Be Gentle With Phison Powered SSDs Until The Latest Windows 11 24H2 Patch Stops Executing Them

Phison Killer, Qu’est-ce Que C’est?

This Patch Tuesday has been a rough one for Windows users, with numerous issues affecting users that were responsible and updated their OS.  Among other things the updates has broken the actual update process and destroyed the built in Windows reset and recovery features.  Those are nowhere near as concerning as the reports that under certain conditions the latest Windows 11 24H2 updates is killing SSDs with Phison controllers.  That is a very popular SSD controller, so this could effect a lot of systems and there are reports that InnoGrit based drives are also seeing failures, with DRAM-less models being exceptionally vulnerable.  There are also HDD models which are reportedly vulnerable, so long term storage is also in danger.

If you dare to write files that are tens of gigabytes in size, or multiple files of slightly smaller size in quick succession your drive may no longer be detected by Windows.  In some cases a reboot is enough to bring the drive back online but there are also reports of drives being permanently damaged.   The specific updates which can cause this are KB5063878 and KB5062660, so you may want to avoid them if at all possible.  Microsoft had not replied to Bleeping Computer’s inquiry as of publishing, but the current theory is that the Phison drives are being killed by a a drive cache issue caused by memory leak in the OS-buffered region.

Phison reached out and confirmed they are aware of the issues Microsoft’s latest patch is causing and are keeping a close eye on the situation.

“Phison has recently been made aware of the industry-wide effects of the ‘KB5063878’ and ‘KB5062660’ updates on Windows 11 that potentially impacted several storage devices, including some supported by Phison. We understand the disruption this may have caused and promptly engaged industry stakeholders.”

“We are steadfast in our commitment to product integrity and the success of our partners and end users. At this time, the controllers that may have been affected are under review and we are working with partners. We will continue to provide updates and advisories to partners who may have been impacted to provide support and ensure any applicable remediation.”