Windows 11 update destroying SSDs? What you need to know
From the viewpoint of software architecture, Windows is an extremely complex piece of work. The OS we use today, just like a good number of its predecessors, is rooted in Windows NT of 1993, which introduced the revolutionary core hybrid kernel and layered design. That core was designed to be modular, portable, and preemptive, supporting multiprocessor systems and assorted hardware and enabling true multitasking and hardware abstraction.
Thus, since 1993, each subsequent Windows was a derivative, an evolution of the established foundation of the NT version. This approach certainly has its perks, but there are some downsides, too, one of which, as it seems, makes the system prone to unexpected bugs that entail bad consequences on the hardware level. The most recent accident of this kind is associated with the KB5063878 update released in August 2025 for version 24H2: it causes serious issues with SSDs.
Windows 11 24H2 update KB5063878: what’s going on and who’s at risk
By now, the web is sufficiently saturated with detailed accounts of who and how encountered the problems stemming from the KB5063878 update, so we’ll cut the long story short and give you everything important you need to know about the issue in an easily digestible list.
- The KB5063878 update for Windows 11 24H2 may corrupt SSDs, making them invisible to the system, showing up as RAW, or otherwise unusable. In some cases, the drives even disappear from the BIOS.
- The issue seems to be triggered by moving large files or large amounts of data continuously (around 50GB or more), especially when the drives are more than 60% full.
- Some affected SSDs use controllers from Phison, InnoGrit, and Maxio, but the problem is not linked to any single controller or brand exclusively.
- Microsoft has acknowledged the hiccup and is investigating it. The developer has released an emergency update that addresses the recovery issues, but the root SSD data corruption problem has not been solved so far.
Summing up: the issue is a serious one, but it affects a relatively small number of users. Still, the risk of losing data is real, so if you have this update installed already, back up the important stuff from your SSD.
Need more useful advice about backing up your data? Here are some earlier pieces we have published:
