Crucial MX500 bait & Switch

[ik9000]

Buyers beware, apparently the excellent MX500 has been downgraded under the hood. Possibly even to QLC nand .

Various sources moan, but this poster on reddit has given some good links to help you figure out what version you might have got.

Here is a good source of info on the evolution of the MX500:

https://theoverclockingpage.com/2022...om-dram-cache/

You can see how Crucial has changed the NAND and controller over the years:

https://theoverclockingpage.files.wo.../variantes.png

https://theoverclockingpage.files.wo...cificacoes.jpg

The author claims that there is even a QLC version in the 2TB and 4TB capacities.

The most recent NANDs are "176-layer Micron FortisFlash B47R Replacement Gate Charge Trap NAND". The marking codes are NY133 and NY135.

NY135 = MT29F8T08EWLEEM5-QA:E (8 Tbit)

NY133 = MT29F2T08EMLEEJ4-QA:E (2 Tbit)

Older MX500 versions had Micron NW925 and NW926 NANDs.

NW925 = MT29F512G08EECAGJ4-5M:A (512 Gbit)

NW926 = MT29F1T08EMCAGJ4-5M:A (1 Tbit)

Micron's FBGA and Component Marking Decoder:

https://www.micron.com/support/tools-and-utilities/fbga

FlashMaster's NAND flash part number and ID decoder:

https://nand.gq/#/decode

The latest versions have a Silicon Motion SM2259 controller. Earlier versions had an SM2258.

I have posted info, including hires PCB photos, of my 1TB MX500 here (fw M3CR043):

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thre.../post-22866935

Reddit Source:

[ik9000]

the two MX500 I have sat on the shelf are still FW version M3CR033 which i think means they are still TLC. People say the problems arrive with M3CR043, though I haven't found a comprehensive source to corroborate the hearsay.

I'm still trying to find out how whether you can tell what you have without opening the packaging and plugging the thing in for diagnostics. No joy on that so far.

[Apex]

oh christ, and the MX500 was my go to SSD for anything non NVME

[ik9000]

oh christ, and the MX500 was my go to SSD for anything non NVME

ditto mine too

[DanceswithUnix]

Just had the company buy three 2TB drives. Will just have to see how they last I guess, but this does put me off getting any more.

From smartctl, it they are on firmware M3CR046, if that tells me anything.

They are in a 3 drive raid 5 array. That means on first start, the array synced parity so drive three had a full drive write on day one. It's still reporting 100% lifetime left though, so perhaps empty drives syncing is a thing they optimise for.

[ik9000]

Just had the company buy three 2TB drives. Will just have to see how they last I guess, but this does put me off getting any more.

From smartctl, it they are on firmware M3CR046, if that tells me anything.

They are in a 3 drive raid 5 array. That means on first start, the array synced parity so drive three had a full drive write on day one. It's still reporting 100% lifetime left though, so perhaps empty drives syncing is a thing they optimise for.

check very carefully then.

[DanceswithUnix]

check very carefully then.

As long as the resilience of the drives hasn't changed, I think I'm good, and that's on the spec sheet so I would hope it's the same.

This machine is replacing something that worked fine with a pair of 4TB hard drives (as a mirror pair to give 4TB of storage). Given the cost of SSDs, I went for three 2TB SSDs using parity to provide the same 4TB, because who wants spinning rust these days?

Reading the review above it looks like the drive performs well still. I'll watch carefully, but I'm not so worried now.

[Apex]

So is there anything in the 2 to 4 TB range that isn't QLC now ?

[ik9000]

2TB NVMe yes several. 2TB SATA idk

4TB NVMe WD black SN850X, and rumours of a 4TB Samsung 990 pro due to be released in 2023 but latest from Samsung is no confirmed date exactly when that will be. I will be getting one as soon as it does come out and is confirmed to actually be TLC

Edit:

ok so SATA III Samsung 870 EVO is still TLC (3D MLC). It has had its problems with bricked drives. If you get one update the firmware ASAP

NVMe Samsung 970 EVO plus, 980 Pro and 990 Pro are all still TLC. Again, update the firmware ASAP for the 980 pro and 990 pro. WD SN850X is TLC

Crucial P5 is TLC P3 is QLC however TBC if the P5 has suffered a downgrade in the higher capacities.

For 4TB drives specifically there is a useful table here:

https://www.gamingpcbuilder.com/4tb-...-state-drives/

[kompukare]

For 4TB drives specifically there is a useful table here:

https://www.gamingpcbuilder.com/4tb-...-state-drives/

This comparison site can filter by NAND type too, so 4TB+ and TLC gets this:
https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=hdssd&x...832_1%7E4832_3
It's a start but while - as I mentioned on CAT's 520 thread - they do update their listing when manufacturer release new parts with pretty much every manufacturer changing specs without updating the model number, there is no guarantees.

[DanceswithUnix]

One thing that muddies the waters here... if you look at the chart in that article



and compare the left most column when the MX500 was first introduced you can see that TLC flash in those days was awful. So bad it looks like, erm, the QLC flash in the right most column. Just the QLC has more planes per die and more layers to make back the performance drop from being QLC more parallel accesses.
The 2TB drive always had a fairly poor 700TBW rating, which I suspect the recent TLC flash based drives would have laughed at.

So the MX500 was an OK drive, then slowly became really good, and now goes back to being decent by the standards of 5 years ago.