Tom"s Hardware reports that online retailers including Newegg have pulled Intel"s latest SSD (Solid State Disk) from their websites just days after being made publicly available. This was due to a defect in the disk"s firmware that was discovered in the first batch which shipped last week, according to a blog post written by OEM system builder Puget Systems.
Consumers who have already purchased the new 34nm "Postville" SSDs may face several issues, including data corruption when adding, deleting, or modifying the drive"s password in the BIOS. "Initially we were told this might require a complete reworking of the drives, and that those we had gotten in were effectively unusable, but Intel was able to work out a firmware fix for the problem," said Puget"s William George. "That won"t be available immediately, but should be showing up in about two weeks."
Intel has since halted shipments of the "Postville" SSDs until the problem has been resolved. For those consumers who have already purchased the drive and have no plans to use a BIOS password on the drive, there should be no problems; however Intel is advising that consumers do not alter, delete, or create BIOS passwords until the drive has been flashed with updated firmware to correct the issue.
"It made sense to pause shipments and implement the changes ourselves and via customers versus asking consumers to do so," Intel told Tom"s in an email earlier today. "Keep in mind the fix has been identified and validation is undergoing completion this week."
The updated firmware will be available on Intel"s website when it is ready.
Thanks to Neowin member master2k27 for the news tip!