The “BAD_CTX” firmware bug that can happen on its gen 3 320 SSD series still plagues Intel up to this day, more than three and a half years after it was first reported. Many consumers are enraged since reliability is supposed to be one of the things that solid state drives are a lot better than hard disk drives. The bug, however, throws this reliability completely down the drain. How can one consider a drive that can lose all the data written on it after it experiences a power failure “reliable”? Not only are the files erased, the drive also becomes unusable since only 8mb of its entire storage capacity remains accessible.
Stonewalling Intel
At first, users of the bugged SSDs tried to understand and wait patiently for a solution from Intel. However, all they got was a false promise. Intel gave all 320 series users a firmware update that it said would fix the issue. Unfortunately, the update failed to protect drives from the 8MB bug. After a new wave of rage from consumers, Intel answered with another firmware update that contained the same promise. And the cycle of updates and promises went on until Intel finally decided to just refer users to data retrieval companies. The fact that most companies back then charged one to ten grand to restore SSD files just infuriated the consumers even more.
Consumer Sentiments
Most users consider their drives as one of the most valuable parts of their computers since they are the ones that contain their files. They can brush off a worn out graphics card or a burnt up motherboard but not a suddenly unusable SSD. This is more so because some decided to switch from HDD to SSD because they thought the latter eliminated the need for a backup. The silence of Intel aside from the firmware updates also made consumers feel abandoned. They simply want to know:
- What is going on?
- Why does the SSD truncate specifically to 8MB?
- Why does the bug remain despite several firmware updates?
- Why does Intel claim that the bug is fixed even if it’s not?
Until Intel decides to finally answer these questions, the firmware bug remains to be the most prominent of the Intel 320 Series Common Problems. If you unfortunately encounter the bug, do not fret, Brian Cometa and the other data recovery technicians of 300 Dollar Data Recovery got your back.
