SanDisk 520 4TB SATA III 2.5"
The 4TB SATA III drive hits 560 MB/s reads and 525 MB/s writes with TLC NAND, backed by a 1000 TBW endurance rating and a 5-year warranty. Its 2.5-inch form factor and free Acronis True Image migration software make upgrading older desktops or laptops straightforward, while the Windows-only Sandisk Dashboard tracks drive health. This suits professionals and content creators who need high-capacity, reliable bulk storage for large media libraries and creative workloads.
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Überblick
The 30-Second Version
A reliable 4TB SATA drive with great endurance, but the pricing is a mess and the speed is stuck in 2015. Only buy it if your system has no M.2 slot and you find it at the low end of the price range.
Pros & Cons
Vorteile
- Massive 4TB capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor 93rd
- Strong 1000 TBW endurance rating 74th
- 5-year warranty and 2.25M hour MTBF
- Free Acronis cloning software included
Nachteile
- SATA speed ceiling is ancient by modern standards
- Random performance is near the bottom of our database
- Pricing is wildly inconsistent across vendors
- Dashboard software is Windows only
Die Fakten
Performance
The sequential numbers are exactly what you'd expect from a SATA III drive, 560 MB/s read and 525 MB/s write. That's the ceiling for the interface, so no surprises there. What did surprise us is the endurance rating. 1000 TBW on a TLC drive is solid, landing it well above average for longevity. But the random performance is a weak spot, sitting near the bottom quarter of all drives in our database. For big file transfers and game storage, it's fine. For an OS drive with lots of small random reads, it'll feel sluggish compared to even a budget NVMe.
Specifications
Full Specifications
Drive
| Capacity | 4000 |
| Form Factor | 2.5" |
| Interface | SATA III |
| Protocol | SATA |
| External | No |
Performance
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | 560 |
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | 525 |
Hardware
| NAND | TLC |
Reliability
| Endurance (TBW) | 1000 |
| MTBF (hours) | 2250000 |
| Warranty (years) | 5 |
Features
| Heatsink | No |
vs Competition
Stacked against the Samsung 9100 PRO or the WD Black SN850X, this drive looks like it's from a different decade. Those NVMe drives are pushing 7,000+ MB/s and cost about the same per gigabyte. The Crucial T500 and Kingston FURY Renegade G5 are also in that ballpark. The only reason to pick the SanDisk 520 over any of them is if your system physically cannot accept an M.2 drive. If you have an M.2 slot, every single one of those competitors is a better buy.
| Spec | SanDisk 520 | Samsung 9100 PRO | Western Digital Black SN850X | Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SFYR2S/4T0 | Micron T710 CT4000T710SSD5 | Crucial T500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 4TB | 4TB | 4TB | 4TB | 4TB | 2TB |
| Form Factor | 2.5" | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | SATA III | PCIe 5.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Seq Read | 560 MB/s | 14,800 MB/s | 7,300 MB/s | 14,800 MB/s | 14,500 MB/s | 7,400 MB/s |
| Nand Type | TLC | TLC | TLC | TLC | TLC | TLC |
| Dram Cache | - | true | true | true | false | true |
| Endurance | 1000 TBW | 2400 TBW | 2400 TBW | 4000 TBW | 2400 TBW | 1200 TBW |
| Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare | Compare |
| Produkt | Speed | Random | Feature | Capacity | Endurance | Affordability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SanDisk 520 | 37.2 | 22.4 | 53.8 | 92.6 | 74.3 | 8.9 |
| Samsung 9100 PRO Compare | 99.3 | 99.8 | 99.7 | 92.6 | 86.1 | 5.1 |
| Western Digital Black SN850X Compare | 89 | 95.7 | 89.5 | 92.6 | 88.3 | 10.5 |
| Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SFYR2S/4T0 Compare | 99.5 | 99 | 91 | 92.6 | 93.6 | 6.3 |
| Micron T710 CT4000T710SSD5 Compare | 99.1 | 99.2 | 89.5 | 92.6 | 86.1 | 11.7 |
| Crucial T500 Compare | 94 | 96.9 | 99 | 78.5 | 83.1 | 19.7 |
Preis
Value & Pricing
Here's the problem. We're seeing this drive listed anywhere from USD 678 to USD 1,303 in the US. That's a USD 625 spread, which is absurd. At the low end, you're still paying more per gigabyte than you would for a decent NVMe drive that's five times faster. At the high end, you're getting robbed. If you can find it at the bottom of that range from the cheaper US listing, it's a defensible buy for a SATA-only system. Anything above that, walk away.
Mehr erfahren
Overview
The SanDisk 520 is a SATA SSD trying to stay relevant in an NVMe world, and honestly, it's a tough sell. It's a 4TB drive that maxes out around 560 MB/s read, which is fine if you're upgrading an old laptop or need bulk storage on a budget. But the 'budget' part is where this gets weird, because the pricing we're seeing is all over the place. The one thing to know is this: it's a reliable, high-capacity workhorse for SATA-only systems, but you should not pay NVMe prices for it.
Common Questions
Q: Is this drive good for gaming?
For storing your game library, sure. Load times will be noticeably slower than an NVMe drive, but once you're in the game, it doesn't matter much. Don't use it as your boot drive if you can avoid it.
Q: Will this work in my old laptop?
If your laptop has a 2.5-inch SATA bay, yes. It's a drop-in replacement for any old spinning hard drive. The 4TB capacity is a huge upgrade for older machines that can't take M.2 drives.
Q: How long will this drive last?
With a 1000 TBW endurance rating and a 5-year warranty, you're covered for a long time. For typical home use, you'd have to write hundreds of gigabytes a day to wear it out before the warranty expires.
Who Should Skip This
If you have an M.2 slot on your motherboard, skip this entirely. Go buy a WD Black SN850X or a Crucial T500 instead. You'll get five to ten times the speed for roughly the same money. This drive is only for people trapped in SATA-only hardware who need maximum capacity.
Verdict
The SanDisk 520 is a good SATA SSD, but it's a bad value in 2024. If you're stuck with a 2.5-inch bay and need 4TB, it'll do the job and last a long time. But if your motherboard has an M.2 slot, buy an NVMe drive instead. You'll get dramatically better performance for the same or less money. This drive only makes sense at the very bottom of its price range, and even then, it's a compromise.
