I’ve seen a lot of botched updates in my years of building and upgrading gaming PCs, but the latest Windows 11 patch-KB5063878-caught my attention for all the wrong reasons. Several reports across social media and enthusiast forums are piling up: after installing this update, some SSDs, especially those aimed at gamers, are going dark or worse, outright failing during large data transfers. If you’ve ever bricked a drive mid-session, you already know this is a nightmare scenario for anyone with a serious Steam, Xbox, or Epic library.
Let’s cut through the technical jargon: the KB5063878 “security” update, which started rolling out August 12, is supposed to harden Windows 11 against exploits. Instead, it’s blindsiding everyday gamers who just want to update Warzone, Cyberpunk 2077, or whatever happens to be the flavor of the week. The issue zeroes in on large data writes—think 50GB game updates or moving big video projects. Suddenly, the drive vanishes from Windows Explorer. After a restart, you might get the drive back… or you might be in the “format now?” purgatory with corrupted data.
The first red flag popped up from user @Necoru_cat, who was updating Cyberpunk 2077 and watched their SSD disappear mid-patch. That’s every PC gamer’s second-worst fear (right after total data loss). The technical pattern? SSDs with Phison controllers, such as the Corsair Force MP600 and Kioxia Exceria Plus G4, repeatedly drop out when pushed hard, while others stay rock solid.
It’s sadly routine for Windows updates to break things, but this is more than just a minor inconvenience—this is file corruption and hardware risk. If your main game drive disappears or gets corrupted, that’s hours of installs down the drain, not to mention possible loss of screenshots, mods, saves, or even entire projects if you’ve got work or school files alongside your games.
Most alarming is the fact that Microsoft has yet to acknowledge the issue (as of writing). So, affected users are left with crowdsourced workarounds (mainly, not installing the update or rolling back if they’re fast enough), but that’s never the position you want to be in when you rely on your SSD to keep up with modern gaming’s demand for massive installs and constant updates.
Based on compiled lists from Japanese tech site Niche PC Gamer and social media sleuths, any SSD using a Phison PS5012-E12 controller seems especially vulnerable. This notably includes some of the best-rated gaming SSDs in the past few years:
The ray of hope? Heavy hitters like the Samsung 990 Pro and WD Black SN7100 haven’t shown issues in reported tests so far. Still, it’s a moving target—just because your drive isn’t listed doesn’t mean you’re completely in the clear.
If you’re running a PC with Windows 11 and have one of the at-risk SSDs, hit pause on big installs or updates. Consider holding off on installing the KB5063878 patch if you haven’t already. If you’ve already updated, keep backups of your saves and crucial files somewhere safe (external SSD, cloud, whatever works in a pinch). It’s worth monitoring tech forums for real-world fixes, but don’t expect miracles—right now, a simple system reboot might bring a missing drive back, but corrupted files could be lost for good.
This whole scenario is another reminder that, no matter how fancy your ultrafast storage is, a software update can still mess with your digital life. I’m not saying it’s time to go full tinfoil-hat and turn off Windows updates forever, but a bit of caution (and a good backup plan) never hurts—especially with how little communication is coming from Redmond this week.
The latest Windows 11 update is nuking some gaming SSDs, especially those with Phison controllers. Microsoft hasn’t addressed it yet, so gamers should back up everything and avoid heavy data jobs until there’s a real fix—not just blind hope that your drive is one of the lucky ones.
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