In late July, we reported on an issue that affected all Intel SSD 320 models which under certain power conditions could render the drives inoperable. Called the “Bad Context 13x Error”, this problem caused drives to show as 8MB in capacity and users would lose their ability to read or write from the SSD. Intel has now said that a firmware bug has been identified and updated software to fix this problem will be released in two weeks.
UPDATE 8/17/2011: Intel posted the firmware update two weeks early
In late July, we reported on an issue that affected all Intel SSD 320 models which under certain power conditions could render the drives inoperable. Called the “Bad Context 13x Error”, this problem caused drives to show as 8MB in capacity and users would lose their ability to read or write from the SSD. Intel has now said that a firmware bug has been identified and updated software to fix this problem will be released in two weeks.
Users who aren’t suffering from the problem are still strongly urged to update their SSDs. While regular backups are recommended, Intel has come out and said that this firmware update will not cause a secure erase of the drive. Given the severity of the problem (not being able to read or write to the drive if affected) if you are a current Intel SSD 320 owner, keeping an eye on the firmware release should be a top priority.
SSDs showing symptoms of this problem report a capacity of 8MB and have the serial number field showing the message “BAD_CTX 0000013x”.
