Trial drive WD Blue SSD SN550: Standard NVMe super speed, 1TB capacity, price only about 3 million, is it “delicious-complementary-cheap” as rumored?

Shortly after launching the Black SN750 NVMe SSD for gamers and streamers, Western Digital has just launched the Blue SSD with code name SN550, also with NVMe standard and up to 1TB capacity. The first impression about this product line is the extremely attractive price, only less than 3 million VND that still brings the quality and read / write speed “god”.

Typically, standard NVMe solid-state drives offer extremely high read and write speeds but are too expensive to meet the needs of most users. Older standard SATA SSDs are cheaper, but the speed is no longer suitable for the needs of many users today. Therefore, the launch of WD NVMe SSD M.2 standard with low price promises to give users the best option.

WD Blue SN550 NVMe 1TB: Good price and still “good” and “good”?

Theoretically, the WD Blue SN550 1TB hard drive uses 3D NAND memory chips, with maximum sequential read / write speeds of 2,400 and 1,950MB / s respectively, and durability reaches 600TB, more than enough for comfortable use. for many years. Like many other products from WD, the 1TB SN550 hard drive has a warranty period of up to 5 years.

WD SN550 has a printed circuit board on one side and no DRAM integrated. This is understandable because the product is located in the common segment, needing to minimize production costs to reduce the price. The two most prominent chips on the top (black) are the SanDisk 20-82-01008-A1 controller, made in China, and the 1TB SanDisk 96-layer 3D TLC NAND memory chip, made in Malaysia.

Also to reduce costs, the SN550 hard drive version does not have the option of integrated heat sink. However, WD has brought a new circuit design to reduce temperatures, maintain read and write performance with long tasks. Anyway, with the read and write speed of the product, the problem of overheating is not cause for concern.

Of course, the WD Blue SN550 1TB hard drive is also equipped with “genuine” management software that can be downloaded from the WD website. Not many features, but still enough for you to easily monitor the status of the hard drive more convenient.

Review by CrystalDiskMark 7

In several benchmark runs using CrystalDiskMark 7 software, WD Blue SN550 1TB hard drive gave very satisfactory results. The sequential read speed is usually around 2200 – 2300MB / s, slightly lower than the specifications from the manufacturer. However, the sequential write speed sometimes reaches more than 2000MB / s, which is higher than the stated level.

Sequential read / write speed of WD SN550 NVMe 1TB when rated with CrystalDiskMark 7.

Of course, these numbers are for reference only, because the actual speed depends on the hardware configuration of the user’s computer.

What about the actual test of copying data?

As a user who has been attached to SATA SSDs and HDDs for a long time, moving to using standard NVMe hard drives such as SN550 is very different. Experiment with 1 full HD movie file, more than 7GB capacity but just wait for 7 seconds to complete the transfer. Several blockbusters with a total capacity of nearly 17GB were also copied in a flash, only about 20 seconds. Write speed at the beginning of the transfer is about 1,300MB / s, gradually decreasing until it is about to be completed about 600MB / s.

The data transfer speed of fullHD movie is fast, “godly”, just pasted in the paste and did not see anything done.

With a folder containing nearly 1,000 original JPEG images from the camera, a capacity of 4GB, the hard drive takes more time to process and takes “take” 10 seconds to finish, with a write speed of about 600MB / s up to 1,200MB / s. Compared with standard SATA hard drives, this number is 3-4 times faster, with HDDs being at least 10 times faster!

Transferring nearly 1,000 JPEG images takes longer but is still fast and boring compared to a standard SATA SSD.

Of course, the above results are just a test, with data with very large capacity, up to several dozen, several hundred GB will need more processing time and transmit more. Overall, the SN550 hard drive will perform at its peak performance and stability for data about 10GB or less.

Conclusion

It can be seen, WD Blue SN550 NVMe 1TB hard drive is a product that meets the most basic needs of users, from performance, durability, speed to capacity, but the price is only marginally better. a little bit different than other SATA SSDs on the market.

With an attractive price and high read and write speed, WD Blue SN550 SSD is really suitable for most end users.

This will be a good choice for most end users who want to use computers, laptops with faster speed, stability and durability, especially Content Creators or Videographers / Vloggers – people who often have to deal with large amounts of data such as videos, photos or design files.