WD Black 2TB SN850 sometimes vanishes unexpectedly.
WD Black 2TB SN850 sometimes vanishes unexpectedly.
Unusual problem, unsure if it's the hard drive or another factor. My gaming drive (WD_BLACK 2TB SN850) sometimes disconnects from my PC only when launching Battle.net. After restarting, it reconnects and all files are restored. Anyone had similar experiences? Do you think this is related to firmware, BIOS, or something else? Note: purchased in 2021; another WD Black 1TB model works fine. Checked firmware and motherboard updates, installed latest BIOS, downloaded WD software, ran tests—no issues found. Motherboard model: ASUS ROG Z690-F, RAM: 32GB at 4800MHz.
There was a recent problem with some WD DRAM-less drives, like my SN770 1TB, after Windows 11 24H2 was released. A long discussion was ongoing on the WD forums: https://community.wd.com/t/windows-24h2-...ens/297867. The fix came via a firmware update: https://support-en.sandisk.com/app/answe...a_id/51469. While playing games, the system would crash and show missing game files in Steam. Checking Explorer revealed the drive was present but unreadable. Restarting resolved the issue. After the update, it didn’t reoccur, which suggests the problem was related to how Windows handled HMB or Host Memory Buffer for NVMe drives without dedicated DRAM. If you're using the latest firmware, the cause might be different.
I experienced a comparable issue once with a 990 Pro. Looking up information suggested several SSDs entering sleep mode without properly waking back up. The problem wasn’t limited to that model, though it appeared more frequently reported. I attempted to turn off power-saving settings on the SSD (Samsung refers to it as enabling high performance mode), but it didn’t resolve the issue. I’m unsure if this fixed anything or if it was just an isolated incident.
I don’t have access to your screenshots or firmware details. Could you share more information about the update so I can assist further?
Consider testing it on WD and checking for shared bandwidth issues on your motherboard.
Without the necessary lanes, the issue wouldn't occur—it would function properly otherwise.