Recent updates to Windows 11, specifically KB5063878 and KB5062660, have come under scrutiny due to claims that they are causing failures in certain SSDs with Phison controllers. Over the past week, tech influencers on platforms like YouTube and TikTok rapidly amplified these reports, suggesting that data corruption and disappearing drives were directly linked to Microsoft. While there is always potential for discrepancies in communication from large corporations, both Microsoft and Phison have indicated they were unable to replicate the failures being reported.
Phison became aware of the issues on August 18 and initiated an investigation. On August 27, they announced the completion of over 2,200 test cycles, spanning more than 4,500 hours, and concluded that they could not reproduce the failures reported. They emphasized that neither partners nor customers had confirmed that their drives were impacted at that time.
The limited scope of the reports does not seem unexpected. Initial claims on Twitter from a user in Japan suggested the update might be causing SSDs to malfunction, with some comments echoing similar experiences. However, the evidence remains scant, leading to speculation that the situation could be tied to a localized defect in a specific batch of drives. Therefore, any claims implying that the August 2025 update poses a significant risk to hard drives should be approached with skepticism, regardless of what is circulating on social media.
