- There are reports of an error with the August update for Windows 11
- It can apparently cause SSDs to fail in a small number of reported cases
- We can’t jump to conclusions that this is Microsoft’s fault yet – but this is a troubling -sounding situation that bears surveillance
Windows 11 may have run into trouble with its latest update, which may be breaking some SSDs, but at this point we have to be very careful as there are just scattered reports on this topic.
This comes from WCCFTECH, who noticed a post from a Japanese Windows 11 user (necoru_cat) on X that marks the problem.
To summarize the reported error, we are told that it is caused by the KB5063878 (Windows 11 update for August, which has been out for a week) and that an affected SSD disappears completely from Microsofts OS.
This “occurs during heavy writing operations”, apparently, which means a major installation or patch, with the report suggesting that the error can be triggered with 50 GB of continuous writing activity on the drive. Necoru_cat encountered the problem when using a large patch for cyberpunk 2077.
The X user points the finger to suspicion that this is a problem with the drivecache, and has apparently performed a lot of tests, suggesting that SSDs with Phison Nand controllers may be more likely to this error.
As mentioned, if an SSD is affected by this error, it is no longer recognized by Windows 11 and the drive partition disappears. Worrying, we are told that if this happens, there is a “high probability of file corruption”, but again, season it – and this whole report – liberally.
Analysis: Don’t be scared – yet – but be careful
As I have already indicated, we have to be very careful to jump to conclusions here. Is this really a problem that can be blamed on the latest Windows 11 update? We don’t know, and we certainly can’t go past a single report on the error (although it was apparently an extensive dive into the fail).
However, I have made some searches for other reports of this problem and I have shown some confused people who have apparently run into it. There are several people in this Reddit wire who say they have been affected by this error, including a report on an ADATA SP580 SSD that goes down in flames.
As far as affected models are concerned, according to a list from nichepcgamer, as WCCFTECH pointed out, as well as SSDs with Phison PS5012 -E12 -Controller, the following models could be affected: Corsair Force MP600, Kioxia excerpt plus G4, FIKWOT FN955, and Sandisk Extreme Pro M.2 3D SSD -so we can adat SP5) to that list.
There may also be “similar symptoms” with hard drives we are told, but all reports appear to be SSD-related as far as I can see.
In any case, although this still seems to be a niche problem, there is enough here that my bug senses the dot as it was. And given how ugly this glitch sounds, I think it’s worth making people aware of it. In fact, I think it is a wise caution that maybe not performing any major installations or patches for the time being if you are running the latest Windows 11 update – if you can avoid it – at least until we hear more about what might be going on here, or an official word from Microsoft.
Some have raised the theory that it is rather than an actual error in the Windows 11 update for August is a case of what the update does – in terms of its writing activity for the system -driven – that triggers an error in some SSDs (Western digital models to be precise). But that doesn’t explain why different SSD types would be affected (or actually hard drives, apparently).
We need to hear more from Microsoft about this, and hopefully the company will be on the matter and investigate these reports. I’ve contacted Microsoft about this error and I’ll update this story if I hear back.
