‘Unreadable’: SanDisk Extreme Pro Hard Drives Are Defective, Class Actions Claim

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At least two proposed class actions allege certain SanDisk and Western Digital portable hard drives are defective in that a firmware issue can cause them to disconnect, delete users’ data, or become unreadable by a computer. 

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The cases, filed last week in California, allege that although the purportedly rugged and dependable SanDisk Extreme Pro portable solid-state hard drives (SSDs) are touted as offering high-speed data transfer and storage, the products are unfit for their intended purposes as users have widely reported failures, arbitrary ejections, “unreadable” errors and widespread data loss. 

The suits allege SanDisk and parent company Western Digital Technologies have schemed to mislead consumers as to the quality and characteristics of the hard drives and to date have refused to compensate consumers who bought the supposedly defective products. 

One suit, filed on August 15, says Western Digital has failed to publicly reveal the range of serial numbers for the potentially defective hard drives and has otherwise failed to disclose or acknowledge the existence of the alleged defect. 

Another case, filed on August 17, alleges the SanDisk Extreme line of portable hard drives and Western Digital’s MyPassport solid-state drives will suddenly and without warning wipe users’ data or become otherwise unreadable. 

“In other words, the [SanDisk and Western Digital hard drives] suddenly become worthless,” the suit summarizes, alleging the defendants, rather than pull the faulty products from the market, continue to sell defective SanDisk Extreme Pro hard drives, albeit at “a steep discount.” 

The August 17 complaint says that after SanDisk users began to complain online about their hard drives earlier this year, Western Digital admitted in May, after media outlets began to pick up the story, that a firmware problem was the culprit and released an update the company purported would resolve the issues on some of the hard drives consumers claimed failed regularly. At the time, the case relays, Western Digital announced that it had “addressed this firmware issue in the manufacturing process” and confirmed that the flaw no longer impacted the products it would ship going forward. 

According to the lawsuit, however, Western Digital’s apparent fix “has not resolved anything” as consumers continue to report that their SanDisk hard drives are failing, causing them to lose valuable data and “defeating the purpose of owning a SanDisk SSD in the first place.” 

“Given the unreliability, Plaintiffs and class members can no longer realistically use the SanDisk SSDs for fear of losing all of their data,” the filing shares, noting that Western Digital has since “significantly discounted” its SanDisk hard drives on Amazon. 

According to the August 15 case, numerous SanDisk users have reported their data being lost for seemingly no reason at all and with no action on their part, while others have said their computers were unable to access the hard drives upon their being plugged in. 

Considering the target demographic for the products—photographers, videographers, creatives and others who work with large files—Western Digital and SanDisk have put users in an “impossible situation,” the case contends, as they are left to either use the hard drives and potentially lose their data without warning or spend money on another drive for which the defendants will not compensate them since their initial product had not yet failed. 

“For Class members, this drive is effectively worthless, entitling them to a full refund of the amounts they paid for their SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD portable solid-state hard drives and any additional damages they may have incurred as a result of such purchase and/or use,” the lawsuit argues. 

The SanDisk solid state hard drives offer more storage capacity than traditional thumb drives and memory cards, the August 17 suit explains. Though thumb drives and memory cards are portable, they often are unable to accommodate the needs of professionals who work with larger files that require quick access, the case states. 

The August 25 lawsuit looks to cover all consumers in the United States who bought a SanDisk Extreme Pro solid-state hard drive, including the SanDisk Extreme Pro, Extreme Portable, Extreme Pro Portable, and WD MyPassport SSD models, at any time since January 2023. 

The August 17 case looks to cover anyone in the United States who bought a SanDisk Extreme, SanDisk Extreme Pro or WD My Passport solid-state hard drive at any time since 2020.

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