Phison and Microsoft were right after all, sort of. Recent reports are now laying the blame for SSD failures at the feet of pre-release firmware. Curiously, this should mean consumer storage is safe from failure as drives in that market should only ship with final code.
For those out of the loop, in August 2025, reports of SSDs failures began to surface on the internet. Users noted their storage was bricking following the installation of Windows 11 updates ‘KB5063878’ and ‘KB5062660’. Further investigation revealed that affected drives all used a Phison controller.
Following these reports, both Microsoft and Phison conducted their own investigations into the matter. Both companies were unable to replicate the issue after extensive testing, understandably leaving all parties frustrated.
Now, Chinese tech enthusiasts claim to have put the issue to rest once and for all. According to the Facebook group, dubbed ‘PCDIY!’, SSDs running the pre-release firmware will crash following the installation of the Windows 11 updates.
With the root cause of the issue now seemingly identified, it’s worth making sure your SSD is running the latest available firmware. After that patch, you should be able to go right ahead and update your Windows 11 installation without worry.
For now, we only have the word of PCDIY! that this issue can now be put to bed. I’d expect to see official statements from both Phison and Microsoft in the coming days if the Facebook group’s claims hold water.
Regardless, incidents like this prove how important maintaining update hygiene is. Personally, I wait about a week before applying any update if given the choice. This affords me a safety net of sorts, keeping my system free of any immediate bugs, without falling behind the curve for too long.
