Microsoft is currently investigating reports that certain SSDs have become inaccessible or caused system instability after installing the latest Windows 11 security update, KB5063878. This update, part of the Windows 11 24H2 release, began rolling out on August 12 to address sign-in delays on new devices.
The Reported Issue
Following the update, some users have experienced critical SSD-related failures, including:
- Drives disappearing from the Windows OS
- Systems freezing or crashing unexpectedly
- SSDs showing as unallocated space and becoming unresponsive
Community reports, including from Reddit and Japanese publication NichePCGamer, suggest the issue tends to occur on SSDs with over 60% usage after approximately 50GB of continuous writes. This makes large downloads a trigger for the problem.
Microsoft and Industry Response
Microsoft has acknowledged the reports, stating: “We’re aware of these reports and are investigating with our partners.”
Storage controller vendor Phison also confirmed it is working with Microsoft to identify the root cause, noting that preliminary findings indicate the issue may impact devices from multiple vendors, affecting both SSDs and HDDs.
Important Note for Our Customers
No SSDs supplied in our OEM builds have been affected by this issue. Our validation and quality assurance processes ensure compatibility and stability across all Windows update cycles.
If you have applied the KB5063878 update, you may roll it back if you experience storage anomalies. However, based on our internal testing and customer feedback, our systems remain unaffected.
What’s Next
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as Microsoft shares more information. For now, the issue appears limited to specific SSD models under particular usage conditions, unrelated to the drives we integrate into our solutions.