Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
Lexar Air Portable SSD AFA Edition 512GB USB 3.2 Gen 1
What Buyers Say
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
All seven verified reviews are overwhelmingly positive, praising the WD_BLACK SN8100 as the fastest Gen5 NVMe SSD with no issues. Users highlight its sustained speeds, strong performance on PCIe 5.0 motherboards, and good value at the time of purchase. One reviewer notes it outlasts other drives in cache performance, and Q&A confirms M.2 2280 form factor with up to 14,900 MBps read speed.
Pros
- Fastest Gen5 NVMe SSD
- No issues of any kind
- Super fast on PCIe 5.0
- Strong sustained speeds
- Good price at time of purchase
Cons
- Expensive (implied by 'if you can afford it')
Lexar Air Portable SSD AFA Edition 512GB USB 3.2 Gen 1
No customer feedback yet
Scores
Specifications
| Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 | Lexar Air Portable SSD AFA Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Drive | ||
| Capacity | ||
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | External |
| Interface | PCIe 5.0 x4 | USB 3.2 Gen 1 |
| Protocol | NVMe | — |
| PCIe Generation | 5★ | — |
| External | ✗ | ✓ |
| Performance | ||
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | ||
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | ||
| Random Read (IOPS) | No data | |
| Random Write (IOPS) | No data | |
| Hardware | ||
| NAND | TLC★ | — |
| DRAM Cache | ✓★ | — |
| Reliability | ||
| Endurance (TBW) | No data | |
| MTBF (hours) | No data | |
| Warranty (years) | 3 | 3 |
| Features | ||
| Heatsink | ✓★ | — |
| Hardware Encryption | ✓★ | — |
Pros & Cons
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
- Strong feature (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong user sentiment (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong random (99th percentile)99th %ile
- Strong speed (98th percentile)98th %ile
Lexar Air Portable SSD AFA Edition 512GB USB 3.2 Gen 1
- Strong affordability (68th percentile)
- Below average speed (3rd percentile)3rd %ile
- Below average random (3rd percentile)3rd %ile
- Below average feature (15th percentile)15th %ile
- Below average capacity (35th percentile)
Verdict
Scores 95 overall, wins 5 of 6 usage categories and 12 of 17 specs.