Samsung 8TB SSD 2.5"

The 870 QVO is the 8TB storage monster for SATA-only systems. It's slow by modern standards, but it's the only game in town if you need this much space in a 2.5-inch drive.

The 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write speeds are exactly what you'd expect from SATA III, which is to say, fine but not exciting. The random read IOPS of 98K is solidly middle of the pack, but the random write IOPS of 88K is where the QLC NAND shows its limits. Under sustained heavy writes, the Intelligent TurboWrite cache helps, but once that fills up, you'll feel the slowdown. For everyday use, gaming, and media storage, it's plenty. For a scratch disk or heavy video editing, look elsewhere.

The 870 QVO's biggest competition isn't other SATA drives, it's the NVMe drives that cost less and perform better. The Kingston FURY Renegade G5 and Western Digital WD_BLACK WDS800T2XHE both offer dramatically faster speeds for less money, but they top out at 4TB. The Crucial T500 and Seagate FireCuda 530R are in the same boat. If you need 8TB in a single drive and your system only has SATA, the 870 QVO is basically your only option. If you have an M.2 slot and can live with 4TB, skip this and get an NVMe drive. You'll get 10x the speed for less cash.

Here's the thing: the price on this drive is all over the map. In the US, you can find it for as low as USD 645, but some listings are asking USD 1,895. That's a USD 1,250 spread for the same drive. If you're in the US, shop around and don't pay more than the low end. In Europe, the EUR 3,266 to EUR 3,336 range is brutal. At that price, you're paying a massive premium for the 8TB capacity. If you need this much storage in a single SATA drive, it's worth it. If you can live with 4TB, you'll get far better value elsewhere.

The Samsung 870 QVO is the answer to a very specific question: how do I get 8TB of SSD storage without selling a kidney? It's a SATA drive, so it won't win any speed races against NVMe, but that's not the point. The point is capacity, and at 8TB, this thing is in the top 2% of all drives we track. It's the drive you buy when you're tired of juggling files and just want everything in one place.

If you're looking for speed, this isn't it. Go get an NVMe drive like the Kingston FURY Renegade G5 or WD_BLACK WDS800T2XHE instead. If you're looking for a portable drive, this is a terrible choice, the portable score is one of the worst we've seen. And if you're outside the US, the price is hard to justify. This drive is for SATA-only systems that need 8TB in one slot, period.

The Samsung 870 QVO 8TB is a niche product that nails its niche. It's not fast, it's not cheap, and it's not portable. But it's the biggest SATA SSD you can buy, and it's reliable. If you're upgrading an older laptop or desktop that only has SATA ports and you need maximum storage, this is the drive. If you have any other option, take it.