Do you think it’s not newsworthy if a manufacturer sells drives with a history of failures, releases a firmware update they claim will fix the issue, sends a replacement drive that also fails, and continues to sell the drives at a deep discount?
It’s definitely newsworthy, and the ars article is at least a bit more balanced. My main issue is the “I trusted my data to a single USB device, and was then furious when it died” clickbait. These journalists should know better than to store critical data in a single place.
If you can’t RMA the drives then that is a bigger problem, but that comes down to the consumer protection laws you have in your country.
These journalists should know better than to store critical data in a single place.
This again. Kindly point out to me where in the article they say they do not have another copy of that data. This is not an article about backup strategies, it is about repeated hardware failure and a known issue that is not being addressed by its manufacturer while selling affected drives at discount price.
I did read it, and that was the point that jumped out at me as worth commenting on.
The rest of the WD RMA fuckery wasn’t really that unexpected, although definitely disappointing. If the article had focused on that I wouldn’t even have commented.
I have since found out that these drives are used as the storage for some video cameras, which is definitely a use case where backups are not feasible, and maybe that is what happened to the Verge.
But in all other uses, we should strive to have backups for our data, and given most people don’t backup correctly (myself included) it’s always worth having a reminder of the that… And to be clear, I’m not saying you need to have RAID99 zfs, even a second disk with a manual copy could save a ton of heartache and stress.
Karma farming? If you say so, don’t think it worked. And I’ve given everyone ample opportunity to downvote me as penance.
I am just not happy with the way that article was written, and I expressed that (poorly, it seems). The Verge cheap shot at the end was maybe a bit mean, but hey, not all jokes land, my bad.
Anyway, seems like at the worst this discussion has brought a lot of attention to WDs product issues, and some light awareness of the importance of backups, so hopefully some good came from it.
In the article they point out their first drive failed and sandisk replaced it. Now the replacement is dying in the same way. And the drive just so happens to be on clearance now, as if they’re trying to clear out stock.
Also, it’s an SSD, so it’s not a mechanical failure.
SSDs can fail at random as well. Often with less warning. It’s definitely newsworthy that there are lots of these failures, but the “We lost 3tb of data” angle is bullshit. The correct response to a USB drive dying should be “Bummer, RMA it, and get a copy from the NAS/cloud/resilient storage”
The fact that it was a known issue, should have clued them in that maybe it should be used for memes, NFTs, and other crap that means absolutely nothing in the real world.
Aside from design defects, most items havr a bathtub curve for reliability. Stuff either fails very early on, or very late.
These drives are obviously defective. But USB harddrives in general should be used for copying data from point A to B, or storing secondary/tertiary copies of data. But definitely not long term storage of valuable data.
It’s not bullshit. The Verge is a consumer website. It’s absolutely relevant to inform consumers of a drive during twice and a company perhaps trying to cover up a defect in this way. The rest of us don’t care about what the verge does with their data, we care if it happens to us if we buy the product. I don’t care if I have a backup, I don’t want to buy an unreliable product.
Properly informing consumers should also involve reminding them that regardless of how “reliable” a drive is, failures can and will happen. And while these drives may be worse, a backup strategy is really the only way to be sure your data is actually safe.
I am not annoyed about the article existing, it absolutely should exist. And you should keep its message in mind when buying a drive. But you should also keep in mind the value of your data, that all drives will fail one way or another, and at least consider some form of backup.
Yeah, that’s bad, but maybe not surprising either. At that point insist on a refund (consumer protection laws are important) and go buy something else.
But definitely don’t put 3tb of critical unbackedup data on it and hope for the best.
“I have a defective drive, therefore all drives are defective”
Storage can fail at any time, that’s why important data should be backed up.
Dunno what more to expect from the Verge. Have they tried putting thermal paste on it?
Are you willing to accept an article from Ars Technica? https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/sandisk-extreme-ssds-keep-abruptly-failing-firmware-fix-for-only-some-promised/
Do you think it’s not newsworthy if a manufacturer sells drives with a history of failures, releases a firmware update they claim will fix the issue, sends a replacement drive that also fails, and continues to sell the drives at a deep discount?
The news can be legit and the Verge can suck simultaneously.
Yes, please. The Verge can suck it every day forever and ever. Sometimes they still share real news, that doesn’t stop them from sucking.
It’s definitely newsworthy, and the ars article is at least a bit more balanced. My main issue is the “I trusted my data to a single USB device, and was then furious when it died” clickbait. These journalists should know better than to store critical data in a single place.
If you can’t RMA the drives then that is a bigger problem, but that comes down to the consumer protection laws you have in your country.
This again. Kindly point out to me where in the article they say they do not have another copy of that data. This is not an article about backup strategies, it is about repeated hardware failure and a known issue that is not being addressed by its manufacturer while selling affected drives at discount price.
If they have a backup they wouldn’t have lost anything. Data is only lost when you no long have access to the last copy.
The article should have just kept to the repeated hardware failure, and not waffled on about the lost data.
Thanks for the edit, I was not aware of that either.
OP should have posted this one, not that The Verge crap.
Did like none of y’all read the article?
We truly are on a Reddit clone.
They don’t send their best…
I did read it, and that was the point that jumped out at me as worth commenting on.
The rest of the WD RMA fuckery wasn’t really that unexpected, although definitely disappointing. If the article had focused on that I wouldn’t even have commented.
I have since found out that these drives are used as the storage for some video cameras, which is definitely a use case where backups are not feasible, and maybe that is what happened to the Verge.
But in all other uses, we should strive to have backups for our data, and given most people don’t backup correctly (myself included) it’s always worth having a reminder of the that… And to be clear, I’m not saying you need to have RAID99 zfs, even a second disk with a manual copy could save a ton of heartache and stress.
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Karma farming? If you say so, don’t think it worked. And I’ve given everyone ample opportunity to downvote me as penance.
I am just not happy with the way that article was written, and I expressed that (poorly, it seems). The Verge cheap shot at the end was maybe a bit mean, but hey, not all jokes land, my bad.
Anyway, seems like at the worst this discussion has brought a lot of attention to WDs product issues, and some light awareness of the importance of backups, so hopefully some good came from it.
In the article they point out their first drive failed and sandisk replaced it. Now the replacement is dying in the same way. And the drive just so happens to be on clearance now, as if they’re trying to clear out stock.
Also, it’s an SSD, so it’s not a mechanical failure.
SSDs can fail at random as well. Often with less warning. It’s definitely newsworthy that there are lots of these failures, but the “We lost 3tb of data” angle is bullshit. The correct response to a USB drive dying should be “Bummer, RMA it, and get a copy from the NAS/cloud/resilient storage”
In 2 months though?
The fact that it was a known issue, should have clued them in that maybe it should be used for memes, NFTs, and other crap that means absolutely nothing in the real world.
Aside from design defects, most items havr a bathtub curve for reliability. Stuff either fails very early on, or very late.
These drives are obviously defective. But USB harddrives in general should be used for copying data from point A to B, or storing secondary/tertiary copies of data. But definitely not long term storage of valuable data.
Agreed, all my external drives are backups of music, ebooks, and porn.
It’s not bullshit. The Verge is a consumer website. It’s absolutely relevant to inform consumers of a drive during twice and a company perhaps trying to cover up a defect in this way. The rest of us don’t care about what the verge does with their data, we care if it happens to us if we buy the product. I don’t care if I have a backup, I don’t want to buy an unreliable product.
Properly informing consumers should also involve reminding them that regardless of how “reliable” a drive is, failures can and will happen. And while these drives may be worse, a backup strategy is really the only way to be sure your data is actually safe.
I am not annoyed about the article existing, it absolutely should exist. And you should keep its message in mind when buying a drive. But you should also keep in mind the value of your data, that all drives will fail one way or another, and at least consider some form of backup.
Yes, we get it.
Don’t blame the victim here; concentrator on the company being shitty and recommend the victim use backups so they don’t get screwed in the future.
I get what you’re saying, but this was about the RMA replacement also failing.
Yeah, that’s bad, but maybe not surprising either. At that point insist on a refund (consumer protection laws are important) and go buy something else.
But definitely don’t put 3tb of critical unbackedup data on it and hope for the best.
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