Crucial issues RealSSD C300 firmware fix, bricks more drives

Crucial's RealSSD C300 had a sizable problem coming out of the gate: price. Initially starting at $800 for 64GB 256GB it cost more than most laptops (it's now down to $700), but crazy people pay crazy amounts for crazy performance and so off to retail it went. Recently, Anand over at AnandTech indicated that his review sample "apparently bricked itself" before eventually coming back to life -- albeit at a ridiculously reduced speed. Yesterday Crucial issued an official firmware "fix" for his particular problem and, as you could probably tell by the use of quotes there, it isn't necessarily a good thing. Numerous people in the Crucial forums are reporting that this update has completely bricked their drives, while others are simply unable to apply it in the first place. This particular piece of firmware is still no longer available on Crucial's site (version 0002), and we would definitely advise steering clear until at least version 0003 -- maybe 0004 for good measure.

Update: We heard from Kristin at Micron Technology, who passed along the following update:

We wanted to let you know that we're aware of the issues some users are experiencing with the firmware update tool. Initially, it sounds like there needs to be some additional steps in the process for their specific systems. As you know, aside from the issues experienced, there were/are several users that had success with their updates.

We'll post an update on the forum as soon as we have more information, and will keep you apprised with what we know.

Additionally, we had the pricing wrong on the initial C300. It was $800 for 256GB, not 64GB.

Update 2: We got another update from Micron. The troublesome firmware has been pulled, and we have a new statement after the break.

The latest from Micron:

As you know, we pulled the v0002 firmware update from the Crucial.com support site on Wednesday, May 5th. We did this to allow our product engineering team time to evaluate reported issues. We have identified a compatibility issue between the update tool and certain motherboards. There are no known issues with the firmware itself. We are revising the update tool to eliminate the known compatibility issues. We plan to begin testing and validating the new update tool early next week (week of May 10th), and we'll continue to keep you updated.

Although the majority of customers that downloaded the firmware have seen no issues with the update, our goal is to protect customers that may encounter issues.

[skyblaze Posted May 5th 2010 11:29AM]

things seem to be getting...

*puts on sunglasses*

crucial

YEAHHHHH

[cashclientel Posted May 5th 2010 11:32AM]

@skyblaze but will their customers get fooled again?

[dingus Posted May 5th 2010 11:36AM]

@skyblaze

Bricked? Things are about to get...

*puts on sunglasses*

heavy.

YEAHHHHHHH

[buoy Posted May 5th 2010 12:04PM]

I think so far it's crucially safe to say...

*puts on sunglasses*

that the crucial data is far from safe.

YYEEEAAAAHHH!!!!

[Kyzgar Posted May 5th 2010 1:05PM]

@skyblaze
It was crucial that I add my response... so here it is. :)

Anyway, I feel sorry for anyone who has a bricked drive. When a person pays hundreds of bucks for a SSD, getting a cheap HDD for backing it up should be a no-brainer. Keeping the data on a drive safe should be the number one goal of drive manufacturers. I have a 64GB Crucial SSD at home that I use for gaming (load times are awesome), and I'm happy to report no problems with it, but it's using an Indilinx controller.

[smithers Posted May 5th 2010 1:32PM]

@buoy

After the first 2 times a joke is said...

*takes off sunglasses*

It's usually not funny anymore

YEAHHHH

[DaMaDo Posted May 5th 2010 1:41PM]

I have the 256 version but got it for $200 off the regular price, still expensive...although I did enjoy installing Win 7 from a flash drive in about 3 minutes =)

It looks like I'll be waiting a bit before using this firmware...

[KAL326 Posted May 5th 2010 1:50PM]

@smithers Nah, we'll just treat it like Apple news. Post slightly different variations of the same thing over and over, and over again.

Jokes? Things are about to get...

*Puts on sunglasses*

Punny.

[Atkins Posted May 5th 2010 11:30AM]

They need a crucial firmware now.

[alixzibit Posted May 5th 2010 11:40AM]

this will cause a crucial dent to their reputation

[Atkins Posted May 5th 2010 11:43AM]

Currently Crucial's customers curse the crap Crucial created.

[Liselotte Posted May 5th 2010 12:00PM]

@Atkins lol thats alot of Cs :D

[cashclientel Posted May 5th 2010 12:07PM]

@Liselotte There's actually more r's

[juanvaldez Posted May 5th 2010 12:24PM]

@cashclientel actually there's more Cs and I think alliteration, the OPs technique of choice, focus is intended to go on the initial sound. Comment fail, unless I messed up with my comparison on Cs to Rs, though I don't think I did or care if I did.

[Atkins Posted May 5th 2010 12:41PM]

@juanvaldez Oh come on, just tried to make a joke, is it really so bad?

[cunnilingus Posted May 5th 2010 11:43AM]

Getting everything right the first time is, well, crucial!

[r3loaded Posted May 5th 2010 11:43AM]

Except that Crucial don't make a 64GB C300...and it's only the 256GB model that costs ~$800. Quite similar to the pricing of your garden-variety SATA 2 Indilinx drive.

I personally can't fault their RMA process though, my M225 died a couple of months ago, I had a shiny new drive within 3 working days of filing the RMA. The 5-year warranty is also comforting.

[tobsmonster2 Posted May 5th 2010 11:48AM]

Servers them right...
You fail if you get what I did there.

[buoy Posted May 5th 2010 11:56AM]

and the irony... the name is "Crucial". lol.

[fast Posted May 5th 2010 12:19PM]

...this is an example of why people should stick with intel and gskill untill all these other brands get on the same page.

[SSD Posted May 5th 2010 12:42PM]

@fast, Intel had similar problems last year. Always wait a month or two before jumping on the latest firmware Especially when the safety of your data is involved.

[fast Posted May 5th 2010 3:18PM]

@SSD True, but I would not pick Intel for the poster boy of arriving at the ssd game unprepared, and these good folks at Crucial and some other brands are really pushing it now. Droping the ball way too much to take center stage at all. Suddenly even brands that didn't have any position in data storage understood there was an easy dollar/euro to be made and consumers are getting shafted.

[rwgove Posted May 5th 2010 12:45PM]

I'll admit that im one of the crazies who bought this bad boy on day one and plugged it into the ga-x58a-ud7 for some crazy performance. i havent had an issue since day one. i have like twelve programs open in the taskbar when windows starts and i havent even bothered to figure out which ones i dont really need because it's so freaking fast. if i had played with the firmware, maybe id be complaining, but im in the middle of an ME2 playthrugh and i dont want to deal with migrating my steam achievements.

[pankomputerek Posted May 5th 2010 1:09PM]

Software Update X.XX
New Features: Bricking
-Even more bricking
-and if your drive survived maybe some improvements...

[badasscat Posted May 5th 2010 3:00PM]

I laughed at "several users" having success at installing the update.

[Krispy Posted May 5th 2010 5:29PM]

this is what happens when your dumb enough to spend 800 bucks on a ssd

[BOGRASH Posted May 6th 2010 6:01AM]

Hey! Crucial! Leave them drives alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the mall.