The End of an Era: Crucial Exits the Consumer Market — What It Means for You and Your Business

Published January 7, 2026 • Hardware & IT Infrastructure

After more than two decades of recommending Crucial products to clients, I didn’t expect to be writing this. But Micron has officially announced it is exiting the Crucial consumer business and shifting its focus toward larger data center and AI customers.12

In plain English: big companies buying massive amounts of storage are now more important than home users and small businesses.

The Announcement (Without the Corporate Spin)

On December 3, 2025, Micron confirmed it will gradually exit the Crucial consumer market. Shipments are expected to continue through February 2026, and Micron says existing warranties will still be honored.13

That doesn’t mean support will be fast or painless. It just means it technically exists.

Where I Started Seeing Problems

For years, Crucial products were boring — and boring is exactly what you want from storage. Starting in 2024, I began seeing more reliability issues, especially with external drives used for backups.

macOS Time Machine Disconnect Issues

Multiple clients reported Time Machine failures caused by external SSDs disconnecting during backups. This showed up across different Macs, cables, and macOS versions.

  • Cables replaced
  • Ports changed
  • Power settings checked
  • Drives reformatted

The issues persisted. Backups should not require ongoing troubleshooting.

Warranty Delays

When Crucial SSDs failed at client sites, warranty replacements took months. That experience matches many publicly reported delays and was enough for me to stop deploying Crucial products in new systems.

What This Means for Your Business

  1. Inventory what you have: know where Crucial drives are in use.
  2. Plan replacements: don’t wait for a failure to become an emergency.
  3. Expect less focus on consumers: Micron’s priorities have shifted.

What I Recommend Instead

Based on real-world installations and long-term reliability, I now standardize on the following brands for client upgrades and backups:

  • Samsung — excellent reliability for external backups and Time Machine.
  • Kingston — solid internal SSD and memory upgrades.
  • Silicon Power — dependable and cost-effective upgrade option.

I intentionally avoid SanDisk for external backups. Over time, SanDisk-branded external SSDs have shown similar disconnect and stability issues on Macs as Crucial drives, making them a poor choice for backups.

Recommended External SSDs

I can help select the right drive, handle installation, migrate data safely, and verify backups actually run correctly.

The Bigger Picture

The storage industry is changing. Manufacturers are prioritizing large data centers and AI companies because they buy hardware in massive volume. That leaves fewer choices and slower support for consumers and small businesses.2

This makes proactive planning more important than ever.

Bottom Line

If your business relies on backups and storage that “usually works,” it’s time to tighten that up. Reliable hardware, tested backups, and clear upgrade plans matter more than brand loyalty.

Need help auditing storage, replacing Crucial drives, or fixing unreliable backups?
Call (760) 550-9496 or visit mac-pc-assist.com.

References

  1. Micron Technology – Crucial Consumer Business Exit Announcement
  2. Reuters – AI and data center demand driving memory and storage industry shifts
  3. Micron Investor Relations – Warranty and shipment continuation statements