. It’s great when it works, but it failed to mount once on a Mac. I was able to connect it to a Windows computer and recover most of the files on there, reformat it and use it for about a month. But today, it has failed to mount again. It’s not worth the trouble, and it’s a shame that SanDisk is being so dismissive about the problem these hard drives have. Thanks also for mentioning the Samsung drive. I think I’m just going to go ahead and get that instead. I second what Lila said. Stay away from it.
Sandisk should had: 1. paid for your data recovery service 2. replaced the faulty drive 3. maybe an apology would be nice too… Customer service is everything these days. Any product can fail. It’s how a company handles these situations is what really matters. They could have easily turned this article 180 degrees around if they would had cared about the customers. But they didn’t. Sad.
If you have importend stuff, you should have a minimum of 3 different brands of old school HDD drives, becourse ssd fail without signs and they loosing data with time if they are not powered periodically, and not even copied the same data on the same ssd or for other reasons. Ther are some yt articles that can explain it much better then I can. Eventually in the future ther will come out a ssd version that don’t have any of this problems, but they are only beta versions around of them for testing, they will not even loos data in 100years or much much longer and they will be cost much less then today’s ssd beside the first on the market they will cost more, becourse its new, but after a couple of years, it will be a happy data storage solution. I have forgotten what they called this storage drives.
I’m done with SanDisk! My 4TB Extreme and 2TB Extreme Pro have both failed. SanDisk/WD is sending replacements but given the number of reports of the same issues with replacements, I don’t trust them. So I’m out $580. There are at least 3 class action suits under way against SanDisk/WD but they are not taking new claims at this time.
The problem is not the Sandisk SSD, it could happen with any SSD, it actually happened to me with the Samsung T3 256 GB back in 2015, and another Samsung NVME 970 PRO that stopped working completely. You should never trust these so much’ just transfer it to your NAS as this is the most reliable option after cloud services which are super expensive
I’ve always been wary of large storage . It might have been the combo of 4T and whatever device you used. Consistent with the data being able to be retrieved. A compatibility issue. Newer storage technology with older hardware technology can be an issue. I’ve got the cheap 1T SanDisk SSD. Absolutely fine. Maybe better to buy 2 x 2T. About the same price. Reduce risk of loss. The moral of the story. 1. Try a different hardware to check if it still works. 2. Use your consumer rights as you did. 3. Make backups. Use a different technology. eg cloud, usb sticks
Wow calm down girl you are so wound up as if your family just got murdered by them or sth. Ýou have a point but production errors happen, you can’t hate on that because you probably just one of the few unlucky ones…. people with problems will make threads and posts and thats why you find others in similar situation. Unless you can factually prove that it’s a common problem you have no point. Not saying I don’t support you because I do I just think you could’ve handled the approach to this article much better.
I have a SanDisk Extreme SDSSDE61-1T00, it failed suddenly with all data gone. I did quite a few research, all methods related to software and firmware were of no help. Finally I found a resistor in the NVME card was loose and fell down when my tweezer touched. After I connect the resistor back, all the data is accessible again. Root cause is the poor soldering and design.
happy u could recover your files, this can be really frustrating. I have 2 sandisk extreeme SSD’s (2tb and 1tb). One is for backup, i always backup files. At any moment i have 2 copies of any file, i never delete files from SD card of my camera until i backed it up on the other SSD. Sandisk extreme has never failed on me even after 2 years of heavy usage, giving the fact that the 1tb is constantly plugged in my macbook, i literally edit articles straight from SSD, never copy footage to my mac (cuz my mac is only 256gb =((() P.S. I use the older generation 500mb/s, i guess newer versions have the issues.
All new technology should be tested before use. I trust tech that has been used for a while much more than brand new tech. And of course, haste makes waste, never copy valuable data to one place only. For that amount of money, you could buy a tough SATA or nVME ext USB-C case and a quality Samsung EVO SATA or nVME drive and get better performance and reliability.
I feel your pain with losing files. But you should never trust a single drive. They say “Two is one and one is none” for a reason. Even when traveling, you should have the data in two places. Yes it costs twice as much, but it’s a cost of doing business. Expect drives to fail and you won’t be disappointed. I used to use Samsung t5s, but they would constantly disconnect when trying to work. Switched to Sandisk and haven’t had issues yet. I only have 1TB drives though. I don’t think your problem is the brand of drive, I think it’s your data strategy.
If anyone else gets the “It’s never happened before – copy and paste this- ( one Google search ) “A Warning About SanDisk Extreme Pro SSDs Hello editor friends, I (a DIT) have come to deliver a warning from the camera department. A warning specifically about SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro SSDs: Multiple DITs/Loaders/ACs on both coasts have experienced the exact same failure with these drives over the last month.The symptom seems to be that after a sustained write they will completely lose their filesystem and it’s a total crap shoot whether you can recover it or not. The primary way you will see this is that the drive will unmount and you will not be able to get it to mount again, despite showing up in Disk Utility. You can sometimes recover it using DiskDrill’s filesystem rebuild, but occasionally that does nothing. It persists with any filesystem type.”
⚠Under Windows ALWAYS use “REMOVE SAFELY” before unplugging SanDisk SSD Extreme Portable! I use the 1 TB-Version in combination with a NTFS-partition. I noticed data loss, because the OS wasn’t finished with the transactions. NTFS uses a “jornal”. Within the 1st step it is writing all data to this jornal, in a 2nd step it is transfering the data to the final location to then write in the 3rd step the directory entries. I noticed this “lost data” with “chkdsk x: /f/r” and found suddenly my “lost data” in this recovered data chains. Also these drives are recognised by Windows as “USB-connected SCSI-drives” instead of “USB mass storage drives” like other USB thumb drives.
I guess the problem is with mac I have work with the sandisk in both OS and is alway ghosting my files, luckily I found a easy way to recovered with the chkdsk on the CMD of Windows buts sometimes some files are lost and then i have to use the recover to find, I still use just as an extra backup but never using in mac, and I’ll never buy again
On windows Run CHKDSK Command. The same drive failed just a few weeks ago after 1 year. Below fixed it. No problems yet \t•\tOpen Command Prompt as an administrator. (Press Win + X and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin)) \t•\tType chkdsk X: /f (replace X with your drive letter) and press Enter. \t•\tThis can sometimes fix issues that prevent the drive from being accessed.
Sadly someone did not learn a lesson from the disaster. It is not sandisk to blame. Yes the SSD is shit Sandisk produces products on the bare minimum. A lot of vendors do so. The ONLY correct answer is: Always backup before delete. With backup I do not mean copy your valuable data to an external SSD and hope it does not break. You have a NAS and did not use it. There is the mistake. If you do not use your NAS something is wrong with it. Then you should invest in a better equipment first before entrusting your luck to a external USB drive.
Since my 4tb has lasted 4 months maybe I have a good one….. Here’s the thing you can’t recommend any other external SSD’s like Samsung, Crucial, etc. Go read the 1 star reviews and look at the most recent. The same problems affect all manufacturers. Perhaps the internal ones are the way to go? Then that opens up vendors like Kingston or Patriot.
What did you expect from SanD…sorry…WD? Western Digital breaks anything they get their hands on. WD Nas drives are unreliable nowadays, they have pulled all sorts of shenanigans over the years so it’s best to avoid them all together. I’m glad you got your files back, but you learned the lesson… Always have at least two backups. EaseUS or even better Aomei Backupper have multiple sync modes even a realtime one, so you always have a backup to your NAS. And The saddest part is SanDisk used to be super reliable brand before they were acquired by Westeros Dragons. 🙂
That’s why sigma recommends LaCie rugged for their fp camera… 😅 The Samsung t7 does not have the sustained write speed performance for recording 4k 12 bit raw article whereas the older t5 did. So that tells you Samsung are no angels or their design has limited thermal performance… I’ve been using Samsung 980pro in a custom enclosure but I wonder what I’d use for travelling somewhere more wet and humid – glad I saw this vid so I can avoid sandisk. I’ve always had their thumb drives and micro ssd cards fail on me as well as it happens. In 2023, I think seagate has overtaken samsung pro with the firecudas.
I have this problem with one of their drives. I will never trust them again. 2 TB Pro. Step1: You copy your files to the drive. Step 2: Unmount it, Step 3: And that will be the last time you will see your files. Luckily, I had a copy. Update: I formatted as exFAT for a Windows machine and I only use it to transfer files from and two it and it has not failed yet.
Sounds like Apple device compatibly issues, not the Sandisk storage itself Maybe Apple is over writing the SanDisk “security” bios and trying to covert it to Apple drivers then everytime you plug it in next time, SanDisk trying to use the Apple drivers to Apple device communication and unable to recognize original drivers
Currently 11 months later it’s $250 for the standard extreme, wonder if it has become more reliable. I have a one terabyte. That’s been working fine for a while. PS I use it for content that exists in a cloud, but it is kept locally so I can always re-download it so reliability, while preferred is not as mission critical in the same way as it would be for original files
amazon and ebay and other sites like them the CEO’s of these sites know whats going on but yet they wont band these venders that sell junk on their sites because of the venders fee that gets paid to them but god forbid you should make or call out any vender on a bad product review your as get band really fast for making honest reviews of a product that was junk.
Had an issue with my files here and I am going crazy. Its only 500 gb of files but lost in one go. I did everything. But it has the no media issue. Tried trouble shooting and nothing is working. Also did chipgenius hack and not working because there was no Vendor Controller info while fixing this piece of crap. All is lost
Same experience, I bought the same ssd but 512gb for my daily transfer. While transferring my files it suddenly stop. I tried to contact the sandisk shop where i bought it and they replaced it with a new one but it took them 1 month. And all my files are gone. Unfortunately, the new one is also acting weird. I can use cable that came in the box of sandisk on my macbook but I cannot use the same cable on other devices like into my iphone 15pm or to my other windows laptop, I need to use other cable (which is unfortunate since my extra cables are slow) then if i use my slow cables my macbook cannot detect my ssd. One thing thats really frustrating is that even though I use the original cable of the ssd, sometimes my macbook cannot recognized the ssd at all PS: I also have samsung external ssd and works fine and definitely better which I bought after i sent back the ssd sandisk for replacement, and use the any cables and it just works fine.
I got the extreme pro 2TB fail after 2 months and I used the drive less than 5-6 times total… I lost all my thesis/final project for my grad program… Never buying sandisk again i simply can’t trust them anymore! They offered me to replace my hard drive when I asked to return it and get a refund but they said no to that… I am too scared the new drive would also potentially fail so no thank you Sandisk…
I had the same issue with my Sandisk Extreme 4TB and my Mac M1 Pro 14 inch, so frustrating. I’m returning it to the seller, we should all make a lawsuit to Sandisk for this, I’ve read so much people with the same experience with this Sandisk Extreme 4TB. I had a Sandisk Extreme 2TB without any issues though, I think the problem comes from the tiny space for the 4TB and the temperature they work in.
try Seagate Ext hard drives there the best ones out there do not do a wd with is a Western Digital as they suck but Seagate Ext drives work great I have never had anything wrong with them and yes SanDisk sucks i never buy them lol and Samsung is some what ok but like I said Seagate drives are best out there !
Drive dying is normal. Unfortunately, the customer service you received is becoming more common. This is the kind of situation where you should be able to walk into any store that sells the product and have it replaced. The store can get reimbursed by the manufacturer. But that’s not how it works, is it? 🙂
I bought a 5TB San Disk from Amazon and it just won’t read on any computer. I really should have told Amazon and tried to get my money back. I just used it as a Time Machine back up and I didn’t lose anything I couldn’t recover, so I pretty much just took it dry. I honestly thought ot was cause I didn’t properly eject it. Lol. Is the ejecting thing just a myth? Or can you really lose everything?
I’ve been using Samsung SSDs for years for my OS drive on my desktop with no problems EXCEPT for Samsung Data Migration software, I’ve lost BOTH Origin and Destination operating systems with the same error of Boot Mgr Missing, thought I’d transfer OS from 500mb SSD to 2tb SSD, ended up reloading OS on original 500mb SSD, finally a couple wks later I hooked up the 2tb to another SATA cable and when I rebooted from my 500 the 2tb automatically triggered chkdisk program, it fixed the boot prob on 2tb!
I had ordered one of the Sandisk Extreme Portable U3.1 4TB in February. As I check all of my drives’ SMART statuses with an app called “DriveDX”, I received massive pre-fail-indications for this drive as soon as it was plugged in. I had had also great problems to format the drive before, so I contacted Alternate to have it replaced. They did so and as soon as I plugged in the replaced drive, the same thing happened. First I thought it was because the SMART data couldn’t be read properly, so I tried to ignore it. But only after a few days, the drive was getting into serious read and write problems and eventually blocked (it could mount though). I decided not to try my luck again and Alternate kindly refunded my purchase. My solution: I put a Crucial P3 4TB NVMe SSD into an Acasis Thunderbolt 3/4 enclosure. I get maximum performance of 2530 MB/s write and 2240 MB/s read on a Mac, which is much faster than the Sandisk, and cost me altogether 359,98 EUR at Amazon (which is LESS THAN THE SANDISK!) and it has a similar form factor (it’s only a bit thicker). And the best: no more SMART alerts, the disk is running like a charm. I also have a second one with a Samsung Pro 2TB inside with no problems. It’s even faster. I highly recommend this route, as anyone can mount an SSD into an enclosure!
Yup, I bought one of these* (4TB) for MacMini TimeMachine – and it failed 10 days later. Scrubbed-it down (not easy, when not recognised)😮 Got Amazon refund. Another 1TB one working ok – but was for occasional (photos) use and not connected 24/7. Thought maybe it was a freak flaw, so bought another one. Worked ok for 5 weeks, then failed. Amazon came good and gave me a refund, Now looking for an alternative SSD for TimeMachine – to avoid latency when using “Save As” *SanDisk Extreme Pro 4TB Portable NVMe SSD
You transferred 1.7Gb and didn’t check right after the transfer? (not “a few days later”) sandisk response was pathetic but as a creator there is no way you only have one copy of your files (moving files to an ssd is not a backup) I just “create” home articles and I always have multiple back ups of my files And the “I have seen a lot of people having the same issues on twitter” is totally pointless you have hundreds of thousands of followers they will agree with you no matter what you say, I dont have to scroll the comments to find the usual “the same happened to me” And an affiliate link to the “suggestion” (an ssd that you have used for a few days and you “highly recommend” LOL) so you get money from the purchases
I wish i had seen this article before i ordered a handful of high capacity flash drives (128 GB and 256 GB), half from SanDisk as I trusted them for all the tiny camera cards i used by them through the years. I just bought a 6 TB Seagate portable HDD to back up my YouTube website. I hope 6 TB is big enough for 770 articles over 12 years. I still have not learned how to format this new Seagate.
May 22, 2023: Article I just read online: “According to Ars Technica, SanDisk’s parent company Western Digital is aware of the issue and has resolved the problem with a new firmware that it will make available soon. The company reports that it will make the firmware available for two models, the SDSSDE61-4T00 and SDSSDE81-4T00, which are respectively, the 4TB SanDisk Extreme and 4TB Extreme Pro SSD models. Now, while this is great for people that own those models, it’s not so great for people that own other models of the drive with the same problem. While an update is coming soon for the 4TB model, the company wasn’t clear on when this would be made available. And even though you haven’t experienced any problems, it might be worth applying the update to get a bit more peace of mind, especially if your work relies on it. We’ll be sure to update this post if we hear anything back from SanDisk.”
The old spinning drives – I emptied a drawer full of dead ones last year ( 20 drives – over 10 years failure ). So they were failing about 2 a year. So now my archives consist of 2 copies in house and a copy on the cloud – Backblaze. And as far as what make were they – Last year I took them all apart, and the hard drive manufacturer of the actual drive in most cases was not the product I bought. Lacie was the worst- it’s like anything that happened to be cheap when building, they used. I did read last year that there was a chip shortage and SSD companies were using pretty much anything they could get to keep building product. It’s funny that my whole life when I have had problems with something and contact support – I am always according to them – the first person that has ever complained. Funny how that happens.
I have a couple of Samsung 2TB’s as well, but more recently over the last year or so I have been using Kingston X2000 series ones 2TB and 4TB and they have been really good to me. They are cheaper here in Malaysia and made sense. However I do have backups for everything, so that I don’t have to go through the pain you are going through. PS – A Sandisk SSD did fail on me as well. I stopped using it
To be honest whatever brand you buy you are gonna have people complaining about this issue, I could google the Samsung one you mention and find tons of bad reviews about it with the same issue, does that mean is a bad brand/device? probably not, but when you sell millions of a product there is bound to be hundreds or thousands of them that are defective and usually the people that get those are very vocal about it.
I’ve had a 2TB Sandisk Extreme for about 2 years now, and just a couple of days ago it decided to stop allowing me to send or receive files. I can still review everything on it, but I just can’t transfer files on it anymore. I ran virus checks etc… on my laptop (having no issues), and it definitely is the SanDisk which is malfunctioning. I’ve decided NOT to install it in my laptop anymore so as NOT to risk possibly harming my laptop. I guess I’ll make a paperweight out of it. Fortunately, I have everything backed up on a 2nd 2 TB SanDisk Extreme SSD (lol). I just ordered a protective case for this 2nd one, and am now in the process of looking into purchasing another 2 TB backup from a different brand. The WD My Passport SSD looks promising. I’m going to subscribe to your website, and take a look through your catalog of articles later. Thanks for sharing.
How was that drive formatted, and were you using Ventura or Sonoma at that time. I found your article because I am looking for a portable drive for a MBP M2 Pro running Ventura. My research has told me that people updating to Sonoma have suddenly found external drives no longer worked on their Macs. exFAT is apparently the format to go with, and especially if you want to share files between Mac and Windows. There’s a good chance that all you needed to do to retrieve your files was to plug the drive into a Windows system, but ‘d need a friend with drive space to share and you’d need a working drive (or drives) to save the files back to. I know I will definitely not be updating to Sonoma any time soon. You didn’t tell us how you handle your external storage now? Do you a bunch of 1Tb drives? Have you found a larger capacity drive that has proved reliable? Any Windows users out there who have had this drive fail? Or is it only happening with Macs, and if yes, which OS version?
1TB SanDisk Extreme SSD failed on me. It doesn’t even show up in the Disk Utilty on my MacBook Air. I upgraded the operating system, but didn’t fix it. When I look up the status of the USB-C port, it recognizes that something is there, but I might as well be connected to a potato because there is NO action. Same when connecting to my Dell laptop running Windows.