Recent weeks have seen a flurry of reports and social media videos blaming specific Windows 11 security updates for causing Solid State Drives (SSDs) to fail. However, a deeper investigation reveals the issue is more complex than initial reports suggested, pointing to a different culprit entirely.
The Initial Reports and Widespread Blame
Prominent tech YouTubers and creators on platforms like TikTok began reporting that two Windows 11 updates, KB5063878 and KB5062660, were causing significant problems. These issues primarily affected SSDs that utilize controllers manufactured by Phison. Videos, such as one from JayzTwoCents, showed dramatic failures where a Crucial T500 drive (featuring a Phison E25 controller) would crash and require a full power cycle to function again. This led to a swift and widespread narrative that Microsoft's latest security patches were to blame, a theory that gained traction due to the company's historical challenges with update stability.
Phison's Investigation and Findings
In response to these claims, Phison, the SSD controller company at the center of the controversy, conducted its own investigation. Michael Wu, GM and President of Phison US, provided a statement that shifted the focus away from Microsoft's updates. The company identified that many of the problematic drives featured in these reports were not running consumer-ready firmware.
Phison's analysis concluded that the failures were replicated on drives using "engineering preview firmware" or "early versions of firmware and BIOS." These are performance preview versions provided to media and reviewers for early testing and are not the same final firmware distributed to consumers through official channels. The company specifically examined the SSDs used by the PCDIY! community and confirmed they were running a preview firmware not found in retail Corsair Force Series MP600 SSDs.
Testing on Consumer Hardware
Crucially, Phison stated that when the same tests were performed on SSDs with official consumer firmware, no crashes or failures occurred. This suggests that the compatibility issue lies between the Windows updates and these pre-release firmware versions, not the publicly available software and hardware.
Microsoft's Official Stance
Microsoft had previously stated that its own investigation found "no connection" between its security updates and the reported SSD failures. Phison's findings appear to support Microsoft's position, indicating that the problem originated from the use of non-retail hardware components in testing environments rather than a flaw in the Windows updates themselves.
This incident highlights the challenges of diagnosing tech problems in a landscape where pre-release hardware is often used for public benchmarking and review. It also serves as a reminder for enthusiasts and reviewers to ensure they are using the latest official firmware updates provided by manufacturers before reporting on widespread issues.
