AMD Confirms GPU Driver Bug Is Wearing Out Your SSD - How to Stop It
AMD says a Radeon driver bug is writing internal logs to SSDs at up to 5 MB/s while Windows PCs sit idle.
- AMD acknowledged on Reddit that a Radeon driver bug causes constant, unnecessary SSD writes when PCs are idle. The issue stems from the AMD External Events Utility, which keeps the SSD busy unrelated to user activity.
- The AMD External Events Utility handles hotkeys and FreeSync through an infinite loop in the driver code. This writes internal diagnostics, status checks, and system event logs to the SSD, creating unnecessary stress unrelated to user activity.
- Users caught the tool writing at speeds from 0.3 to 5 MB/s on their SSDs. At 5 MB/s, the total reaches nearly 13 TB a month, significantly impacting the rated write endurance of average SSDs.
- Two workarounds exist, but neither solves the issue unconditionally. Stopping the service breaks FreeSync and Adrenalin hotkeys, while disabling Resizable BAR might reduce gaming performance on PCs.
- AMD rep Vik indicated the fix lands in the very next Adrenalin version after the October 30 release. AMD acknowledged the problem on Reddit, though the current driver lacks a permanent solution.
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27 Articles
The error was discovered in the software "AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition" and reported by several users, as reported by Tom's hardware. The cause seems to be the service "AMD External Events Utility", which on certain computers continuously writes data on the system hard drive. Users have reported write speeds between 0.3 and 5 MB/s. In the worst reported case this corresponds to over 400 GB per day. One user states that the reported health st…
Gamers have discovered that AMD drivers are reducing the lifespan of SSDs. The company has acknowledged the issue and assured that a patch is being developed. AMD confirmed that the driver can silently wear out SSDs. One user lost 1% of their drive's health per month. This report was published by GRYOnline.pl on November 10, 2026.
AMD confirms Radeon bug causing excessive SSD writes
AMD Radeon driver bug causes excessive SSD writes AMD has confirmed that its AMD Software 26.10.1 and 26.10.2 drivers contain a bug that causes excessive SSD writing. While the SSD writes are small, 0.3-1.5 MB/s on most user reports, it means that AMD Radeon GPU users are having their SSDs unnecessarily worn. Gigabytes of writes […]
The External Events Utility of the Radeon drivers also writes to the system drive in idle mode. A fix is in preparation.
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