Samsung T5 going bad

I have 2 BlackMagic Pocket 6K's and use the Samsung T5 2TB SSD for media. About a month ago, I had one appear to go bad on me. Would not read on the camera, and say that it's an unsupported drive format, and that it needed to be formatted. Formatting wouldn't work, it would just say that formatting failed. Formatting on the computer wouldn't work either. So I sent it into Samsung and they reportedly have fixed the issue and are sending it back to me.

I'm a bit frustrated because now, my other T5 has also gone bad, and cannot be read or formatted. This is not the same T5 that Samsung has repaired (which hasn't arrived yet).

Is this a common issue for this SSD? I'm a bit frustrated at the lack of reliability with this drive. But according to BM it's one of the few supported drives. Has anyone else had experience with this?

one of my T5 2TB went bad also. The same symptoms. In my case I was not even able to format in camera. Maybe it can be formatted on a computer.

All SSDs have a finite number of write cycles. The cheaper the SSD, usually the fewer full write cycles it can handle. I can’t find warranty numbers for the T5, but take a look at the warranties offered for various Samsung SSDs to get a sense of total written TBs that Samsung is willing to warranty at different capacities and price points. With the T5 being one of Samsung’s cheaper offerings, it’s a fair bet that it will only last a couple years before wearing out if you’ve been using it frequently as a camera media drive. While the T5 does work as a camera media drive, I highly doubt Samsung ever designed the T5 for that use case specifically.

Sage advice from Jamie.

Consider replacing with the Samsung T7 Shield 2 TB that has performed well for me on the BMPCC4K. That was recently acquired. My Wise Portable SSD 1 TB is four years old I believe and I also have it mounted on the BMPCC4K for tests and as a fallback in a client shoot in case I experience any problems with the Shield.

one of my T5 2TB went bad also. The same symptoms. In my case I was not even able to format in camera. Maybe it can be formatted on a computer.

today I was able to format the T5 2TB in camera. Possibly because of the upgraded firmware in the Pocket 4k.

The SSD is working as before.