WD Blue SN500 review - the end of SATA?

WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD review: the end of SATA
So long SATA, and thanks for all the bits
Jacob Ridley, 2 days ago
https://www.pcgamesn.com/wd/blue-sn500-nvme-ssd-review-benchmarks

"This is it folks, the end of SATA is upon us and the WD Blue SN500 is harbinger to the whole affair. Stuffed onto its 80 x 22mm frame is a single 500GB chip of WD’s TLC 3D NAND alongside the company’s own homebrew controller tech. And that makes for a mean combo, delivering blistering, SATA-destroying pace for only $78 ( £67)."

WD Blue SN500 review - the end of SATA? | Hardware
PCGamesN
Published on Apr 6, 2019
This is it folks, the end of SATA is upon us and the WD Blue SN500 is harbinger to the whole affair. Stuffed onto its 80 x 22mm frame is a single 500GB chip of WD’s TLC 3D NAND alongside the company’s own homebrew controller tech. And that makes for a mean combo, delivering blistering, SATA-destroying pace for only $78 (£67).


Will the price of SATA SSD's drop ~50% to match?

 

Interesting... Both memory chips and controller in house? (Edit: Ah so the blue is still using the sandisk mem chips.. but WD in house controller...)

The only other company that does that is the King, Samsung with their ssd's

Out of my many of ssd's I have the original wd black nvme and the newer wd black (sn750)... BF deals... They are okay, but not spectacular for long writes and for Temps pretty medicore.

I'd be interested in testing the blue's out...

My main OS drives are always Samsung. Currently the 970 PRO, EVO and PM981. One of the desktops is still running the 960 Pro and going strong.

In terms of SATA, yea drives like this and with its price will destroy the SATA sector, because it would make no sense to buy SATA drives at the same price point.

I think a lot of people forget that just because it's NVMe, it doesn't mean that you can't use at SATA ports / speeds... In a way it gives a user two options NVMe or SATA, whereas with a SATA you only have one option...

Also, what a lot of these competitors are doing is just turning up the "water pressure," on their controllers to try and complete with Samsung.

By doing so this takes a toll on the chips in general due to the stress = more impact on the integrity and stability of the chips. WD is banking on the fact that sandisk will be able to hold up, along with offering a 5 year warranty... fair enough ... but I sense that WD is living on the edge here just a tad bit as the sandisk mem chips don't have the same level of integrity as Samsung ships.

Samsung's controller are still several years ahead of the competition, although it seems that the gap has shortened somewhat recently due to "turning up the water pressure," to achieve numbers on paper in order to complete.

There are a lot of technical details behind this stuff and it's fascinating; something that I've kept tabs on for many years now...

All in all, in the SATA realm, these price points like what WD is offering with the Blue line will bring major shifts in the industry and will surely phase SATA drives out IMO ...

Cool stuff..

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M.2 PCIe NVMe to USB 3.1 / TB3 adapter enclosures, and it seems to be on a huge sale right now - introductory price?

RIITOP NVME to USB C Gen2 10Gb Adapter Enclosure PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD to USB 3.1 Type C Converter Case in Black (Thunderbolt 3 Compatible)
Limited time offer, ends 04/11 By UitTek
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6V882E8294
$199.95 Regular price
$45.74 Limited time sale price
Sale Ends in 6 Days (Thu)
Save: $154.21 (77%)

• RIITOP M Key M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD to USB C Adapter Enclosure

• Allows adding nvme SSD to your PC via USB 3.1 Type-C or Type-A Port at perfect performance, supports PCIe NVMe SSD 2280/2260/2242/2230 mm whole size

• Only for PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, NOT support SATA Nor AHCI B/B+M Key M.2.

• Compatible with most NVMe SSD on the market, such as Samsung SM951- NVMe, PM951-NVMe, 950 Pro NVMe SSD, SM961, PM961, 960 EVO, 960 Pro, 970 EVO, 970 Pro, WD Black NVMe SSD, works on Windows XP / 7 / 8 / 10 and MAC OS. Plug and play, no driver required.

• Come with Two cables: USB Type-C to A cable and Type-C to C cable, make connection easier!

• Note:Samsung 'Magician' software does NOT recognize NVMe SSD through USB port, but "Macrium Reflect software" allows you to clone SSD.

Only 2 reviews:

Good product but...2/28/2019 7:38:39 PM 4.5/5
Pros: -sturdy construction
-The USB 3.1/C is fast
-easy to use

Cons: -Need to use Macrium for Samsung Evo NVMEs

Other Thoughts: The support for Samsung is probably on samsung’s software end of the process so I’m not going to dock this thing heavily on that.

1/13/2019 9:26:19 AM 5/5
Pros: Well built
Really small
Easy to assemble
Cons: None




Another model from the same company, also discounted, but more expensive:

RIITOP NVMe USB C Adapter Enclosure Case PCIe M.2 NVME SSD to USB Type C USB-C Converter Adapter for Samsung 960 Pro, Intel 600P, P3600, 750, OPTANE, ADATA XPG (With 2 Cables: C-C, C-A)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6V87NP9906
$199.95 Original Price
$99.95 Sale Price
Save: $100.00 (50%)

 

interesting stuff indeed although i still see a future for SATA drives in terms of large capacity volumes replacing large capacity HDDs (currently using 5 TB 2.5 inch external HDD for my media collection)

currently waiting for my 970 Pro 1 TB and a little USB stick side project: got the smallest m.2 enclosure i could find (trekstor i.gear ssd prime) and planning to put a transcend m.2 2242 512 GB sata SSD into it. looking forward to what kinda speeds i can get outta that combo

 

Nice.. I wonder how this compares to the NVMe enclosure that I'm using now for sustained transfer speeds... hmmm.. based on the read/write it looks pretty good, but I think just a tad slower on the write. I've hit 1000mb/s +, but the writes seem pretty comparable. It'd be neat to have one to test.

These things are very neat and handy. Especially for macrium and wiping drives for clean OS installs...saves the hassle of having to install it into the laptop/computer just to do that task..

This is the one I have...it's a generic one that is relabeled by a lot of different brands. Works really well. They all seem to be around the ~$50 price range...




Update:

Oh intereseting...so they are both using the same controller... JMS 583.

The one in the OP has the smaller form factor going for it... but perhaps due to it being smaller it's cooling less, which may be responsible for the slower write speeds?

 

Good point and I still use 2.5" sata ssd drives for mass storage as I feel (in my own mind lol) more comfortable with the components being enclosed over the M.2 form factor.

For back up's, still using the good ol spinners. 8tb and 10tb Helium spinning platters. (shucked wd drives that go on sale often. -> thrown in a 2 bay nas.)

M.2 form factor caters more so to laptops etc.. While a desktop is limited with on avg 3x slots, but then the whole run in with sharing bandwidth etc...

Even with a pcie expansion card option it's still less attractive than using a sata drive eh? Especially with all the many Sata ports...

However, I think with nvme (speed) drives will start to over take Sata as the price falls like we're seeing now...