Western Digital WD Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) WDS100T2B0C

[Larry Shelby]

$99.99 with code 93XQW76 at Newegg

https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250135

[Grem]

Wow!! Nice find!!

[Grem]

There is also a 2TB version for $224, but it (and the 500gb, why? IDK) is on back order.

[kitekrazy1]

PCI-Express 3.0 x4 - what does that mean?  Wouldn't you lose 2 sata ports installing this?

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Paul Young

[Grem]

8 hours ago, Paul Young said:

PCI-Express 3.0 x4 - what does that mean?  Wouldn't you lose 2 sata ports installing this?

 

It's the fourth generation of this PCIe 3e spec. Simple terms = more bandwidth for the SSD = faster!!

Loosing SATA ports depends on the MB. Some implement the lanes differently. IOW some lanes maybe shared, but not lost.

So the most important thing to remember when sharing lanes is don't put bandwidth hogs on the same lanes.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Grem

[kitekrazy1]

 I'm quite ignorant about these type of drives.  I would want to get something similar to a SATA controller to use them.   Because of their size they would seem ideal to add on additional drives.

[Reid Rosefelt]

1 hour ago, Paul Young said:

 I'm quite ignorant about these type of drives.  I would want to get something similar to a SATA controller to use them.   Because of their size they would seem ideal to add on additional drives.

I have purchased four of these 1 TB drives over the years.   In my experience paying around $100 is pretty standard, if you wait for sales.  Just about any brand, including top-rated Samsung to ADATA and solid Crucial ones are regularly in the $100 to $120 range and often cheaper than that. 

Installing them depends on your motherboard.  With mine, there are two slots for directly attaching NVme drives to the board itself.  The manual states exactly which SATA drives are lost when I install a NVme in each spot.   When I installed both, I lost four SATA connectors.   Your motherboard may be different.

After that I installed cards in two PCie slots, each of which allow for a  fast M2 drive and a SATA one. The fast drive doesn't need a SATA connection but of course the SATA one does.   A SATA M2 drive is no different than a regular SSD, it's just has the chewing gum shape. 

What I did was install an inexpensive card in an empty PCIe slot that has six more SATA connectors.  I'm still putting 7200 drives in my computer too.

I have 4 NVme drives now, and I think that's all I'm going to be able to do internally.  Externally is another story.

 

 

[Grem]

1 hour ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

M2 drive is no different than a regular SSD, it's just has the chewing gum shape. 

This is correct. However, a NVMe M.2 drive is much different than a SATA drive.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Grem

[kitekrazy1]

4 hours ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

I have purchased four of these 1 TB drives over the years.   In my experience paying around $100 is pretty standard, if you wait for sales.  Just about any brand, including top-rated Samsung to ADATA and solid Crucial ones are regularly in the $100 to $120 range and often cheaper than that. 

Installing them depends on your motherboard.  With mine, there are two slots for directly attaching NVme drives to the board itself.  The manual states exactly which SATA drives are lost when I install a NVme in each spot.   When I installed both, I lost four SATA connectors.   Your motherboard may be different.

After that I installed cards in two PCie slots, each of which allow for a  fast M2 drive and a SATA one. The fast drive doesn't need a SATA connection but of course the SATA one does.   A SATA M2 drive is no different than a regular SSD, it's just has the chewing gum shape. 

What I did was install an inexpensive card in an empty PCIe slot that has six more SATA connectors.  I'm still putting 7200 drives in my computer too.

I have 4 NVme drives now, and I think that's all I'm going to be able to do internally.  Externally is another story.

 

 

 Which what I don't want or chance on.  I guess I would be looking at M.2 NVME to PCIe Adapter.  Otherwise I just may get SATA controller to be on the safe side. instead of these nvme drives,