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I just got a brand new Samsung 850 Pro SSD, and I would like to install Ubuntu 14.04 onto it.

I have read some pretty ugly stories of data loss with the 850 series SSDs when using Linux due to bugs in the kernel, as well as bugs in the TRIM operation.

I have done my research, but most of what I'm finding is very outdated. For example, see this question, and this Reddit thread, as well as this one.

My question is, what is the current status? Have all major the bugs been worked out yet?

You'reAGitForNotUsingGit
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  • I currently have 6 computers (4 laptops and 2 desktops) running Ubuntu 16.04 with Samsung SSDs in them and have not experiences any issues whatsoever. – willem.hill Dec 25 '16 at 23:40
  • I said 16.04 and I actually do not think this is off topic. I was just putting out there that I have deployed Linux on many computers with Samsung SSDs in them and have not had any issues. – willem.hill Dec 25 '16 at 23:45
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    I'm running 14.04 off an 850 Evo with no issues. – wjandrea Dec 26 '16 at 00:13
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    Another one using 850 Evo with no issues, the only "tweak" i do is setting noatime on fstab. – dgonzalez Dec 26 '16 at 04:49
  • Alright, so we've heard from people with EVOs, but not from anybody with PROs. – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Dec 28 '16 at 02:41
  • I have one dual boot laptop with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.10 and a Samsung 850 Evo and it wants me to run e2fsck over and over again whenever I used Windows in between. I do not recommend this. – Michael S. Jan 26 '17 at 15:25
  • @MSC - Hmmm... Thanks for chiming in. I wish some people with PROs would reply though, as so for everybody who has replied has an EVO. Looks like I might just have to test it myself with non-important data and see how it goes... – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Jan 27 '17 at 03:09

1 Answers1

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  • Here is the patch for the SSD corruption bug. The bug was only for queued TRIM, not synchronous TRIM. Ubuntu either used the latter or has the SSD blacklisted. The older Samsung SSDs (including the 850 Pro) got a bugged firmware update introducing queued TRIM.

  • Slashdot article on the bug (link from the patch found in the article). It has some interesting comments. One of the conclusion back: If you do not use discard in /etc/fstab and just rely on the fstrim cron job, you should be fine.

So yes, fixed (in 2015).

Rinzwind
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  • Alright, well 6 months in and I haven't had any issues, so I'll go ahead and accept this. Though I did install 16.04 instead of 14.04 as originally planned; not sure if that makes any difference. – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Aug 21 '17 at 12:30