Problem with SSD

[adiditm]

Hello everyone,

I want to report a serious issue that I have experienced twice with Zorin OS, resulting in permanent SSD damage both times.

Setup:
MacBook 2012 (Intel i5-3210M), running macOS Sequoia + Windows 11 Bootcamp as primary OS. Zorin OS was installed on an external USB-SATA enclosure for testing/lab purposes.

Incident 1 — Samsung EVO 870 500GB:
Installation completed successfully. After 4-7 reboots of normal use, the SSD became extremely slow and eventually unusable. Tested on macOS, Windows, and other Linux distros — same symptoms across all OS. Permanent damage confirmed.

Incident 2 — ADATA SU650 1TB:
This drive had Kali Linux installed first (working fine). Zorin OS was then installed on a separate partition. After a few reboots in Zorin, the system began freezing gradually until full freeze, requiring forced poweroff. Upon reboot into Kali Linux (previously healthy), Kali was also affected. The drive became unwritable on any OS or port (tested both USB-SATA enclosure and internal SATA). Currently under warranty claim process.

Key observations:

• Two different SSD brands, same outcome
• Kali Linux was healthy before Zorin was introduced — and was damaged after
• Damage persists across all operating systems and hardware ports
• This suggests damage occurs at SSD controller level, not just filesystem corruption
• Forced poweroff was caused by Zorin freezing — not user negligence

I have also found similar reports from other users in this forum (Bavaria98, Thhunder, Haku) describing identical symptoms. This appears to be a consistent and reproducible issue across multiple Zorin versions (16.1, 16.2, and 17/18).

I strongly believe there is a critical bug in Zorin OS — possibly related to aggressive write behavior, improper partition sizing (over-provisioning not respected), or unsafe shutdown/flush handling — that is causing irreversible hardware damage.

I hope the Zorin team can investigate this seriously. Happy to provide additional details if needed.

Best regards

[Aravisian]

@adiditm

I have also found similar reports from other users in this forum (Bavaria98, Thhunder, Haku) describing identical symptoms. This appears to be a consistent and reproducible issue across multiple Zorin versions (16.1, 16.2, and 17/18).

Relevant threads, here:

SSD destroyed after update

With Space the output is: bash: cd: /dev/sdb/: Not a directory (bash: cd: /dev/sdb/: Ist kein Verzeichnis)

Boot Issue on Laptop Due to Corrupted OS

Well, now I would suggest to create an USB Stick with Windows on it and then try it with repair it.

Problem after Installation with my SSD and the whole GiB

You're contradicting yourself. Either you want Zorin to use the whole disk or you don't. Which is it? Nothing is being damaged by Zorin, nothing. Well there's part of your problem right there by your own words that has nothing whatsoever to do with Zorin. Your hard drive already has bad sectors. I'm not sure why you felt the need to "clean" the drive before installing Zorin. Perhaps whatever you used to clean the drive also broke the drive. When installing, you should choose something els…

I cannot call these "Identical symptoms."

In Bavaria98's case, we see a case consistent with a failed SSD controller, failed firmware, or failed USB-SATA bridge. Nothing that Zorin OS would alter or damage.

The other two match only in that in each, the O.P. fears SSD damage.

Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu, itself based on Debian. Were this inherited, we would see many reports from all three distros.
And for it to be exclusive to Zorin OS, this would require a Zorin OS specific configuration within the operating system that changes SSD read/write behavior - none of which actually exists (and can be searched for by any user to verify.)

I hope that the warranty honors you a replacement SSD. And given your report, I think it is best for the ZorinGroup to review this feedback:
@AZorin
@zorink

There is a lot of information that we on this forum do not know - how many read/write cycles both of those SSD's have experienced and so on. But I would caution against jumping to correlation conclusions on meager evidence.

[Amy_Casper]

If the SSD is being detected inconsistently, I'd also check the drive's SMART data if possible. That can sometimes reveal issues before they become obvious in everyday use and may help narrow down whether it's a hardware or configuration problem.