Intel Corp. said on Wednesday that a firmware version that corrects the password-related issue with the company’s second-generation X25-M solid-state drives (SSDs) will be ready to be distributed as early as by the end of the week. The fix will allow Intel and its partners to start selling the new SSDs based on flash memory produced using 34nm process technology.

“We have already found the fix. We are in the process of validating now, and it should be ready to distribute by the end of the week,” an Intel spokesperson said.

Last week Intel had to stop shipments of its new SSDs because of a bug. According to numerous reports citing Intel, when a user sets a password in BIOS to limit accessibility to the drive and then either changes or removes it, data becomes corrupted. If a password is not set, the error does not occur. In order to fix the issue, Intel needs to update the firmware on its X25-M second generation SSDs, which effectively suspends shipments.

Compared to its previous 50nm version, the new Intel X25-M offers 25% reduction in latency for quicker data access. Besides, Intel X25-M delivers 6600 4KB write IOPS and up to 35000 read IOPS. The original Intel X25-M features up to 250MB/s sequential read speed and up-to 70MB/s sequential write speed and offers 1.2 million hours MTBF. Actual performance figures for the new X25-M were not revealed now.

New channel prices for the X25-M 80GB are $225 for quantities up to 1000 units (a 60% reduction from the original introduction price of $595 a year ago). The 160GB version is $440 (down from $945 at introduction) for quantities up to 1000 units. The X25-M comes in a standard 2.5” form factor.

Tags: Intel, SSD, 34nm, X25-M, Failures