incase people still didn't know, intel post an update
http://communities.intel.com/message/135752
new firmware within 2 weeks
Hello, I read the update.
An alternative option is to use the Intel ® SSD Toolbox or similar tools to perform a secure erase in order to restore the SSD to an operational state; all data will be erased. After secure erase, update your SSD with the upcoming firmware. The pending firmware update will not recover user data.
For me, it was impossible to erase (format) the drive even if I used "Secure Erase" of Intel SSD Toolbox.
I remember my first SSD drive which also encounrted this problem also can not be formatted. That was the reason why I sent the SSD back to Intel for RMA.
Humm..... It seems I need to send my 2nd SSD drive to Intel again for RMA 
Try to put your PC into sleep mode and return back to windows, before trying Secure Erase.
The best way is to read more before doing something.
That would be of interest to me too. My SSD shows the same SMART error (B8 - End to End Error). And I think the problems are related.
Here is how I got that error:
After about 2 weeks using the ssd (160 GB - FW 0302 Model: SSDSA2CW160G3 2.5") on a dell precision m4500 laptop the system went to sleep (probably the first time) - and bang! I had a couple of hard freezes, bad image error messages of startup programs during boot until. Within a couple of reboots the situation got worse each time until the disk was practically inaccessible from within windows.
The size of the disk was always reported as 160 GB though.
Luckily i was able to "kind of" revive the drive using a bootable linux distro (it was mentioned in another thread of this forum) following the explanations over at ocz. I would like to mention that I had to try a couple of times in order to secure erase the ssd. I also created a new partition using the parted magic distro.
This way I was able to fill up the drive with useless data before I will return it to my supplier.
It cost me a week!
All,
Just as an FYI, I've provided an update on this topic here:
http://communities.intel.com/thread/24121?tstart=0
Rgds,
Scott
The Momentus SSD series from Seagate took care of all my Intel headaches and gave an end to this 8M farse forever.
The 500G SSD's sell at a great price and have been working like a charm for about a week now.
Do yourself a favor and stop clinging on to labels and brand names, there are other fish in the sea.
Gillware now has the ability to recover data from Intel solid-state drives, including the 320 series SSD, after the 8 MB bug or bad context (BAD_CTX) errors.
This is a breakthrough for the data recovery industry, and we have a bit more info about if available on our blog.
Please contact us if you would like to learn more about recovering data from an Intel SSD after a firmware failure.
Hello all,
i want to share my HP elitebook 8460p with SSD 320 series problems.
Hard drive Specifications :
1. Model Number : INTEL SSDSA2BW160G3H
2. Model SERIES : INTEL SSD 320 SERIES 160 GB (show as 8 MB in intel SSD toolbox)
3. Serial Number : BAD_CTX 0000013F (shown in intel SSD toolbox)
4. Firmware : 4PC10365
PROBLEMS :
1. Bluescreen error in windows vista enterprise 32 bit after automatic update in my company.
2. After restarting the notebook i got the following message in the startup "REBOOT AND SELECT PROPER BOOT DEVICE". My windows wouldn't even start.
3. I connect my SSD into another computer as secondary drive and boot to the windows. Check in the disk management, i found my harddrive is only 8 MB. Many of the forum called this "8 MB BUG". Note : my SSD harddrive is not shown in my computer.
SOLUTIONS TRIED :
1. HP software & driver : I downloaded "Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) Firmware Update" on website "[URL="http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=5056943&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=5056942&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2097"]http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=5056943&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=5056942&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2097[/URL]" and trying to do install SP52887 directly from windows and it says "setup status : this harddrive model is not supported : ST380013AS" which is my first harddrive (not the SD). The most updated firmware, i try to install SP5508 and it says "update status : This harddisk model is not supported". SP52887 installer is also comes with disk images to update firmware from boot process, i also do this and it says "your harddrive is having the latest firmware, no upgrade is needed". So, i think i have no luck with HP software & driver.
2. Intel SSD toolbox : I downloaded Intel SSD toolbox from website "[URL="http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455&lang=eng%20"]http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455&lang=eng%20[/URL]" and i cannot update to the latest firmware because of i have the latest firmware already. The only thing left is "SECURE ERASE" and it's the last thing i want to do because it will delete all the data in the SSD hard drive.
QUESTIONS :
Anybody know how to fix SSD 320 series harddrive without secure erase it ?
