Your gaming SSD could fail if you install this Windows 11 update, say reports

A new Windows 11 security update is reportedly causing some gaming SSDs to fail. That's according to new reports online, which suggest that, following the installation of the KB5063878 security update, "large data writes" to certain SSDs is causing those drives to disappear, risking file corruption in the process.

Microsoft hasn't publicly commented on this issue so far, but users are reporting it on social media following this recent Windows 11 update. A shortlist of drives from a number of major brands, including ones we've recommended in our best gaming SSD guide, such as Corsair, shows which SSDs have been affected by the bug.

A deep dive into the issue by X (formerly Twitter) user Necoru_cat in a recent post revealed that the reports of SSD failures, each with similar symptoms, began to fail as soon as the KB5063878 was released on August 12. The failure occurs when a large amount of data is being written to the drives at once, with Necoru_cat spotting the issue while updating Cyberpunk 2077.

According to Necoru_cat, writing more than 50GB of data continuously with an SSD usage rate of over 60% caused their SSD to disappear from the OS. Restarting their PC restored it, but the same issue occurs again, each time, with data loss almost inevitable as a result. Further reports online seem to confirm the issue, with some users in this Reddit post reporting that their SSD remains inaccessible, even after restarting their PCs.

Further data compiled by Japanese tech website Niche PC Gamer seems to suggest that only some SSDs are affected, with those using Phison data controllers "more likely" to be affected. According to this data, the drives that appear to be affected include, but are not limited to:

• Corsair Force MP600
• Phison PS5012-E12 controller-equipped SSD
• Kioxia Exceria Plus G4
• Fikwot FN955
• SanDisk Extreme PRO M.2 NVMe 3D SSD
• Adata SP580
• Kingston SNV2S2000G

Necoru_cat has also released their own testing data (in Japanese), confirming that a number of major gaming SSDs, such as the Samsung 990 Pro and WD Black SN7100, are seemingly unaffected, while other drives, such as the Corsair MP600, were recoverable after a restart.

Looking for a way to upgrade your storage without getting your hands dirty? Check out our best external gaming SSD guide next for USB drives that can give you plenty of storage space, and are still surprisingly fast as well.

Let us know if you've seen any unusual SSD storage woes since this latest Windows 11 update in our Discord server, especially if you're using a drive that we've not mentioned here.