I am thoroughly pleased with my purchase of this drive. I am very happy with the results that I was able to achieve especially for a drive without a DRAM cache.
The drive is in an M.2 2280 form factor so keep that in mind when choosing a drive for a laptop or other small device, as it may be too long, so be sure to check the compatibility with the manual of the device you plan to put it in. This drive WILL fit in a PlayStation 5, but is not fast enough to recommend for said use case.
I recommend this drive to those needing a large and modern drive but at a very good price. Ideal use cases would be for game libraries or security camera video storage.
Reasons to recommend:
- Great price from a reputable brand
- PCIe gen 4 which is a steal at this price
- Great speeds considering the lack of DRAM cache
- No required heat sink
Reasons to avoid:
- 1TB is not a lot in today's world; for this price you can easily find a 2TB hard disk drive
- No DRAM cache
- Speeds are good, but not great
- Installation can be more in-depth than something like an external hard drive
Into the nitty-gritty.
I ordered this as a secondary drive for my Dell XPS 9710. This laptop has two PCIe 4x4 slots that will accommodate a 2280 M.2 expansion card. I did not need anything too fast, just extra storage for game libraries and creative files (Photoshop, Blender, Premiere, Ableton, and the like).
The packaging was very small and minimal but still good quality. My drive had a different color PCB - a very dark blue/black. While not an issue (I actually prefer it), it is worth noting. The serial number is correct and it is the same drive as sold on Amazon. Installation was a breeze and the drive is sized properly.
Going by the benchmarks that I ran, the primary use of this drive should be items that will not be randomly accessed. I would not recommend this as a primary drive for a computer or running an operating system on this. Storing documents, games, or other file types that will be loaded sequentially into RAM when accessed will work great here.
Average sequential reads according to CrystalDiskMark were about 3500GB/s and average sequential writes were about 2570GB/s. These write speeds are as advertised, but be aware that there is a reason write speeds are not advertised - the lack of DRAM cache is hurting them a lot.
Average sequential reads according to Atto were HEAVILY favored to larger queries, and you can expect full speeds at 512KB queries or larger. Average optimal reads are about 3000GB/s and average optimal writes were about 2400GB/s. These read speeds are significantly lower than CrystalDiskMark's findings and less than advertised.
I rate this product overall 4.5/5 stars due to its absolute steal of a price for what you get. I would prefer the inclusion of a DRAM cache, but it is hard to complain.
If you buy this as a secondary drive for someone on a budget, you won't be disappointed.
| Hard Drive | 4 TB Solid State Drive |
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