SGT filed class action against SanDisk and SanDisk’s parent company Western Digital on August 17, 2023 alleging that a series of solid states drives ("SSDs") designed, manufactured, and sold by SanDisk and Western Digital (the “SanDisk SSDs”) are defective and worthless.
Once hailed as a paragon of speed and durability and launched with much fanfare in 2019, the SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro SSDs were marketed as "professional grade storage… rugged… worry-free… dependable" solutions, with a warranty duration spanning five years. However, the reality soon proved starkly different. Numerous consumers reported spontaneous drive failures, leading to widespread data loss, especially in the 2TB and 4TB models
Specifically, SGT’s clients allege the SanDisk SSDs’ defect causes the SanDisk SSDs to unexpectedly eject from devices, become unreadable, and causes users of the SanDisk SSDs to permanently lose their data stored on the SanDisk SSDs. One of SGT's clients spent thousands trying to recover the data, with only partial success.
Western Digital has admitted that the following SanDisk SSDs are impacted by a firmware defect, which they claim to have fixed via firmware update in May 2023:
- SanDisk Extreme Portable 4TB (SDSSDE61-4T00)
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 4TB (SDSSDE81-4T00)
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 2TB (SDSSDE81-2T00)
- SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB (SDSSDE81-1T00)
- Western Digital My Passport 4TB (WDBAGF0040BGY).
Unfortunately for SanDisk SSD owners and users, the May 2023 firmware update does not appear to have fixed the problem, as SanDisk SSD users have continued reporting failures after updating, including a reporter from The Verge, who has provided with a new SanDisk SSD by Western Digital, which subsequently failed.
Additionally, users have experienced failures with earlier models SSDs and there is no way to know if the defect has not impacted additional SanDisk and/or Western Digital SSDs.
If you are a purchaser or user of a SanDisk Extreme, SanDisk Extreme Pro, or Western Digital My Passport SSD and wish to learn more about your rights in connection with the lawsuit filed by SGT, contact SGT Partner Ian W. Sloss at isloss@sgtlaw.com, SGT Associate Attorney Brett L. Burgs at bburgs@sgtlaw.com or submit your information via the online form on the right of this page.
