Western Digital Black SN850 PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD 2TB

Wanted to expand my storage for work but wanted more speed than a standard SSD due to using it as my boot drive. It's currently joint 1st for speed on UserBenchmark; with average speeds 5X that of a SATA 3 SSD and 10X of a standard HDD. The 2TB storage is massive, so perfect for a laptop, console (PS5) or any device where you're limited on the amount of internal storage you can add.If budget is limited then this SSD is steep despite being one of the best valued 2TB M2 SSDs. If you have the cash and want a quality boot drive, then I recommend this drive.Recommended full PC reset if your using it as a boot drive and keeping your BIOS updated to avoid boot drive problems.

Awesome Speed, Easy Install For PS5

I picked up this model to use with my PS5 Digital Edition. The SSD itself is awesome - the heatsink feels very substantial, and the whole package seemed put together incredibly well. It also just plain looks awesome, even though once installed you will probably never see it again. The PS5 install itself went completely smoothly. The SSD fits perfectly, and there is a couple mm of space in-between the top of the heatsink and the metal cover plate you put back on. After install, the PS5 will offer to format it and then you can immediately start using it. My PS5 gave my drive ~6500MB/sec of bandwidth right after the format. I have so far tested Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Sackboy: A ... MoreI picked up this model to use with my PS5 Digital Edition. The SSD itself is awesome - the heatsink feels very substantial, and the whole package seemed put together incredibly well. It also just plain looks awesome, even though once installed you will probably never see it again. The PS5 install itself went completely smoothly. The SSD fits perfectly, and there is a couple mm of space in-between the top of the heatsink and the metal cover plate you put back on. After install, the PS5 will offer to format it and then you can immediately start using it. My PS5 gave my drive ~6500MB/sec of bandwidth right after the format. I have so far tested Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Bugsnax. All of them played perfectly, or to maybe put it another way, I could in no way tell any difference whatsoever between the M.2 WD Black drive or the PS5's internal SSD. I also have Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy installed on it, but I haven't had a chance to play that one yet!

Bought for Ps5 SSD Expansion

I got this SSD once the beta for the PS5 update was released to upgrade my Ps5 expandable storage. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and well the SSD performs. Most games have improved loading over the Internal SSD within the Ps5. This is really impressive considering how the PS5 architecture was built around speeding up the internal SSD within the console. They did a great job building out the SSD expandable slot with good board speeds directly to the slot. This SSD is very cool compared to most that have been tested and compared for Ps5 upgrades and PC use. I'm very happy that the SSD slot is faster than I thought it would be and find myself moving Ps5 games to the Slot over the internal because of it.So far it's been a great purchase I'd recommend to ... MoreI got this SSD once the beta for the PS5 update was released to upgrade my Ps5 expandable storage. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and well the SSD performs. Most games have improved loading over the Internal SSD within the Ps5. This is really impressive considering how the PS5 architecture was built around speeding up the internal SSD within the console. They did a great job building out the SSD expandable slot with good board speeds directly to the slot. This SSD is very cool compared to most that have been tested and compared for Ps5 upgrades and PC use. I'm very happy that the SSD slot is faster than I thought it would be and find myself moving Ps5 games to the Slot over the internal because of it.So far it's been a great purchase I'd recommend to anyone wanting a good and fast SSD which is also cool and reliable for Ps5 Upgrades on the extra slot it's a no brainer to pick this drive. It comes with the heatsink on it and is sized already to fit perfectly in to the PS5. I've always trusted Western Digital products and this has proven why I have.

Excellent product

Easy to install (once you know where it goes on the motherboard). Works very well, fast as expected. Hardest thing is to find the type of screw that holds it to the motherboard. I was advised to talk to the manufacturer of the motherboard. It would be a standard courtesy to provide one M2, and one M3 screw with the drive. Internet suggested it was an M3 screw, it turned out it was M2. Took me 2 trips to the hardware store. Had to buy a longer M2 and then cut it shorter and file it to fit. The only reason for the 4 stars, otherwise it would be 5.

First PCIe 4.0 x 4 M.2 NVMe SSD that I have, and it is FAST !!!

Hardware Used: ASUS Prime B560-Plus motherboard i5-11500 CPU paired with Enermax ETS-T40fit (200W TDP) CPU Cooler WD SN 850 500GB gen 4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD Patriot Memory Viper Steel (2x8 GB) DDR4-3600MHz XMP memory 500 GB capacity drive is more than enough for me, only Samsung and Western Digital have something less than 1 TB. Knowing that Samsungs 500GB and smaller capacity 980 Pro drives may have uncleared cache problems causing very slow speed after one month or so, I chose this WD SN 850 model with the hope of avoiding similar problem. This is my first build of 11th generation Intel CPU and PCIe 4.0 motherboard. Buying this SSD is just something that I WANT but not something that I NEED. When installing WIN 10 to the new PC, the first step is to copy files to the ... MoreHardware Used: ASUS Prime B560-Plus motherboard i5-11500 CPU paired with Enermax ETS-T40fit (200W TDP) CPU Cooler WD SN 850 500GB gen 4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD Patriot Memory Viper Steel (2x8 GB) DDR4-3600MHz XMP memory 500 GB capacity drive is more than enough for me, only Samsung and Western Digital have something less than 1 TB. Knowing that Samsungs 500GB and smaller capacity 980 Pro drives may have uncleared cache problems causing very slow speed after one month or so, I chose this WD SN 850 model with the hope of avoiding similar problem. This is my first build of 11th generation Intel CPU and PCIe 4.0 motherboard. Buying this SSD is just something that I WANT but not something that I NEED. When installing WIN 10 to the new PC, the first step is to copy files to the drive after product key verification. I just could not believe my eyes that the Copying Files process was completed at the blink of my eyes. It was so fast, completed in one second (installed from 128 GB Samsung Fit flash drive, up to 300MB/s). The same copying process for my previous builds took two minutes or so for PCIe 3.0 motherboard with 2.5 SATA3 SSD (installed from DVD drive) or fifteen minutes or so for PCIe 2.0 motherboard with 7200 RPM mechanical HDD (from DVD drive). Win 10 probably had the files to be copied read ahead into memory, otherwise even the flash drive with 300 MB/s still could not get it done in one second. That is how I can appreciate the speed of this drive, otherwise I just do not have daily tasks that demand such a high speed to make it noticeably faster than my other PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD PC. I ran different benchmark programs for this drive, only listing sequential reads here. Userbenchmark ~ 3,500 MB/s (at this point I thought I got a Gen 3 M.2 NVMe drive) Samsung Magician ~ 6,358 MB/s AS SSD ~ 5,500 MB/s Crystal Disk Mark ~ 6,940 MB/s WDs Dashboard has nothing to test benchmark All programs (including BIOS and Win 10) indicated the model is WDS500G1X0E, not WD SN 850. I will not complain here that the speed is not close to 7,000 MB/s spec, probably because 500 GB models use smaller cache than 1 TB or 2 TB models. There is always a discount in speed for smaller capacity models. With this drive and the hardware configurations, I can compile a video of about ten and a half minutes in one and half minute, that is, in about 14.8% of the video duration. My other PC with PCIe 3.0 motherboard and gen 3 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD compiling the same video took about 26% of the duration time to complete. Will buy more in the future for Linux and Win11 if the price can drop significantly.

Incredibly Fast! But the model name?

I've had this drive for a while. It is amazing, only gets hot a bit and needs a bit cooling. Now i purchaed the second drive but i've realized that the model code on the new one was different "WDBAPY0010BNC" the first drive was "WDS100T1X0E" So i decided to make some search on internet, the products that was tested by some autohrities and reviewers on the internet had tested the "WDS100T1X0E" Also on WD product page for SN850 1TB w/out heatsink is said as the model: WDS100T1X0E. SO now I have big doubts on this new drive? I don't think that it is fake cuz this model is also sold by well known sellers, but what is it then? Is it a revised model which includes cheaper components that is produced special for Asia market?? Did WD do smt. like the other companies ... MoreI've had this drive for a while. It is amazing, only gets hot a bit and needs a bit cooling. Now i purchaed the second drive but i've realized that the model code on the new one was different "WDBAPY0010BNC" the first drive was "WDS100T1X0E" So i decided to make some search on internet, the products that was tested by some autohrities and reviewers on the internet had tested the "WDS100T1X0E" Also on WD product page for SN850 1TB w/out heatsink is said as the model: WDS100T1X0E. SO now I have big doubts on this new drive? I don't think that it is fake cuz this model is also sold by well known sellers, but what is it then? Is it a revised model which includes cheaper components that is produced special for Asia market?? Did WD do smt. like the other companies infamous on such tricks? First produce the high performing model to be tested by everyone, then after 6 months sell the second version with the same brand name for a cheaper price? I saw some comments on the forums but i couldn't find any concrete proof that is the exactly same drive. Is there anything that Western Digital tell on it?

PS5 Memory Upgrade

I purchased the SN850 NVMe SSD 2 TB with Heatsink to upgrade my PS5 internal memory. After applying to and getting approved for the PlayStation 5 Beta Program (Anybody that has a PS5 can apply and get access to the PlayStation Beta Program. You just want to do it in advance because it did take a couple days to get a response and code to gain access to the beta). I read that installing the SSD for PS5 wasn’t as easy as plug and play. From my research and prior experience I chose this WD SSD because it checked off all the boxes to what was needed and would fit/work properly. After watching some videos on how to install the SSD I went ahead and installed the SSD. Installing went good being this was a first time evolution on installing this type of memory. After ... MoreI purchased the SN850 NVMe SSD 2 TB with Heatsink to upgrade my PS5 internal memory. After applying to and getting approved for the PlayStation 5 Beta Program (Anybody that has a PS5 can apply and get access to the PlayStation Beta Program. You just want to do it in advance because it did take a couple days to get a response and code to gain access to the beta). I read that installing the SSD for PS5 wasn’t as easy as plug and play. From my research and prior experience I chose this WD SSD because it checked off all the boxes to what was needed and would fit/work properly. After watching some videos on how to install the SSD I went ahead and installed the SSD. Installing went good being this was a first time evolution on installing this type of memory. After installation and moving some games around to and from console memory to internal extended memory, I gotta say that this technology is impressive. To see a 250 GB game like COD take minutes to move was impressive. I’m gonna say that you pay for what you get and having the factory installed heatsink, I firmly believe I will not have any thermal issues or degradation of this memory for the life of this PS5 Console. I Highly Recommend this Upgrade!

PS5 essential upgrade

The WD SN850 and the Seagate FireCuda 530 are the best NVMe's for upgrading your PS5, as after all the upgrades and installations have completed, you are only left with just over 600gb. After installing Horizon Zero dawn (PS4) and Control (PS5), I was left with only 460gb. So, yes you need to get a storage upgrade. I have x16 PS5 games and lots of PS4 games which run at a better frame rate with a 4K graphics upgrade. So this was a no brainer, make sure you upgrade your PS5 firmware to the latest version or it won't recognise the NVMe storage. Also, one it formats the NVMe for use, I found that it gave me inaccurate read speeds of 5156 gbps when it should be up to 7000 gbps. I checked a few YouTube channels regarding this and it appears to be a normal thing until the ... MoreThe WD SN850 and the Seagate FireCuda 530 are the best NVMe's for upgrading your PS5, as after all the upgrades and installations have completed, you are only left with just over 600gb. After installing Horizon Zero dawn (PS4) and Control (PS5), I was left with only 460gb. So, yes you need to get a storage upgrade. I have x16 PS5 games and lots of PS4 games which run at a better frame rate with a 4K graphics upgrade. So this was a no brainer, make sure you upgrade your PS5 firmware to the latest version or it won't recognise the NVMe storage. Also, one it formats the NVMe for use, I found that it gave me inaccurate read speeds of 5156 gbps when it should be up to 7000 gbps. I checked a few YouTube channels regarding this and it appears to be a normal thing until the firmware is finely tuned. The FireCuda got read speeds of 6170 gbps when it should be 7300 gbps. But that aside, it performs as advertised, switching between games is a breeze and loads times are next gen as are update installations. A Far Cry from my PS4 with a 2TB Seagate SSD upgrade (pun intended).

This was my first experience with an M.2 drive

I have been working on PCs for years, but this is the first time using an M.2 VME. I did a lot of research online before choosing this one. I read the articles and watched the videos. Everything went without any problems. I installed it into my M.2 4.0 slot and used the "Frozer" heat sink that came with my motherboard. I used the WD version of Acronis downloaded from their website. Cloned perfectly, changed to primary boot drive in MB BIOS, removed original SATA SSD, and powered up and it booted right up. Downloaded and installed the dashboard software. Enabled game mode and bingo!, the speeds are as pictured. The highest temps I have seen during gaming so far are around 30`C (86`F). Just for comparison, my motherboard is an MSI B550 Tomahawk running an AMD Ryzen 5 ... MoreI have been working on PCs for years, but this is the first time using an M.2 VME. I did a lot of research online before choosing this one. I read the articles and watched the videos. Everything went without any problems. I installed it into my M.2 4.0 slot and used the "Frozer" heat sink that came with my motherboard. I used the WD version of Acronis downloaded from their website. Cloned perfectly, changed to primary boot drive in MB BIOS, removed original SATA SSD, and powered up and it booted right up. Downloaded and installed the dashboard software. Enabled game mode and bingo!, the speeds are as pictured. The highest temps I have seen during gaming so far are around 30`C (86`F). Just for comparison, my motherboard is an MSI B550 Tomahawk running an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor. 32Gb. Corsair 3200 RGB RAM and Windows 10. This drive is running in the M.2 slot just above my GPU (pictured). I also updated my motherboard bios to the latest version. I hope other folks have as good a luck as I have had so far!

Unreliable ssd

Ssd worked really well the first 2 months for my ps5. Recently my ssd is unable to detect my saved games on the drive, however my ssd still reads that 660 gb are used. Extremely frustrating not being able to access my games, especially when I had plans to play my ps5 all thanksgiving break. Reached out to an agent and was told to reach out to a software mechanic to access be able to troubleshoot and get my games. Don’t like this idea, already spent over a hundred dollars on this device and now I have to spend more money on a mechanic to attempt to fix the ssd. I was offered a replacement under warranty, which is a super long process. Additionally, it doesn’t fix my issue and leaves me to trust this device once again with all my games.