M.2 Drives

[HipKat]

I'm going to move my Linux drive from an old WD 500GB 5400RPM Drive to a 1TB M.2 Drive, since I only use Linux now and let Windows sit on the 500GB SSD it's been on. I already removed Win from Grub so reboots go straight to Linux.

Looking at Drives, there are lot out there and I want to make sure I get the best W/RW speeds.

This is about a 3 yr old Computer so I expect the PCI sockets are 3.0.

So, does anyone know which drives I want to consider?

 

[NYDutch]

I'll let others comment on the current drive choices. I do want to comment on GRUB though. Since I still support a few family and friends on Windows, I have Win 10 on my GRUB menu for dual booting. I have my PCLinuxOS installation as the default boot with a 5 second delay. Hit power on in the morning, pour a cup of coffee, and I'm up and running when I sit down.

 

[TheForce]

I use 4 500gb Samsung 980 M.2 sticks in my video editing computer. One is for the C drive OS and the other 3 are video work drives. They are about the fastest drive you can get, but keep in mind you really need to use them in a computer that can realize that r/w speed. If your computer CPU is an 8 core and your ram is slow you may have other bottlenecks that hold up the works.

My video editing computer uses dual 18 core 36 thread water cooled CPUs overclocked at 3.6Ghz with 128GB of fast ram. Runs windows 10.
My regular office computer runs an 8 core air cooled CPU and the system is on a SSD 500GB.

I can edit 2D 4K video on the slow machine but earlier this week I tried an experiment on a 5 minute video with two 4K 60fps clips and effects in Adobe Premier Pro. The render took 90 minutes to render. I repeated the edit on the fast computer the render took 2 minutes. I can play 4 simultaneous streams of 5K video from 360VR cameras from the edit timeline in real time with no buffering. Huge difference!

My 8 core cpu just doesn't run any faster with a faster storage. I tried it, before biting the bullet and building the fastest machine I could 4 years ago. It still is fast enough for my video editing projects. But every day use, I use the slower machine as the cost to run it is much less as well.

 

[EarDemon]

M.2 is a form factor, not an interface. I assume you want to move to an m.2 NVMe SSD not an m.2 SATA SSD, correct?

I primarily only use Western Digital/SanDisk drives. I have nothing against Samsung, Kingston, Crucial or other brands, I just never had a problem with WD or SanDisk. In the early 2010s when I completely moved away from mechanical hard drives and went 100% SSD only, I went with Intel. Intel is now mostly out of the SSD game unless it's Optane or their data center stuff and even that seems to be dying at first glance. Always used Western Digital HDDs, so when they acquired SanDisk and started releasing SSDs under their own name I jumped on it.

Black for home, Blue for work.

Laptop #1 - WD Black SN750
Laptop #2 - WD Black SN850, Intel 770p, WD Red SA500 (2.5" SATA)
Work Laptop - WD Blue SN550
Standby for future Desktop - Two WD Black SN850X's.

Never had a problem with any of these drives and I have about 100 WD Blue m.2 NVMe and 2.5" SATA drives in use at work with no failures.

Also have both generations of the WD MyPassport external SSDs and a couple SanDisk Pro external SSDs.

The 850 and 850X are 4.0 drives so there is no advantage if you have 3.0 slots but the reviews have been extremely positive

WD Black SN850X SSD review: Face-meltingly fast

WD's Black SN850X NVMe SSD delivers exceptional real-world and random performance, along with sustained throughput that nearly matched Seagate's FireCuda 530. A very fast SSD priced nicely given the performance.

www.pcworld.com

 

[HipKat]

I'll let others comment on the current drive choices. I do want to comment on GRUB though. Since I still support a few family and friends on Windows, I have Win 10 on my GRUB menu for dual booting. I have my PCLinuxOS installation as the default boot with a 5 second delay. Hit power on in the morning, pour a cup of coffee, and I'm up and running when I sit down.

I have Win 11 as my OS on my Laptop so I can have access to the few things I can't do on Linux

 

[HipKat]

M.2 is a form factor, not an interface. I assume you want to move to an m.2 NVMe SSD not an m.2 SATA SSD, correct?

I primarily only use Western Digital/SanDisk drives. I have nothing against Samsung, Kingston, Crucial or other brands, I just never had a problem with WD or SanDisk. In the early 2010s when I completely moved away from mechanical hard drives and went 100% SSD only, I went with Intel. Intel is now mostly out of the SSD game unless it's Optane or their data center stuff and even that seems to be dying at first glance. Always used Western Digital HDDs, so when they acquired SanDisk and started releasing SSDs under their own name I jumped on it.

Black for home, Blue for work.

Laptop #1 - WD Black SN750
Laptop #2 - WD Black SN850, Intel 770p, WD Red SA500 (2.5" SATA)
Work Laptop - WD Blue SN550
Standby for future Desktop - Two WD Black SN850X's.

Never had a problem with any of these drives and I have about 100 WD Blue m.2 NVMe and 2.5" SATA drives in use at work with no failures.

Also have both generations of the WD MyPassport external SSDs and a couple SanDisk Pro external SSDs.

The 850 and 850X are 4.0 drives so there is no advantage if you have 3.0 slots but the reviews have been extremely positive

WD Black SN850X SSD review: Face-meltingly fast

WD's Black SN850X NVMe SSD delivers exceptional real-world and random performance, along with sustained throughput that nearly matched Seagate's FireCuda 530. A very fast SSD priced nicely given the performance.

www.pcworld.com

Correct, not SATA. The next build I do, I may add multiple M.2 slots, depending on how this one works. I've never used on before.

I have a lot of extra drives, but not SSD's although that's what I'm moving to. I have a Samsung 500Gb SSD for Windows, a Partitioned 4 TB WD Black HDD for my D: Drive/Storage-Backups and a 500GB WD HDD that Linux is on now. Also, a Seagate 4TB EHD with all my media files and important backups

 

[TheForce]

When I built my video editing system, I did study the bench marks on different brands of M.2 sticks and the Samsung 980 was the fastest. I don't know who wins the title today.

I don't mind SATA hard disk drives for archive storage. I have 4 4TB drives resident and when they fill up I swap them out. Over the years of broadcast production work I think I have over 50 of these drives in the closet.

There was a rumor that the SSD's lose data in storage so I just avoided them for archives. The other day I had to dig out my daughters first birthday I digitized the VHS tapes on a drive and all the files were good. Over 30 years old. Personally, I haven't seen any file loss on any of my old hard drives.

 

[HipKat]

When I built my video editing system, I did study the bench marks on different brands of M.2 sticks and the Samsung 980 was the fastest. I don't know who wins the title today.

I don't mind SATA hard disk drives for archive storage. I have 4 4TB drives resident and when they fill up I swap them out. Over the years of broadcast production work I think I have over 50 of these drives in the closet.

There was a rumor that the SSD's lose data in storage so I just avoided them for archives. The other day I had to dig out my daughters first birthday I digitized the VHS tapes on a drive and all the files were good. Over 30 years old. Personally, I haven't seen any file loss on any of my old hard drives.

That 980 is still at the top of the Amazon searches for those drives

 

[TheForce]

That 980 is still at the top of the Amazon searches for those drives

That isn't fastest. That is curiosity.

I see my 980 lost the crown and is down to number 7 in this bench mark I found on a quick google search:

Fastest M.2 NVMe SSDs in 2024 (Best Gen5 & Gen4) | GPCB

📌 As usual, we have rounded up the best PCIe/NVMe SSDs in the M.2 form factor this month and ranked them based on real-world performance.

www.gamingpcbuilder.com

Note- Mine are 980 EVO series, not the 980 PRO. My MB has two m.2 sockets and I installed a bus card for the third that also has two additional SATA ports. So the third one is not as fast due to the pathway to the CPUs.

 

[HipKat]

That isn't fastest. That is curiosity.

I see my 980 lost the crown and is down to number 7 in this bench mark I found on a quick google search:

Fastest M.2 NVMe SSDs in 2024 (Best Gen5 & Gen4) | GPCB

📌 As usual, we have rounded up the best PCIe/NVMe SSDs in the M.2 form factor this month and ranked them based on real-world performance.

www.gamingpcbuilder.com

Note- Mine are 980 EVO series, not the 980 PRO. My MB has two m.2 sockets and I installed a bus card for the third that also has two additional SATA ports. So the third one is not as fast due to the pathway to the CPUs.

Mine has 4 slots. I wish I had seen that site sooner, since I ordered the 980 PRO but I think I'll be OK. I'm just running a Linux OS, not doing heavy gaming, or graphic design, etc

 

[TheForce]

I'm just running a Linux OS, not doing heavy gaming, or graphic design, etc

Like many geeks, you do not engineer a system for the job.

Most likely unless your computational tasks get more demanding, you probably will never fully utilize your new system for what it is capable of and get the best bang for your buck. (money spent for no reason)

My problem in the past has been not building a system fat enough for what I wanted to do. Most of the time the desktop hardware was just not yet available. My first really big system was a Fast Video Machine with a DPR. It could control 4 broadcast VCRs, 3 Betacam decks, 3/4Umatic, DVCAM and Hi8 decks plus had 16 SCSI drives for the DPR. System cost was $40K. I had so much demand for my editing work I was turning clients away. Remember the Toaster and Amiga? Even local Toaster editors were coming to me because their system couldn't handle the jobs. When video tape died and everything went digital, I retired the system and began pure computer editing. Not until my present machine was anything able to handle the projects efficiently. But then people began building systems for crypto mining. That would bring my fast editing computer to it's knees. Next guys like Elon Musk are talking DOJO system where a DOJO can obsolete a warehouse of networked GPUs. The new game in town is A.I.

 

[harshness]

It is imperative to bear in mind that M.2 supports at least three different technological generations (SATA, AHCI and NVMe) with variations within those classes. What's best for your computer will depend on which of those generations it supports. If you're mainboard doesn't support NVMe with PCIe 4.0, there's little point in getting an SSD that does.

With that said, what technology does your mainboard support (or what is the make and model)?

 

[HipKat]

It is imperative to bear in mind that M.2 supports at least three different technological generations (SATA, AHCI and NVMe) with variations within those classes. What's best for your computer will depend on which of those generations it supports. If you're mainboard doesn't support NVMe with PCIe 4.0, there's little point in getting an SSD that does.

With that said, what technology does your mainboard support (or what is the make and model)?

I have an Asus ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING. It does support NVMe

 

[harshness]

Looking at Drives, there are lot out there and I want to make sure I get the best W/RW speeds.

In Linux, drive speed isn't that big a deal as the OS isn't having to constantly hammer the system drive for virtual memory.

I run Debian Bullseye on my daily driver that has a SATA-connected Crucial MX500 and it is always snappy (it is a 9 year old Dell i5 desktop).

Any Gen 3 NVMe drive should be just fine. I don't imagine there's much benefit to going Pro as long as Windows isn't involved.

 

[HipKat]

In Linux, drive speed isn't that big a deal as the OS isn't having to constantly hammer the system drive for virtual memory.

I run Debian Bullseye on my daily driver that has a SATA-connected Crucial MX500 and it is always snappy (it is a 9 year old Dell i5 desktop).

Any Gen 3 NVMe drive should be just fine. I don't imagine there's much benefit to going Pro as long as Windows isn't involved.

Same thoughts I had going in. This is strictly a Linux drive (Arcolinux is my DD)

 

[HipKat]

To update, I got that drive installed. That little mounting screw was PITA, Arcolinux installed and everything setup and working in less than 2 hours. The bootup time was my primary objective. What was minutes on the HDD is now seconds on the M.2.
Now if I can just remember how to install Nvidia drivers without borking SDDM during bootup......

 

[harshness]

The bootup time was my primary objective. What was minutes on the HDD is now seconds on the M.2.

My old Dell boots in about 22 seconds and it isn't even UEFI.

I still miss the old '286 that used to boot to AutoMenu in 12 seconds.

 

[Comptech]

Old thread but want to respond. I just built a 13th Gen I5 system with the fairly new Crucial P5 Plus NVME and it screams. I have no way of testing against my Samsung 980's other than just using it. But it is a super fast drive. And alot cheaper than a Samsung.

 

[harshness]

Old thread but want to respond. I just built a 13th Gen I5 system with the fairly new Crucial P5 Plus NVME and it screams. I have no way of testing against my Samsung 980's other than just using it. But it is a super fast drive. And alot cheaper than a Samsung.

Given the differences in interfacing, that's probably not a fair comparison.

CrystalDiskMark is arguably the standard speed benchmark but it obviously requires that you haven't scavenged the old system to build the new system.

 

[Comptech]

Why so negative on everything? They are both Pcie4.o Run fast and love them. Not getting into a match, just stating the Crucial drive screams also. I do not do tests, just user experice and cheaper than Samsung.