Samsung 840EVO SSD Firmware Update To Fix Possible Performance Issues

[Pib]

For any of you using a Samsung 840EVO SSD (like me...I have their 512GB model), Samsung has just released (a few days ago) new firmware to fix slow read/write issues some owners may have experienced. Well, by slow I mean significantly below its rated, new drive speed....slower speeds which are still many times faster than a regular hard disk drive.

This latest firmware release is actually a followup to an Oct 14 firmware/performance restoration release which updated the firmware and then read & rewrote all data on the drive to restore full performance...took about an hour or two to complete. The firmware update occurred in just a few seconds but the read & rewrite portion took a while. I remember back them I was nervous the whole time the read & rewrite process was underway hoping everything went OK and it did. I didn't read about the issue until Feb 15 and then installed the update. That firmware update/performance restoration is no longer available/on the Samsung support website...the new firmware update software has replaced it.

Personally I hadn't noticed any degradation in performance and you can't spot any performance degradation with typical speed testing software that "writes test files and then immediately rereads the test files" like Crytstal Disk Mark because you are writing/reading fresh data...the performance degradation issue some folks were having dealt with "old" data. Instead you need software that will just read current data installed...data/software that has been installed for a while. I saw HD Tach mentioned as one of those speedtest software programs that will just check read performance by reading current data (no writing of fresh test file first)...but I've never used it. Here's a webpage link to the story about the Oct 14 release.

But on to the latest Apr 15 release. That release which came out a few days ago is talked about at this webpage link. If you use the Samsung Magician software which does a variety to things like drive optimization, Rapid Mode setup, encryption, firmware update, SMART readout, etc., the next time you fire-up Magician it may or may not sense there is an update and ask you if you want to. The Magician software is really a nice piece of software. I was running Magician Ver 4.5 and it did not sense the Magician 4.6 update...so I downloaded/installed the Magician 4.6 update directly form the Samsung support web page at this link. I then selected Firmware update in the Magician software and it did the firmware update (EXT0DB6Q) in just a few seconds....no drama....no read & rewrite of the entire drive like the Oct 14 release. Supposedly this firmware release permanently fixes the performance degradation some people experienced as talked about in the article.

I tried to download the software last night from the Samsung webpage but got the notice the number of downloads per day had been reached because for some reason Samsung is limiting the number of downloads through 27 Apr. So, you might experience that also. The webpage link above mentions some third party mirrored websites you can also the the software/firmware from, but I only wanted it directly from the Samsung support website. I tried the download this morning at 9am and the 16MB sized Magicain software downloaded fine...and then I did the install and firmware update...as mentioned no drama. Your results may vary.

[WhizBang]

Thanks for the info. I updated the firmware months ago, and that did seem to improve things at the time. But I was unaware of this new update. Oh well, time to set aside some time to let this new update do it's thing.

Edited April 26, 2015 by WhizBang

[kkerry]

I had the same experience. Upgraded to Magician 4.6 and the firmware upgrade is detected. I've seen a few people complaining about the terrible performance of their EVO before but never noticed a problem myself.

This is my benchmark after updating. Random read is slightly low but nothing I can notice in everyday use.

[Pib]

Just to reiterate, if the particular the speed test you run "first writes it own test files to accomplish the read portion of the test" then the speed test will not show the slow down issue because that is fresh data. The test has be run on "old, cold" data on the drive...that is, data that was written months ago. I expect even the Magician built-in speed tester writes fresh test files each time to accomplish the read portion of the test...and it may not be the same data it writes for the write portion of the test. Below are a couple of partial quotes from some articles on the subject

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/04/24/samsung-releases-new-fix-and-firmware-update-for-ssd-840-evo-drives/

To test whether your drive is affected download and run HD Tach. The program, unlike other benchmarks, tests the performance using existing data on the drive which reveals the issue. Other benchmarks write new data to the disk for tests which does not.

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/samsung-to-release-magician-4-6-and-840-evo-firmware-update-performance-degradation-fixed-at-last/

In a nutshell, their drives could not read “cold” data (that had sat unmodified for an extended period of time) at full speed.

Be sure to take a read of the link directly above as covers the issue also plus points out a new feature in Magician 4.6...that is, the "Advanced" tab under the "Performance Optimization" menu section. At this new Performance Op, Advanced selection, it triggers the same action that was triggered by the previous “Performance Restoration Tool”...that one time use tool which was part of the Oct 14 firmware release. As mentioned the original tool was for one-time usage; but this version available through Magician 4.6 can be triggered whenever or as frequently as desired. While the new firmware is now suppose to automatically do this in the background a little bit at a time, the new Performance Optimization Advanced task allows you to do it whenever you want. I ran it last night and it took about 20 minutes...goes right to 50% complete in just a few seconds...then took about another 20 minutes to complete the remaining 50% on by 512GB SDD with about 150GB of data on it. It completed a lot faster than the one time use tool the Oct 14 firmware update ran.

In my SMART data readout I had Wear Leveling Raw Data count of 4 before running the tool (I've been using it 11 months now); after the tool had done it was still at 4. The Samsung 840EVO is supposed to reach 1000 Wear Leveling Raw Data counts before possibly thinking about failure due to too many erase & write operations. I only mention this for those folks who may think running the tool will burn-up some of the remaining write cycles...whatever fractional write cycle it does use up is pretty minor at least on my 512GB model. I've long lost my small initial concern about killing my SSD because of too many write actions based on articles I've read, tests ran by folks which continuously write to the SSD 24 hours a day, and my own monitoring of the wear level SMART data. It's just not an issue.

Also, for you folks who haven't tried the Rapid Mode setup yet, you may want to. Basically it uses part of your RAM memory to speed up the SSD....and it does speed it up...you need to have at least 2GB of total RAM to effectively use Rapid Mode, but with most computers coming with at least 4GB of RAM that shouldn't be a problem for most folks. I have 8GB on my machine...I've been using Rapid Mode since late last year with absolutely no problems...it just speeds things up a little. And you can Deactivate and Reactivate Rapid Mode with just a click of a button and restart of your machine...I've done it at least a dozen times...I turn it off to do a speed check of my SSD...if I don't turn it off, I get speed test results which include use of my RAM memory like the speed test below which gives like an 8 fold "sequential read & write" speed increase over the basic sequential read & write speeds and some increase in random read speed...does not help with random write speed.

[kkerry]

I did the Advanced Optimization also. Got to 20% and 33% quickly but from 70% up it was taking nearly a minute for each percent.

Computer seemed to start up faster today, about 15-20 seconds to the log-in screen.

I can get it faster in the BIOS but then it is so fast you can't easily get into the BIOS anymore.

Raw WLC is 24 for me.

Just ran HDTach. One point to note is it is an old program that needs to be run in XP SP3 compatibility mode.

476.1 MB/s in burst mode, 465.2 MB/s average read.

I've tried Rapid Mode before, as high as 5945/4829 & 23943/181227 when tested.

I've got 8GB RAM but found I was running out of memory (getting warnings) plus the occasional blue screen.

Turned off Rapid Mode and the problem has not returned. Everything runs fast enough for me without it.

Edited April 27, 2015 by kkerry

[Pib]

Raw WLC is 24 for me.

What size is your 840EVO drive and how long have you used it? Mine is a 512GB, 11 months in use, and has a WLC of only 4.

[kkerry]

250GB about 8 months old.

Must be all the Facebook updates

[Pib]

250GB about 8 months old.

Must be all the Facebook updates

I figured yours would be a 250 or 120GB based on your WLC as smaller SSDs rack-up WLCs faster....if you had a 120GB (assuming your software/data would fit on it) the WLC would probably been twice as high/around 50. Since my drive is a 512GB there is more space for the writes to be spread around thereby reducing the number of times an erase & rewrite needs to occur.

Here's how my HD Tach test came out....very equal speed reading across the 500GB drive....no issue of old data taking a longer time/slower speed to read like the problem which the firmware update is suppose to fix...but of course the test was done "after" the firmware update and running the performance restoration. I ran the test a few times and that little dip shown in the graph at around 430GB moved around...like it showed up once at around 150GB, another test at 250GB, etc. And that little spike at around 10GB was consistently at the same spot in the tests. I'll use HD Tack every few months to see if any part of the SSD memory is slowing down which hopefully the latest firmware update has permanently fixed....and I just may occasionally/every few months rerun the performance optimization if HD Tach shows some areas slowing down.

[wpcoe]

Using CrystalDiskInfo, the Wear Leveling Count for my 250GB 840 EVO is 98. I bought it in Sept 2013. Power On Count is 1977 and Power On Hours is 4083 hrs. Does that WLC seem a bit high?

[kkerry]

Using CrystalDiskInfo, the Wear Leveling Count for my 250GB 840 EVO is 98. I bought it in Sept 2013. Power On Count is 1977 and Power On Hours is 4083 hrs. Does that WLC seem a bit high?

I mistakenly wrote 8 months old previously for my 250GB 840 EVO. I don't have the receipt handy but it is probably 18 months old so similar age and the same size drive as you have..

My Power On Count is 938 and Power on Hours are 5916.

I do see 98 in my current value WLC column but the Raw WLC column (used by PIB) shows 24. Are you possibly looking at the wrong column? Check it with the Smart Magician S.M.A.R.T. to be sure.

[Pib]

Using CrystalDiskInfo, the Wear Leveling Count for my 250GB 840 EVO is 98. I bought it in Sept 2013. Power On Count is 1977 and Power On Hours is 4083 hrs. Does that WLC seem a bit high?

I mistakenly wrote 8 months old previously for my 250GB 840 EVO. I don't have the receipt handy but it is probably 18 months old so similar age and the same size drive as you have..

My Power On Count is 938 and Power on Hours are 5916.

I do see 98 in my current value WLC column but the Raw WLC column (used by PIB) shows 24. Are you possibly looking at the wrong column? Check it with the Smart Magician S.M.A.R.T. to be sure.

The CrystalDiskInfo readout is probably using the WLC "Currrent Value" which is kinda like a health rating....higher the better. By higher the better I mean when the drive was brand new it had a "Current Value" of either 100 or 99 (I can't remember which). My WLC "Current Value" is 99 with a Raw WLC of 4, which means the health is still very good (still close to it's starting value number assuming it was 100 when brand new...it may have been 99).

In the SMART data the "Threshold" value of "0" is the possible failure point when the Current Value drops to that Threshold point...right now wpcoe is still at 98 for his Current Value...a long way to go before dropping down to 0 Threshold value which would represent a high Raw Data number...maybe something around 1000...but I doubt it's a linear thing.

But during the 11 months my 512GB 840EVO has been in operation it has did enough P/E cycles (i.e., Program-Ease, Write-Erase) of the SSD memory to rack up 4 complete P/E cycles which is Raw number. I just looked I only have 116GB data on the 512GB drive...plenty of free space left which helps slow P/E cycles. I also have the Windows Restore function disabled (i.e, restore to a previous point in time for Windows...like restoring to the point just before a bunch of Windows updates installed) because the Restore function uses a lot of write activity).

I think I can remember only two times in my computer lifetime where I used the Windows Restore function to revert to an earlier time in Windows when a Windows update seem to have messed-up my computer. What I do instead it just do my best to do an Image backup approximately once a month to have a backup of my drive in case the drive fails or I want to revert to an earlier point in time in trying to fix a software/driver problem. Knock on wood but having major Windows driver/software problems have been a rarity for me for many years....knock on wood (my head).

Supposedly the 840EVO can reach 1000 P/E cycles before the memory may reach the point some of the memory can no longer be "written to/erased" which can possibly cause the whole drive to fail....it will also depend on other factors like how much reserve memory may be available to replace worn out memory cells.

Below is snapshot of my SMART data readout. Keep in mind the Threshold, Current Value, and Worst Value are tied together with the Threshold Value being the value when the drive may fail...like a limit value you don't want the Current Value going to....and the Worst Value just shows the Worst Point it may have got to....that Worst Point may not really meant anything for "some" of the SMART data, but is important for other SMART data. Some of the SMART data is kinda cryptic in nature and will vary from drive manufacturer to manufacture, especially the Threshold values.

wpcoe's Current Value of 98 is a long way from the Threshold (failure) value of 0...kinda like you got 98 more bottles of beer on the wall. I've also attached Samsung's description of its SMART data....notice they concentrate on the "Raw Data" values. Also remember, smaller SSDs rack up P/E cycles faster than larger SSDs because the larger SSDs have more memory to spread the P/E cycles around. And the fuller your drive is the more P/E cycles it will rack up compared to one with more free space.

Samsung SMART Data Meaning

Samsung SMART Data Meaning.pdf

[wpcoe]

Using CrystalDiskInfo, the Wear Leveling Count for my 250GB 840 EVO is 98. I bought it in Sept 2013. Power On Count is 1977 and Power On Hours is 4083 hrs. Does that WLC seem a bit high?

I mistakenly wrote 8 months old previously for my 250GB 840 EVO. I don't have the receipt handy but it is probably 18 months old so similar age and the same size drive as you have..

My Power On Count is 938 and Power on Hours are 5916.

I do see 98 in my current value WLC column but the Raw WLC column (used by PIB) shows 24. Are you possibly looking at the wrong column? Check it with the Smart Magician S.M.A.R.T. to be sure.

Bingo! Using Magician's SMART reporting, the raw value is only 13.

Thanks to both kkerry and Pib for the explanation.

[Pib]

In Post #8 above I provided a HD Tach test snapshot dated 27 Apr 15 of my 840EVO read speed across its entire 512GB right after the firmware upgrade...and mentioned I would test it again in a month or two to see if the "old data" read performance was dropping....hopefully it would not be dropping because the firmware upgrade was suppose to fix that issue some people were experiencing.

Remember the HD Tach program does not write new/temporary test files (new data) to immediately read back to check read performance; instead it just does a read speed test of data already written to the drive...the data could be minutes, months, or maybe years old.

Below is the HD Tach test snaphot of my 840EVO "old data" read speed as of today/18 May about 3 weeks after the initial test. Results: faster and flatter across the entire 512GB....a couple of those significant peaks and dips I mentioned in Post #8 are basically gone...overall, a good indication the firmware upgrade was a good fix....but time will tell....I'll continue to test over the coming months.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Pib

[NeverSure]

Thanks for the info. I just got the 500GB unit a couple of days ago. It's my first SSD. So far only my bios can see it. My rescue disk which would image it from my external can't see the SSD. All I have with me now is my laptop which has 8.1 and my external USB drive with an image. I installed this SSD in the HDD bay in the laptop, booted to the rescue DVD and all it had to dump my external image to was the DVD drive which is hopeless.

I've ordered a SATA external laptop drive enclosure so I can boot to Windows and try things like the software I installed that came with the HDD, Windows disk management, fdisk, diskpart etc. to see if I can somehow activate it. Right now I don't even have a way to attach it and boot to Windows so first I have to get it working, LOL.

Once it's working I'll return here and upgrade the firmware. Thanks for the thread.

[Pib]

Sounds like maybe the drive isn't formatted, or if already formatted a drive "volume" has not been set up in Disk Management yet...it's just a bunch of unallocated space. Maybe use your Rescue Disk to see if that's the problem....I think Disk Management is possible from a Rescue Disk...get it formatted/volume created and then see if it shows up in Windows. Here's a Youtube video talking the process.

New drives not being recognized by the computers BIOSs but not being seen by Windows has been a problem many people have experience even in the days before SSDs...just the HDD or CD/DVD drive not appearing. It not an uncommon problem...doesn't mean anything is wrong with the drive..it's just it may not be formatted, a volume created yet, some BIOS setting, etc. I've experienced the problem a few times over my computer live with some of my new drives.

I don't use the reload an image approach when swapping out a drive...like an HDD to SSD which I've done three times over the last year by putting SSD in my three laptops. I always clone the drive. But reloading an image will certainly work unless the drive can't be seen for some reason. And I don't use the cloning software that may come with the new SSD since I have sometimes have issues that way; instead I use the Macrium Reflect Fee software and use their boot-able disk approach....have had "zero" issues that way. And the cloning method I use is to put the new SSD into the laptop (it might even be unformatted/unprepared but no matter as the Macrium Reflect will handle that issue), my current drive to be cloned from into an external USB 3 or 2 enclosure, boot the computer from the Macrium Reflect boot disk, and the follow their cloning process.

I do the clone with the new SSD "in" the laptop versus in the enclosure because although it will almost always work the other way also (i.e., the new drive in the enclosure, do the cloning, and then install in the laptop), I read on the Seagate support website somewhere one time they recommend when cloning a drive for a "laptop" to accomplish the clone with the new drive in the computer during the cloning process vs the external enclosure when using Seagate cloning software (once again in bootable disk mode vs in Windows mode) although you can still use their cloning software in Windows mode and do it new SSD in the enclosure. Lot of cloning software packages, free ones and ones you buy, to use...matter of choice...I'm into free.

[NeverSure]

I didn't mean to hijack the thread. I tried to use the new hdd in the laptop as I don't have an external bay to hold it. It's the rescue disk that can't see it in any utility. I do know about activating (initializing), partitioning (every hdd has to have a least one partition) and formatting but the rescue disk can't see it to do that. I am hoping that in an external while booted to Windows either diskpart from a cmd prompt or disk management can see it.

If it can't I'll try that other utility but remember, I don't have a way to manage this disk from Windows until I get the enclosure.

BTW I'm MCSE/MCSA and CompTia A+ certified. I'm retired as VP of IT for a large hospital. My problem now is that my knowledge is getting dated as new things come out, but all of the basics are still there. Ask me something about setting up a replicating domain controller or a problem with Active Directory, LOL.

Cheers

[NeverSure]

Sounds like maybe the drive isn't formatted, or if already formatted a drive "volume" has not been set up in Disk Management yet...it's just a bunch of unallocated space. Maybe use your Rescue Disk to see if that's the problem....I think Disk Management is possible from a Rescue Disk...get it formatted/volume created

BTW this is a brain fart on your part - I know you know better but for others who might not...

You have to have a volume before you can format. From a blank hard disk the order of loading software is Initialize> Create Volume/Partition> Format. Upon formatting a drive letter will be assigned.

Cheers

[Pib]

Yea... it was a brain fact...not something a person does often like dealing with the Windows disk mgt function. Hope you get the SSD running in your machine soon... you should see a very nice performance improvement. Also recommend enabling the Rapid Mode function in the Magician software to make the SSD even faster.

[NeverSure]

I'm going to start a new thread about my saga... All is good....