AMD investigates reports of Radeon driver SSD writes

Technology · First reported 9 Nov, 11:46 · Updated 11:58

Image: Wikimedia Commons · NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domain

Reports link AMD’s External Events Utility to continuous SSD writes and declining drive health. AMD is investigating, while users have reported workarounds that may affect display features or performance.

Users have reported continuous SSD writes linked to AMD’s External Events Utility, including write rates from 0.3 MB/s to 1.5 MB/s in forum reports.
One Reddit user said the issue used up to 1% of their drive health per month for about 16 months; other users have also reported declining SSD health.
Disabling the utility is one reported workaround, but it may disable FreeSync or cause display glitches; AMD is working on a fix without a stated release timeline.

Summary written by Sumzly from 2 articles

Key facts

Utility identified: AMD External Events Utility (EEU)
Forum-reported write rates: 0.3 MB/s to 1.5 MB/s
Other reported write rate: Up to 5MB/s, including when PCs are idle
Reported drive-health change: Up to 1% per month for around 16 months, according to one Reddit user
Workaround noted: Disable EEU; this may affect FreeSync support or display behavior
AMD response: ZDNET reports an AMD representative said a fix was hoped for in the next update; no firm release timeline was given.