WD Blue 3D NAND 2TB Internal SSD - SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5"/7mm Solid State Drive - WDS200T2B0A

Pros: A lot of reviewers have already posted performance specs (e.g., random read/write, sequential read/write, 512, 4K, random, etc.) so I'm not going to rehash all of that except to affirm WD's stated claims of 550MB/s read and 525MB/s write.

It's difficult to differentiate offerings like SSDs for a lot of technical reasons and difficult to validate "marketing". It's not like I can reverse engineer the firmware to corroborate how wear-leveling and ECC actually takes place vs a competitor's product.

That said, it uses some pretty dense NAND technology, 3D/TLC meaning the cells have 3-layers and at stacked to increase capacity volumetrically vs widening the footprint. While this enables increased capacities, there are some tradeoffs discussed in the cons.

However, if you’re an average consumer and you’ll be using this in conjunction with a backup device (as everyone should) this is an excellent choice of high-performing storage at a solid price. If you need more capacity, consider some of the larger capacities.

All of the above is largely true of all products in this consumer category and price point. The differentiator is this product carries the Western Digital name and reputation and leverages their acquisition of SanDisk, a leader in NAND flash memory technology. So, buy with confidence in their reputation as industry leaders.

Cons: As noted above, to increase capacity this disk uses 3D TLC NAND, but with a major drawback that the technology inherently shortens the number of write cycles available for the cell over MLC and SLC NAND to about 5,000 before failure at the cell level compared to about 100,000 cycles for SLC and 10,000 for MLC. Still, I’ve never had a single MLC or TLC drive fail in 7 years. So the odds are remote that you’ll see a failure under normal consumer usage for 7-14 years. That said, it is something you’ll want to be aware of. However, know that this problem is consistent for all manufacturers using TLC NAND.

This is why warranty is so important. Western Digital offers it’s typical 3-year warranty for it’s Blue line for this drive, which is fairly risk averse from their perspective. Under strenuous write cycles the disk should last at least 3.5 years. The warranty only covers up to 3 — one might infer that they’re only covering the bare minimum for this drive and don’t consider longevity to be a key differentiator. That said, this warranty is pretty standard across the industry.

It’s important to note that the mean time before failure is 1.75 million hours, which is just shy of 200 years. That doesn’t mean your drive will last 200 years, it just means that, on average, there’s an estimated 1 failure resulting in total device downtime in 1.75 million hours of usage. Obviously, cells may failure sooner, but the disk as a whole should continue functioning, holistically, for much longer, and the now ubiquitous wear-leveling technology should mitigate the risk of short cell life.

Overall Review: WD acquired SanDisk in 2016. SanDisk is a leading manufacturer of memory technologies so this offering from WD is expected to leverage their deep knowledge base. I think you can certainly buy with confidence, and I still enthusiastically recommend, just make sure you're indeed buying this for consumer purposes and be cognizant of the degree of write cycles your usage requires so you're not caught unaware. Again, I've never personally had an SSD failure in 7 years and I'd consider myself an average user with moderate write cycles in my normal usage. I also don't believe WD would put their reputation on the line for a series of SSDs that underperformed. So, buy with confidence and plan accordingly.

Pros: Purchasing this drive also gives you access to Acronis; a very useful drive utility for data integrity. The SSD dashboard is also quite useful for monitoring temperatures.

My read-write tests were satisfactory. I’ve seen other users say their tests showed the drive exceeded the read-write speeds advertised; alas, mine capped out around 500 MBps for both read and write. However, that’s close enough to the advertised speeds that I do not feel that qualifies as a con.

Cons: This is pretty minor, but for an average consumer I feel this needs to be specifically mentioned: This SDD does not specifically advertise itself as a Socket B+M SDD. As I understand it, there are currently 3 socket types for M.2 SSDs: B, M, and B+M; and your motherboard can only support one type (again, as I understand it - reference your motherboard’s specifications).

Here, however… this is why I rated this drive at 1 Egg. In my personal opinion, this is extreme. I want to ensure that potential buyers are aware of this underhanded business practice.

I am the exceedingly rare consumer who actually *reads* the Terms of Service (ToS), End User License Agreement (EULA), and all accompanying documentation. I do this, so that you don’t have to.

I *scoured* the Newegg Ad for this drive for any mention of what I’m about to describe; I found none. I even used the link provided by Newegg to view the Manufacturer Product Page and scoured that; still no use. Genuinely, this makes me never want to use a WD product ever again.

It’s only until after you purchase this… after you open the box… can you gain access to the information which states “Drive intended for professional installation only”; meaning, if the End User happens to damage the drive in any way, there’s a very real chance you can kiss any warranty / return goodbye. But wait, there’s more! It’s only *after purchasing* the drive and reading through all the fine print can the End User see the “Binding Individual Arbitration And Class Action Waiver Agreement”, where it goes on to explain how you agree to waive a (quite frankly) ridiculous amount of rights which should be constitutionally guaranteed, just by using this product. Sure, a good lawyer can probably get around that, but… how many average consumers would look into that option? How many people would actually read this??

Please, do not support companies which do this.

Overall Review: As I mentioned, there are 3 types of M.2 sockets (a quick google search should provide you with images). Before purchasing an M.2 SSD drive, ensure that your Motherboard can use it.