Intel Corp. this week again pulled its latest firmware for 34nm X25-M solid-state drives (SSD) from its web-site due to reports about data corruption the new firmware causes on Windows 7 operating system. The update was supposed to boost performance.

The H2HA firmware upgrade, which was released early this week, and Intel SSD Optimizer use the Windows 7 ATA Data Set Management Command (known as Trim) to help keep the Intel SSD running at continued high performance. In addition, the SSD Toolbox and Optimizer also allow the respective enhancements to work with Windows XP and Vista operating systems.

The Trim attribute of the ATA Data Set Management Command, often referred to as Trim, synchs the operating system's view of deleted files with those that are deleted, but not erased on the drive. Trim tells the SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. This helps stabilize the performance and health of the SSD over time.

For 34nm X25-M 160GB owners, the firmware update also offers a performance boost to sequential write speeds by delivering up to 100MB/s, a 40% speed improvement over the existing firmware version.

Unfortunately, due to data corruption issues on Microsoft Windows 7-based computers, Intel had to withdraw the firmware from its web-site.

“Intel has been contacted by users with issues with the 02HA firmware upgrade on Windows 7 systems and are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware update while we investigate,” an official statement by Intel reads.

Earlier this year Intel had to stop selling of its 34nm X25-M SSDs because of a firmware error that caused data corruption under other operating systems.

Tags: Intel, SSD, X25-M