SanDisk Extreme SSDs are ‘worthless’, multiple lawsuits against WD say – Ars Technica

On Thursday, two more lawsuits were filed against Western Digital over SanDisk Extreme Series and My Passport portable SSDs. This brings the number of class action complaints filed against Western Digital to three in two days.

In May, Ars Technica reported on the customer complaints which claimed that SanDisk Extreme SSDs were suddenly wiping data and becoming unmountable. Ars senior editor Lee Hutchinson also had this problem with two extreme SSDs. Western Digital, which owns SanDisk, has released a firmware to update In late May, saying that currently the product shipment is not affected. But the company did not mention customer complaints about data loss, only that drives can “unexpectedly disconnect from the computer.”

Moreover, last week the edge He claimed a replacement engine he had obtained after The firmware update still erases its data and becomes unreadable, and there are some complaints about it reddit Referring to recent problems with extreme drives.

all three cases (OneAnd twoAnd three) filed against Western Digital this week is seeking class action certification (Ars has been told it could take years for a judge to formally issue certification and that cases may move forward with class-level decisions that may occur before formal certification). Ian Sloss, one of the attorneys representing Matthew Perrin and Brian Bairl in a complaint filed yesterday, told Ars that he doesn’t think a class action certificate would be a major impediment in a situation “where there’s a common firmware flaw and it’s consistent across all devices.” He added that the abnormalities are “ripe for class therapy”.

Familiar stories

Both complaints filed yesterday refer to Lee’s ordeal and Ars reports on the matter, and they share new accounts that look similar to it. complaints Our opinion informed Connected.

Perrin and Bayerl’s complaint says that Perrin purchased “at least” eight SanDisk Extreme SSDs from Amazon, including the 2TB, 4TB Extreme, and 4TB Extreme Pro models, and that Perrin “lost all data stored on several SanDisk SSDs.”

Similarly, Pearl reportedly purchased “at least two” of the Extreme hard drives, including a 4TB Extreme, from Amazon. The complaint claims the drives still have broken firmware:

Plaintiff Baerle experienced two drive failures within minutes of each other and is now reluctant to use SanDisk Extreme products. Given the nature of his business and the data on the devices, plaintiff Baerle spent nearly $8,000 on only partially successful efforts to recover data from failed drives through various data recovery third parties. These efforts also determined that the problem was caused by an internal firmware glitch on the drives.

Perrin and Bayerl’s complaint refers to the 2TB Extreme, which Western Digital has not officially confirmed as an affected device. A separate complaint filed Wednesday refers to the 500GB and 1TB Extreme and My Passport models, which Western Digital did not say were affected.

Here are Western Digital drives he have affected said:

• SanDisk Extreme 4TB (SDSSDE61-4T00)
• SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 4TB (SDSSDE81-4T00)
• SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 2TB (SDSSDE81-2T00)
• SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB (SDSSDE81-1T00)
• Western Digital My Passport 4TB (WDBAGF0040BGY).

Perrin and Bayerl’s complaint says that “now-known issues with defective SanDisk SSDs and high risks of permanent data loss have rendered SanDisk SSDs virtually useless for individuals seeking reliable data storage.”

“Worthless” was also used in the complaint filed Wednesday by Nathan Crum. The complaint filed Thursday on behalf of Saif Jafri also named Western Digital and SanDisk Pro-G40 drives (petapixel It recently claimed that this drive failed less than a month later, but Ars was unable to determine if the drive had a widespread problem) that it was “worthless”.

Jeffrey’s complaint says he bought the Extreme Pro (capacity not specified) because he was on a long truck trip and needed to store drone footage, photos and travel memorabilia. The campaign reportedly “failed a few weeks after purchase”.

“He wrote data to Drive no more than a few times, and yet he lost valuable personal data,” the complaint says.

The complaints also state that Western Digital’s 30-day return and five-year warranty policies do not address lost data. The lawsuits seek compensation, including damages, and for Western Digital to stop selling the affected drives until they are repaired or the issues are fully disclosed on all labels, packaging, and advertising.

Sloss told Ars that the challenges of the case may include determining how frequently the drives failed after Western Digital shared a firmware update in May.

“We believe the case is strong, Western Digital’s response to the case has been delayed, inadequate, and incomplete, and we believe that people continue to purchase defective hard drives based on misinformation provided by Western Digital,” Sloss said.

Often, companies agree to sue similar cases together, led by a single company, Sloss said. It is believed that there may be more law firms investigating claims that may be filed against Western Digital.

Western Digital told Ars yesterday that it “does not comment on pending litigation.”