Quick take: In 2023 my 2TB SanDisk Extreme SSD wiped my backups while I was covering World's Strongest Man, and Ars Technica and The Verge reported others losing files on the same drives. Western Digital, SanDisk's parent company, stayed largely quiet. I banned them from my production work and switched to Samsung T7 drives and NVMe enclosures.
This post reflects the situation when I made the video in August 2023.
What Happened to Me
I've used SanDisk portable SSDs since they were the hot new thing. Earlier in 2023, I was covering athletes at World's Strongest Man for a client and backing up to a newly purchased 2TB SanDisk Extreme SSD. I came back after the next round of events and the previous files were gone. I thought I'd copied them somewhere else by mistake, so I backed everything up again from my laptop along with the new event. I came back to a blank drive again.
I have no idea where the files went. I switched to one of my Samsung T7s for the rest of the week, returned the SanDisk when I got home, and bought an NVMe enclosure instead. I was lucky: it was only a backup.
It Wasn't Just Me
A few weeks later, Ars Technica reported the exact issue I'd had. Others on forums and Reddit weren't as lucky and lost files outright. The 2TB and 4TB models were the main culprits. Western Digital eventually said it would release a firmware update for the 4TB model, and later addressed other capacities.
Then The Verge reported that one of its video journalists lost three terabytes of footage on a replacement drive, sent after an earlier SanDisk Extreme had already wiped four terabytes of his files. That first time, he'd uploaded everything to the cloud already. The second time, he wasn't so lucky.
Why I Made This Video
When I searched for the SanDisk Extreme SSD, I mostly found heavy discounts and affiliate listicles recommending it, with no mention of the issue unless you scrolled past the first page. Data loss is no joke. For working professionals, it can be catastrophic if you haven't backed up yet in the field. For everyday users, photos and memories could be gone for good, and data recovery isn't cheap.
At the time, Western Digital hadn't pulled the drives from shelves, offered recovery help or said much publicly. Some people blamed Macs, but I'm a Windows user, so that's not it either.
Why It Bothers Me So Much
I trust Western Digital with a lot of my data: the NVMe drives in my editing laptop are WD Black, my NAS drives are WD Red and the NAS's NVMe drives are WD Black too. Turning a blind eye to an issue like this felt unethical to me. I hoped larger channels would cover it so the company couldn't dodge it.
What I Use Instead
SanDisk portable SSDs are banned from my production work, and nobody on my team is allowed to use them. My 1TB units are only a third backup on the go. Here's what I use instead:
Samsung T7, or the rugged T7 Shield
An ROG NVMe enclosure I've used for more than a year
A rugged NVMe enclosure and NVMe drive I've used for more than three years
Whatever you use, keep more than one backup when you're shooting in the field.
Keep Reading
Gear in This Video
Drives I use instead
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Buying through these links costs you nothing extra and helps support the channel.
