SanDisk Extreme SSD Failure: Data Protection and Recovery Tips

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSDs have been reported to fail abruptly, causing data loss for their users. SanDisk has stated that they are working on a firmware update for affected drives, but it is unclear when this update will be released or if it will be available for all affected models. EaseUS has compiled user feedback from some community posts, hoping to provide valuable information and assistance from data security and management perspectives.

Related discussions appeared quite a long time ago.  And a Twitter user reported this early in March. 

Yeup. Never buying anything Sandisk ever again.

I thought it was just the new versions of these ssd’s (ones with orange ring instead of red) that were failing,

but even the earlier v1 and v2’s are failing. This is my 2nd in 6 months@SanDisk pic.twitter.com/dfwK5Vqq7n

— Levi Allen (@theleviallen) March 25, 2023

We carefully checked the related discussions and recorded users' exact problems with the SanDisk Extreme SSDs. Then, we invited our data recovery expert to analyze the possible reasons behind each of them and suggested targeting the problem with tips to avoid further damage to the disk and prepare for a higher success rate for future data recovery. This article may be helpful if you have related needs before WD releases the official firmware! 

For Windows users, mainly eight types of failure were reported

1. 1. Accessing the files can be very slow; 
2. 2. File reading stuck, and it takes an extremely long time to play a video; 
3. 3. Deleting files becomes not smooth, obviously slow than usual; 

A user named "puzzler" posted in the SanDisk forum that he experienced all the above:

If you encountered this, here are some tips to avoid further damage to your SanDisk Extreme SSD and improve the recovery quality.
 
Check the disk health state with a reliable tool
This will directly indicate the disk's general state. And there is a lot of tutorial on this. PCMag ever wrote an article on how to check disk health. We included the link for your reference. 
 
If the disk health condition is bad, you can do nothing but wait for the official solution.

If the health score is quite good, check the Disk I/O functionality with a reliable tool or you can run the disk I/O test on Windows on your own. 
 
We emphasize "reliable" as the scan process can pose new damage to your disk, so be sure that your tools are good enough to avoid any new risks. 
 
If I/O is the problem, you can do anything to improve it, but wait.
But if the problem is still not targeted, it's probably caused by a bad sector. Or there will be no reason for those symptoms. 
 
Unfortunately, the above problems caused data loss, and no data recovery software can help. You can only wait for the firmware to be released or ask for a mechanism data recovery service, which is very expensive. 

What to do to protect the data in these situations? 

Other common failures for Windows users are: 

4. suddenly wiping data in use; 
5. SanDisk Extreme SSD is not visible, but in some cases, you can still find it in Windows Disk Management; 
6. The Disk becomes raw in Disk Management; 

7. Shows up a window says the disk is not accessible 
8. Pomping up a window requires a format before it can be used. 

These situations are probably caused by the broken file system, which involves a lot of detail factors. EaseUS data recovery expert gives the same opinion as many users - the adaptability of Exfat on SSD may cause all these problems to be compatible with both Windows and Mac. Damage to DBR, MBR, or other files in the file system may cause such issues. 
 
But in general, dealing with these types of data loss will be much easier. And if the problem is caused only by the file system, there is a great chance that lost data can be rescued with the help of data recovery software, and sometimes may need the help of an online recovery service, still don't need an expensive on-site data recovery service. 
 
What's worse is that you have experienced the above two kinds of problems. The only thing should do is to make a backup of the disk. And try every recovery attempt on the backup disk, like suggested above. Then, don't do any operation on the SanDisk Extreme Disk.

For Mac users, the most reported problem is the SSD can't be mounted.

EaseUS Mac data recovery expert thinks it's probably because of unstable power supply, I/O performance, or reading and writing capability, which causes the file system can't be recognized, so it kept being asked to mount. So, the unmount case needs to wait for the firmware release. If you need data recovery, recovery software can help.

Ultimate Tips

Always back up important data. A lot of backup tools are available, helping the backup process automatically happen without too much work involved. And upon the 3-2-1 backup rules, EaesUS recommend the updated golden backup rule.

EaseUS Would Like to Help

Western Digital hasn't released the claimed firmware yet. And EaseUS noticed that some users hope to get their important data back ASAP. At this time point, EaseUS would like to offer SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD users a license key to the Pro version of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to try their luck in the cases that data recovery software can help. (From the original Reddit post, some users covered their data with this tool. ) This offer will be valid until June 30th,2023.
 
And if you know anyone who may be in such a need, please feel free to let them know this info. Hope we can offer some least help!
 

PS. We will also sync the info EaseUS collected with the OP of warning Reddit, who is gathering related info and trying to address the SSD problem with a colleague in SanDisk.