Samsung 980 Pro SSD owners encouraged to apply firmware update to prevent sudden failure

Apparently, certain revisions of the Samsung 980 Pro series of SSDs suddenly switch to read-only mode, preventing new files from being written and the installed operating system from booting.

Whether it’s your mobile phone, or a specific component in the PC you’re working on, optimizing performance or addressing reliability issues through firmware updates is a very common practice. Storage devices (HDD or SSD) are no exception to this rule, with any reputable manufacturer providing easy means for firmware upgrades.

In this case, we have Samsung Magician, the application available for most PC operating systems assisting in monitoring the operating status of supported storage devices. For example, users are helped to migrate important data from their previously used storage device and can even access certain functions that affect the performance and longevity of the newly installed SSD. For example, they can check whether the connection interface is operating at optimal connection speeds, tick certain options for further performance optimisation and adjust the so-called Over-Provisioning function, opting to increase endurance over time or maximise available storage capacity.

Another reason why you should have apps like Samsung Magician installed on your Samsung storage devices is the automatic firmware update availability check function. In this case, omitting the latest firmware version distributed for Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSDs leaves the devices vulnerable to a bug that can spontaneously manifest itself, blocking new data from being written to Flash storage. Once this problem is encountered, the only workaround is to reset the SSD, with the loss of previously stored data.

Since only certain Samsung 980 Pro revisions are affected, users are directed to use the Samsung Magician application to determine and possibly correct this issue for the copy installed in the PC.