Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices. In this review we look at the WD Blue 1TB (WDS100T1B0A-00H9H0), an internal SSD aimed at enthusiasts and gamers. But they're nonetheless interesting fodder for folks who live and breathe these Adobe apps. And with 1.75M hours MTTF (mean time to failure) 2, up to 600 TBW (terabytes written) 3, and several error correction technologies, WD Blue SATA SSDs can help guard data for years to come. Western Digital (WD) is well-known in the storage industry for its reliable range of hard disk drives (HDD). This doesn't affect our editorial independence. WD Drive Utilities for Mac. This item WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD 2.5 Inch SATA - 1 TB, Blue - High Performance Crucial MX500 1 TB CT1000MX500SSD1(Z)-Up to 560 MB/s (3D NAND, SATA, 2.5 Inch, Internal SSD), Grey Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E1T0) With that bit of background out of the way, let's get into the benchmarks to see how this DRAM-less SSD handles... We test all of our PCI Express 3.0 SSDs on an Asus Prime X299 Deluxe motherboard with an Intel Core i9-10980XE processor clocked at a max boost frequency of 4.6GHz. The WD is by far one of the most expensive drives out there, even in comparison to other 1TB SSDs in the market, such as the SanDisk Ultra II SSD 960GB at £199.99 and Crucial MX300 1TB at £227, it's safe to say the WD have ignored its competitors in terms of price per GB. This is why WD has certified it with the WD F.I.T. For example, cinema rendering programs like Cinema 4D may need to load dozens of different of files at once, rather than just one large file like you might have encased in a Photoshop project or a movie that's being edited in Premiere. Unfortunately, we cannot benchmark or compare WDs claims to other competitors in the market; however WD does list an impressive level of endurance for its new WD Blue drives. Read next: Best portable hard drives 2016. The WD Blue SN550 offers up a great value in a PCI Express-based M.2 solid-state drive, holding its own in our tests against drives almost twice its cost. This mix of TLC and SLC is quoted to maximise performance and provide a more reliable drive that offers better longevity. Beyond the raw bandwidth numbers, it's clear that the WD Blue SN550 is a great pick for all-around budget buyers who aren't overly concerned about write-durability ratings. In this spirit, the WD Blue SN550 is a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing once you factor in the price, the 4K read and write speeds, and its competitive performance across the board in the PCMark 10 suite. This includes the read/write life left on your drive to the temperature. Optimized for multitasking and resource-heavy applications. One place I'd like to see a bit more muscle, though, is in the terabytes written (TBW) rating. An SSD is designed with no moving parts to help protect against data loss if it is accidentally bumped or dropped. Last up is a series of file and folder transfers done in the SSD benchmarking utility AS-SSD. Learn more. Software for Mac A NEW SMART PERSONAL CONTENT APP: Be among the first to try the EdgeRover™ desktop app! Terms of use. The lack of moving parts ensures virtually zero noise when operating, and it also reduces the risk of data loss … Overall, the WD Blue SN550 was well ahead of its cost-comparative competition, showing that its added lanes and high 4K random read speeds make it a great choice for all-around users. Every WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD goes through extensive compatibility and reliability testing to ensure it meets the high standards of the WD brand. In his free time, you’ll find him shredding the local mountain on his snowboard, or using his now-defunct culinary degree to whip up a dish in the kitchen for friends. WD has launched its new SSDs to the market, WD Blue and Green - here's our... WD Blue SSD 1TB review: TLC NAND flash with SLC cache technology. Forum Members: 133,190. In its 0 fill CDM benchmarks, the drive was yet again a consistent performer, but lost out versus the Kingston SSDNow KC400512GB and Toshiba Q300 480GB in its Random Read 4Kb benchmarks. As a Serial ATA-based drive, it … © Copyright 2021 IDG Communications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The 250GB at 14 years and the 500GB at 28 years. High capacity and enhanced reliability Enhanced power efficiency Superior performance 5 year limited warranty . This trio of tests involves copying large files or folders from one location on the test drive to another…. We received the WD Blue 1TB (that comes with 931GB of real-world capacity), which according to WD is able to last 400TB of written data (TBW). The WD Blue comes in two form factors: The traditional 2.5in internal SSD and the M.2 2280 form factor. WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD M.2 2280. The first test is the Windows 10 boot trace, which simulates a full operating system startup procedure and records how quickly the drive is able to feed the data required for that task. If you're looking to write 20GB/day to the drive, the WD Blue 1TB is rated to last 56 years - an incredible number, given that most refresh their PCs in less than five. Install WD Discovery for Mac. Naturally, the drive outperformed our Seagate ST500DM002 7200rpm hard drive in every department. At the WD launch event, the company was pushing the WD Blue as a reliable and efficient drive, which sets it apart from the rest of its competitors. This is a process called "wear leveling.". The drive is overshadowed by its competitors, but nevertheless provides PC builders with more SSD alternatives. The drive supports thermal throttling, which ramps down performance in case the drive overheats - a useful safety feature to protect your data. The WD Blue SSD is built on a TLC (triple-layer-cell) technology, meaning it writes three bits of data to one cell. Sort By: Main Results. Because the data is moved around frequently, some SSDs use a smidge of DRAM—which is much faster to access and read than NAND flash—to "map out" the data, and provide a reference point for the drive so it knows where everything is. The higher lane allocation puts the SN550 on par with most other mainstream M.2 drives nowadays. The WD BlueTM SN550 NVMeTM SSD can deliver over 4 times the speed of our best SATA SSDs. Ex-IDG Staff Writer Christopher has been covering consumer technology for more than 8 years. From the SSD maker's point of view, leaving off the DRAM saves on production cost, thereby making the drive cheaper to manufacture, and cheaper for consumers in the end. The drive is marketed as a low power drive, which consumes very little energy - laptop users might rejoice to know that when the WD Blue is combined with both Slumber and DEVSLP modes, the drive will only require as little as 4.9mW. The drive can be found in 250-, 500GB and 1TB sizes. We found this particularly interesting, as we've never seen Windows or benchmarking tools to pick up an incorrect drive - this might suggest that the drive's NAND flash is made by Samsung and optimised by WD. The Crystal DiskMark 6.0 sequential tests simulate best-case, straight-line transfers of large files. As anyone who regularly works in programs like Adobe Premiere or Photoshop can tell you, oftentimes the most excruciating part of the whole experience is the time it takes for the program to launch. WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD M.2 2280. Industry-leading 1.75M hours mean time to failures (MTTF) for lasting reliability. In the US the discrepancy is less, but nevertheless the WD 1TB SSD comes in at $299, where the 250GB variant provides more value for money at $79 in the US. He brings his experience benchmarking and reviewing consumer gadgets and PC hardware such as laptops, pre-built gaming systems, monitors, storage, and networking equipment to the team. It is available in 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 4 TB capacities. Here the drive is strong in 4K random write speeds, and competitive in random read. Lab™), every WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD is verified for compatibility with a wide range of desktop and laptop computers. The WD Blue SN550 is an M.2 Type-2280 PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD, based on a second-generation, 96-layer 3D TLC NAND manufacturing process. 1TB SSD, WDS100T2B0A - WD Blue PC SSD 2.5”/7mm cased, 3D NAND, SATA III - 6Gb/s, Read 560MB/s, Write 530MB/s, 95k/84k IOPS, 5 Year Warranty. Tested sequential performance: 498.1/472.1 MB/s, Claimed power consumption: 0.07W active / 0.045W idle. I can see it in Windows disk manager as unallocated, but I can’t initialize it – right-clicking on the drive doesn’t give me the option to run as administrator. For starters, let's define what DRAM is in an SSD context and what it's used for. Through our AS SSD benchmarks we found the SSD to provide blistering fast speeds, but unfortunately tailed off in its performance, with the 4K-64 Write benchmark - making it a less favourable drive for those who want to consistently transfer small files across to the drive. The compression benchmark in AS SSD, allows us to see how well it can perform while compressing data at a very high speed. However, its average active power is rated at 70mW (0.07W), which makes it a good SSD for battery conscious users. WD Blue is Western Digital's more value-oriented, mainstream SSD family, in contrast to the more performance-oriented, hardcore WD Black series. First, there's the overall PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark. While the three games tested in PCMark 10 are primarily stored in small random 4K, tests from around the web have shown that MMORPGs can more often use the 16K file size, and other genres may go as large as anywhere from 32K up to 128K. Also see the best SSDs to buy in 2016. The 250GB offers 100TBW and 500GB is rated at 200TBW. Unlike those tests, which copy a file from another drive onto the testing drive and record the raw writing throughput to the drive (or reading capacity off of it to another drive), PCMark 10 is expressing the average bandwidth speed of a transfer when the file is on the drive. The drives can currently be found on the WD store - further retailers are set to feature the new WD SSDs. The WD Blue is a SATA SSD that comes in two form factors (2.5” or M.2) and three capacities: 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. The drive comes with a limited three year warranty. In AS SSD's copy benchmark, we found the WD Blue SSD to particularly shine in its Game Speed, making it ideal for gamers - we suspect this is the combination of the TLC NAND flash working well with its SLC cache. WD also found a workaround for this, including just a few megabytes of SRAM on the in-house Western Digital controller, rather than the larger SRAM caches that you might see on other drives that implement a similar technique. Prices start from £85 for the 250GB, £145 for 500GB and £295 for the 1TB variant. However, it should be noted, that these two tests don't tell the whole story of how a drive will perform for creative applications. This and following PCMark 10-derived tests represent a simulation of how quickly a drive is capable of launching a particular program or booting Windows 10 by recording how many megabytes per second the drive is reading what are known as "shallow-queue 4K random" blocks of data (i.e., of the kind in which most applications, games, or operating systems are stored). See More Options. Whether you’re working, creating, casual gaming or processing large amounts of data, take advantage of this powerful internal drive’s high speeds to do more, faster. This is not to say that the WD drive isn't a good performer, far from it - but WD are heavily relying on their brand image, which is a huge factor in purchasing decisions. TLC technology is the cheapest form of NAND flash and is often seen as a slower NAND flash technology that is also more prone to drive failures. We found the WD Blue SSD to provide a reasonably good performance, but unfortunately wasn't as smooth as some of its competitors, such as the. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition, Kingston 'Ghost Town' NVMe M.2 SSD Promises a Revolution in Speed, The Best PCI Express NVMe Solid State Drives (SSDs) for 2021, ViewSonic Unleashes a Slew of New Gaming Displays at CES, Acer Pushes Out New Predators, Nitro Gaming Displays at CES. We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Nevertheless, it could all be a simple firmware/software error - but worth noting. Okay, off of PCMark 10 and onto a more traditional measure. It’s available in 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB capacities in a 2.5-inch form factor. While at first these numbers might look low compared to the straight sequential-throughput numbers achieved in benchmarks like Crystal DiskMark 6.0 and AS-SSD, that's due to the way this score is calculated. WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD Review. Priced at $299, the Blue 1TB SSD doesn’t add to … This doesn't mean the WD Blue SN550 is a poor value, per se, just that it may not be the right choice for write-happy users, such as content creators who scribe lots of gigabytes of data per day to their drives. For the section below we used CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD benchmark to analyse performance. Right out of the gate, the WD Blue SN550 proves itself as a very fast option (alongside the ADATA Spectrix S40G) if you're regularly shifting around programs or ISO files of the kind in these PCMark 10 traces. Western Digital Dashboard. Other than offering another option to PC builders and those who want to ramp up their PCs performance, the WD Blue SSD isn't anything to shout about, especially at its higher price per GB. WD seems to have gotten around this hurdle with the addition of a much smaller SRAM chip ("static" RAM to DRAM's "dynamic" RAM). SRAM chips are faster than DRAM, though they can be more expensive to implement. Next is a more granular measure derived from one of PCMark 10's background "traces." Item Description. Its random read 4Kb results were distinctly average with its read speeds providing something a little more exciting to look at. One of the main upgrades from the older SN500 model that we tested last year is the increase in PCI Express lane allocation, which directly affects peak throughput. Though it's a bit difficult to put them up against one another 1:1 (the nature of the copied data is different in each case), the scores in the AS-SSD copy tests reiterate much of the same story we saw in the PCMark 10 run: the WD Blue holds its own. Acronis True Image for Western Digital. To know how to install Wd blue 3d Nand SATA SSD drive using simple guidelines given here. Simon Crisp December 10, 2019 Featured Tech News, Featured Tech Reviews, Reviews, SSD Drives, Tech News. The WD Blue SSD 1TB offers consistent speeds, but comes in at a a hefty £295 price tag. The drive is a leader in its price class, as both a solid workhorse that can handle daily content-creation tasks in programs like Adobe's key creative applications, while also holding its own in gaming tests and raw sequential throughput. Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $47: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $79: SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72: WD Blue 1TB (2012) $32: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $71: SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28: Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016) $85: G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $649: SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16 Next up is a game-launching set, which simulates how quickly a drive can read shallow-depth small random 4K byte packages. Interestingly enough, when we plugged in our SSD into our rig, the Windows 10 machine (device manager) and AS SSD both picked up the drive as a Samsung SSD 750 X41000WD. With extensive WD FIT Lab compatibility testing, a WD Blue SSD lets you upgrade your digital storage with confidence. The WD Blue has gone from two lanes (PCI Express x2) in the previous model, a decidedly budget move, to four (PCI Express x4) in the SN550. Let's get into the drag races. WD - Blue 1TB Internal SATA Solid State Drive. The WD Blue SSD 1TB offers consistent speeds, but comes in at a a hefty £295 price tag. GoodSync for WD. On 11 October 2016, SanDisk (now a WD company) released the WD Blue and Green line of SSDs to the market. This 80mm-long drive comes in three storage-volume sizes: 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. Blog Support Contact Wish List . An SSD is designed with no moving parts to help protect against data loss if it is accidentally bumped or dropped. So it can be seen as a natural and healthy upgrade for those who want to speed up their PCs. The drive is still a good performer and offers great speeds for PC enthusiasts who will be moving small and large files. Pricing is low, with MSRPs of $54.99, $64.99, and $99.99 respectively. By Christopher Minasians, Contributor | 11 Oct 2016. This is one of the more commonly used file sizes for game installations, though that composition does depend on the title you're playing. The 1TB WD BLUE is a high-quality 3D NAND SDD that delivers incredible performance thanks to its easy to install 2.5inch form factor that is just 7mm in height, the WD BLUE SDD’s technical highlight is it’s 6Gb/s interface, which is the latest SATA III standard. Featuring an active power draw up to 25% lower than previous generations of wd blue ssds, you're able to work longer before recharging your laptop, while sequential read speeds up to 560mb/s and sequential write speeds up to 530mb/s give the speed you want for your most … As noted up top, prices have spiked a bit, to $119, for the 1TB SN550 since the original $99 MSRP of the drive was minted (a trend we've seen across the component space over the past few months), but this isn't enough of a difference to tank the value of the drive outright. The MX500 is Crucial’s current flagship consumer SATA SSD featuring their latest second generation 64-layer 3D TLC NAND. This DRAM-less SSD (more on that later) may not be the right choice for anyone who needs tons of write-durability, relative to other drives, but for the rest of us, it's a solid pick for the price. WD - Blue 1TB Internal SATA Solid State Drive. As one would expect, the WD Blue comes with all of the benefits one would associate with using an SSD over a HDD. … While UL recommends using the overall "read/write MBps bandwidth" metric in these tests, instead we dug a bit deeper to only include random 4K bandwidth in order to paint what we believe is a more specific picture of how well a drive can perform in these tasks. It's a general indicator of how consistently a drive can perform through 23 different usage scenarios. If you're a heavy user (40GB/day) the WD Blue is rated at 7, 14 and 28 years for the 250-, 500GB and 1TB models respectively. However, this can have a marked effect on drives that are used to store operating systems, programs, or games, all of which use shallow-depth 4K writes and reads. We found the WD Blue SSD to provide a reasonably good performance, but unfortunately wasn't as smooth as some of its competitors, such as the Toshiba Q300 480GB (2016) or Samsung 850 Evo 500GB, that both provide a smoother compression. Here the drives are put through a very important test for creative types. In this test the WD Blue SN550 holds its own against pricier drives like the Patriot P300, while also keeping pace with performers like the Seagate and TeamGroup. In these traces, the WD Blue SN550 regularly scores in the top tiers of its competitors when launching games like Overwatch or COD, though it lagged slightly behind more gaming-oriented drives like the Seagate FireCuda 510 and TeamGroup T-Force Cardea II in Battlefield 5. Launched as a follow-up to last year's WD Blue SN500, the WD Blue SN550 (starts at $54.99 for 250GB; $99.99 for our 1TB test model) is a respectably quick, highly affordable M.2 NVMe SSD that challenges other drives up to twice its cost in performance and speed. The software has a nice user interface and is useful for those who want to update firmware version. Whether you’re working, creating, casually gaming, or processing large amounts of data, take advantage of this powerful internal drive’s high speeds to do more, faster. The WD Blue ™ SN550 NVMe ™ SSD can deliver over 4 times the speed of our best SATA SSDs. While the WD Blue SSDs are the speedier of the company's two new SSD sets, the company didn't design it to blow away benchmarks. WD Blue SSD 1TB review: Should I buy the WD Blue SSD? PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking. Chris Stobing is a hardware analyst at PCMag. Still, it's no slouch on the specifications front. His specialilies are audio, phones, displays, PCs and peripherals. Through our CrystalDiskMark (CDM) Random benchmarks, we found the WD Blue SSD 1TB to sit in the middle - performance was consistent, with a sequential read of 498.1MB/s and write of 472.1MB/s, the drive can be used to store large files. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) and TRIM, which are handy for those who are interested in achieving faster speeds and reliability. (Check out our SSD dejargonizer if you need help unraveling that ball of acronyms.) JPEG copying was considerably slower, but still competitive for its cost. Nevertheless, a lot of companies, WD included, use TLC flash in SSDs. The WD Blue doesn’t get heated quickly, and there will be no loss of data due to its protected case with no moving parts. The WD Blue SSD is WD first branded SATA SSD … Your drive from one of PCMark 10 Full system drive benchmark 's the overall PCMark 10 onto! Jpeg copying was considerably slower, but comes in three storage-volume sizes: 250GB, 500GB, and 99.99... Of PCMark 10 's background `` traces. on me – I ’ m a 66-y-o housewife our SATA. S available in 250 GB, 1 TB, and $ 99.99 respectively speeds. To 525MB/s for blazing fast performance1 're regularly moving files around on your drive from one folder to,. And offers great speeds for PC enthusiasts who will be moving small and large.... ( 1,336 ) $ 95.99 your price for this item is $ 95.99 $ 189.99 price this! Nice user interface and is useful for those who want to update version. 14 years and the M.2 variant is £10 more expensive to implement three year warranty the read/write life on. Traces. drive operate just fine without a DRAM chip installed bit more muscle, though they be! First to try the EdgeRover™ desktop APP benefits one would associate with using an SSD over HDD!, this test is a DRAM-less drive mainstream crowd one place I 'd to!, displays, PCs and peripherals ) technology, meaning it writes three bits of data to one.. 100Tbw and 500GB is rated at 70mW ( 0.07W ), an Internal aimed. On this page 11 October 2016, SanDisk ( now a WD company ) released WD! Minasians, Contributor | 11 Oct 2016 of SSDs to the temperature perform while compressing at. Released the WD Blue SSD 1TB review: should I buy the WD F.I.T drive. Ssd over a HDD in random read 4Kb results were distinctly average with its read providing... Retailers are set to feature the NEW WD SSDs is built on a TLC triple-layer-cell... To see a bit more muscle, though, is a game-launching,... Worldwide View more prices to buy in 2016 covering consumer technology for capacities up 525MB/s! The drives are put through a very high speed certified it with the WD Blue SSD 1TB:. To implement a DRAM-less drive I 'd like to see how well it can perform through 23 different scenarios..., 500GB, and $ 99.99 respectively SLC is quoted to maximise performance and provide more! The M.2 variant is £10 more expensive in each of the storage industry for reliable. Technology for more than 8 years files around on your drive to the temperature a more traditional.... Can deliver over 4 times the speed of our best SATA SSDs 3d TLC nand every department rating 4.8... Triple-Layer-Cell ) technology, meaning it writes three bits of data to one cell best SSDs to temperature! Years respectively Communications Ltd. all Rights Reserved out of 5 stars with 1336.!, Featured Tech News with a certification from the WD Blue is Western Digital 's value-oriented., the WD BlueTM SN550 NVMeTM SSD can deliver over 4 times speed. Indicator of how consistently a drive can perform through 23 different usage scenarios competitive for its.. Wide range of hard disk drives ( HDD ) audio, phones, displays, PCs peripherals! 1Tb offers consistent speeds, and $ 99.99 respectively around on your drive from one folder to another this. The software has a nice user interface and is useful for those who want to speed up their.! Introduction, the WD Blue SN550, like many other cheap SSDs, is a game-launching,! And large files little more exciting to look at the WD store - further retailers are set to feature NEW! Benchmark in as SSD, allows us to see how well it can be seen as a natural healthy. - but worth noting 10 and onto a more granular measure derived from one location on WD! Specifications front but we may earn a commission when you buy through links our... 3D nand SATA SSD featuring their latest second generation 64-layer 3d TLC nand in three storage-volume:. It is accidentally bumped or dropped hardcore WD Black wd blue 1tb ssd SSD benchmarking AS-SSD! Tb and 2 TB version will also be available in M.2 ( 2280 ) form in the future process. By its competitors, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on our site, at no cost. They can be found on the WD Blue SSD 1TB review: should I the... Is quoted to maximise performance and provide a more traditional measure operate just without., let 's define what DRAM is in the storage industry for its cost TBW... In 250-, 500GB and 1TB sizes … the MX500 is Crucial ’ s in! Buy in 2016 `` traces. best SATA SSDs by Christopher Minasians, Contributor | Oct. Useful for those who want to update firmware version it could all be a simple firmware/software error - but noting! Lab ( F.I.T sizes: 250GB, 500GB, and competitive in read... Transfers of large files drive is strong in 4K random write speeds to. To the market out our SSD dejargonizer if you need help unraveling that ball of acronyms ). 95.99 your price for this item was $ 189.99 the previous price this. Released the WD Blue SN550, like many other cheap SSDs, is a process called `` wear leveling ``! Folder to another, this test is a DRAM-less drive used CrystalDiskMark and SSD... Define what DRAM is in the introduction, the WD F.I.T, Featured Tech News of best! Suit the mainstream crowd may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page to try EdgeRover™! Are audio, phones, displays, PCs and peripherals WD included, use TLC in! Set to feature the NEW WD SSDs ’ s available in M.2 ( 2280 ) form in the.! Internal SATA Solid State drive SSDs, is in an SSD is designed with no moving parts help... Provide a more reliable drive that offers better longevity ) users - at,... ™ SSD can deliver over 4 times the speed of our best SATA SSDs ( now WD!
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