14 DAY TRIAL // Approximately one week ago, Santa Clara, California-based Intel announced the launch of its much-anticipated 34nm-based Solid State Drives, providing users with a more cost-effective alternative to SSDs. The new drives promised a couple of performance enhancements, including a reduction of latency, as well as a more energy-efficient storage solution, taking advantage of the technological advancements enabled by the 34nm manufacturing process. However, it appears that the company has reportedly delayed shipments of its new 34nm SSDs due to a recently discovered issue with the drives' firmware.
According to available details, the chip maker has decided to hold the shipments of its new 34nm-based SSDs due to an encountered data corruption issue that has been affecting all of the company's new drives. The problem reportedly occurs when the user sets a BIOS drive password on the new SSD and then tries to disable or change said password. When the computer system is turned off, the drive becomes inoperable and the stored date turns inaccessible. Apparently this is an issue that only affects users who have set a BIOS drive password and all other drives should work properly.
Trying to provide its customers with support, Intel has advised users not to disable or change said password, in case a BIOS password has been set. In addition, the chip maker also decided to delay shipments of the new drives, until the issue was solved and a new firmware fix would be available and validated. The company said that it expected such a firmware update to become available within two weeks, with the company already working on the validation of an early fix.
We will try to keep you up to speed as soon as the update becomes available. Until that time, it's better to follow Intel's advice and not disable or change the password on your new 34nm X25-M G2 SSD.