Micron 960GB SSD NVMe M.2

Enterprise endurance in a consumer form factor, but the write speed is stuck in 2019. Buy it for the TBW, not the benchmarks.

The read side is solid. 5000 MB/s sequential reads and 520K random read IOPS put it in the top third of drives we track. But the write performance is a different story. 82K random write IOPS is fine for an enterprise read cache, but it's underwhelming if you're expecting consumer NVMe snappiness. The 1400 MB/s sequential write is the real surprise. Most PCIe 4.0 drives in this price range push 4000+ MB/s writes. Micron clearly tuned this thing for endurance and consistency, not burst speed.

Against the Samsung 9100 PRO or Kingston FURY Renegade G5, the Micron loses on raw speed. Those drives push 7000+ MB/s reads and writes that embarrass the 7450 PRO's 1400 MB/s. But they can't touch the endurance. The WD_BLACK WDS800T2XHE and Crucial T500 are closer in spirit, but still consumer drives with consumer TBW ratings. If you're running a workstation that writes constantly, the Micron's 1700 TBW is the reason to pick it. If you're gaming or doing general productivity, get the Samsung or Kingston and enjoy the speed.

This is where it gets weird. The USD price spread is wild, from USD 749 to USD 2,122 across just two listings. That's a USD 1,373 gap for the same drive. If you can find it at the low end, it's a decent deal for a workstation endurance drive. At the high end, you're paying enterprise markup for something a consumer drive can mostly match. The CAD spread is even worse, CAD 1,181 to CAD 3,434. Shop around hard before you buy this one.

The Micron 7450 PRO is an enterprise drive wearing consumer clothes. It's built for servers and workstations that hammer storage all day, and that shows in the endurance rating. 1700 TBW on a 960GB drive is absurdly good, and the 2 million hour MTBF backs that up. But the write speed tells the real story here. 1400 MB/s sequential writes is slow for PCIe 4.0, and that's by design. This is a read-intensive drive, not a speed demon.

If you're looking for a fast boot drive or game storage, this isn't it. Go get a Samsung 9100 PRO or Crucial T500 instead. You'll get 2-3x the write speed for less money. The Micron only makes sense if you're running a workstation that writes constantly and needs the 1700 TBW endurance rating.

The Micron 7450 PRO is a specialist. It's not for most people. If you need a drive that can take a beating in a workstation or small server, and you find it at the low end of that price range, it's a solid buy. If you just want a fast boot drive for your laptop or gaming rig, this isn't it. The write speed alone disqualifies it for most consumer use cases.