nvme SSD problems - Cannot format - HDPARM permision denied

Question

My Kingston 240G SSD has suffered some strange errors. While it had Windows 10 installed on it, it just reset to previous state after every re-boot (meaning no file changes whatsoever, uninstalled programs were back, deleted file were back, and new files gone).

I installed Ubuntu on HDD and tried to format the SSD using Drives. I get the error: `Error synchronizing after initial wipe: Timed out waiting for object(udisks-error-quark,0).

Installed GSmartControl and tried to run a diagnostic. This is most I can get out of it.

Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Number:                       KINGSTON SA1000M8240G
Serial Number:                      50026B76827B4716
Firmware Version:                   E8FK11.R
PCI Vendor/Subsystem ID:            0x2646
IEEE OUI Identifier:                0x0026b7
Total NVM Capacity:                 240.057.409.536 [240 GB]
Unallocated NVM Capacity:           0
Controller ID:                      0
Number of Namespaces:               1
Namespace 1 Size/Capacity:          240.057.409.536 [240 GB]
Namespace 1 Formatted LBA Size:     512
Namespace 1 IEEE EUI-64:            0026b7 6827b47165
Local Time is:                      Fri Jun 19 01:17:38 2020 EEST
Firmware Updates (0x02):            1 Slot
Optional Admin Commands (0x0007):   Security Format Frmw_DL
Optional NVM Commands (0x001e):     Wr_Unc DS_Mngmt Wr_Zero Sav/Sel_Feat
Maximum Data Transfer Size:         512 Pages
Warning  Comp. Temp. Threshold:     84 Celsius
Critical Comp. Temp. Threshold:     88 Celsius

Supported Power States
St Op     Max   Active     Idle   RL RT WL WT  Ent_Lat  Ex_Lat
 0 +     7.90W  0.0790W       -    0  0  0  0      600     600
 1 +     7.90W  0.0790W       -    0  0  0  0      600     600
 2 +     7.90W  0.0790W       -    0  0  0  0      600     600
 3 -   0.1000W  0.0790W       -    3  3  3  3     1000    1000
 4 -   0.0050W  0.0790W       -    4  4  4  4   400000   90000

Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
 0 +     512       0         1
 1 -    4096       0         0

=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

Also tried some finally, i tried some HDPARM commands (im new and have no ideea), but they returned with permission denied.

Was wondering if my SSD is just broken (turn in for warranty) or if there is some software / firmware problem that can be fixed. Anyone had similar problems? Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

This definitely seems like a hardware issue, but if you'd still like to try formatting it, then I recommend using mkfs. In order to do this, you need to open up a terminal (Ctl+Alt+T or search in applications menu). Run the following fdisk command, and pay close attention to the size of each device. You should be looking for a device that is roughly 240GB, and it should be an actual device (not a loop), which should look like /dev/sdX, where 'X' is the letter of the drive. The second line of the blocks should identify the Disk Model, and your SSD will likely say KINGSTON SA1000M8240G. I'll refer to the corresponding device as /dev/sdX from now on, and just make sure to replace the 'X' with the proper letter.

sudo fdisk -l

In order to format the drive, you'll either use mkfs.ext4 if you plan to use it for Linux, or mkfs.ntfs for Windows. Alternatively, if you plan to use it as an external drive, I suppose you could format it to FAT32 with mkfs.fat -F 32. I'll list each of these commands for you below

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX

sudo mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdX

sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sdX

If you run into an issue describing the device being mounted, simply unmount the drive.

sudo umount /dev/sdX

You shouldn't run into permission errors here, but let me know if you do, and I'll try to figure out how to approach the problem from a different angle. If your SSD still has problems after a format, then it's probably best to send it in for warranty.