Dell Unity: The End-Of-Life Flag May Be Set On Certain SSD Drives After Being Continuously Powered On For More Than 6.8 Years (about 59,652 hours)
Summary: It has been observed that some Solid-State Drive (SSD) models may have their End-of-Life (EOL) flag set after accumulating a total power-on time of approximately 6.8 years or more. This flag indicates that the drive has reached the end of its expected lifespan and may no longer be supported or guaranteed to function reliably. ...
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Symptoms
The End-of-Life (EOL) flag may be set on some SSD drives after they have been powered on for over 6.8 years (about 59,652 hours).
Cause
The drive vendor has confirmed that the drive SMART POH is a 4-byte counter. It counts the number of 50-millisecond clock ticks since manufacturing for which the drive is powered on. This counter wrapped due to the drive being powered on for ~59,652 hours, or ~6.8 years.
When the Power on Hours (POH) counter wraps, it resets to zero and starts to increment again. The wear level of the drive is unaffected. This results in the calculated days remaining to reach EOL for any drive with a wear level >25% to become ZERO. This results in the EOL flag to be set to TRUE for the drive.
The following TLAs are affected per analysis performed by Hardware Engineering.
| 005051545 | 005051577 | 005051582 | 005051587 | 005051592 | 005052247 | 005052255 | 005053260 | |
| 005051547 | 005051578 | 005051583 | 005051588 | 005052236 | 005052248 | 005052256 | 005053261 | |
| 005051548 | 005051579 | 005051584 | 005051589 | 005052237 | 005052252 | 005052257 | 005053264 | |
| 005051549 | 005051580 | 005051585 | 005051590 | 005052239 | 005052253 | 005052258 | 005053267 | |
| 005051543 | 005051550 | 005051581 | 005051586 | 005051591 | 005052246 | 005052254 | 005052259 | 005053731 |
Resolution
Fix:
This issue is addressed in Unity Operating Environment (OE) 5.3.1.0.5.008 and higher. Please upgrade to the latest Unity Operating Environment code to obtain the fix.
NOTE: The drive itself is usable even after the EOL flag is set. If it is confirmed that the drive EOL flag was set due to this issue, there is no reason to replace the drive or clear the EOL flag.
Affected Products
Dell EMC Unity, Dell EMC Unity Family |Dell EMC Unity All Flash, Dell EMC Unity HybridArticle Properties
Article Number: 000216667
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 27 Oct 2025
Version: 14
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