Crucial MX500 4TB review - SATA SSD with an extreme amount of space

[Redaktion]

In times of huge games and home offices, it never hurts to have a bit more memory. If it is also a fast SSD, so much the better. The 4 TB Crucial MX500 is just right. We will take a look at whether it can also convince in terms of speed in our review.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Crucial-MX500-4TB-review-SATA-SSD-with-an-extreme-amount-of-space.574005.0.html

[Paul Roux]

I'll save up for the QLC 8TB Samsung

[vertigo]

I'm sorry, but I can't read an article about an SSD by a "tech" writer that apparently doesn't know the difference between memory and storage. Couldn't even get past the intro.

[NikoB]

In some places, I will not point my finger, it is already being leaked at prices below the сhinese basement and the BX500. The once legendary series slipped to infamous with QLC ..RIP

[robbert]

Hello, I would like to know how you get this image (notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/Crucial/MX500_4TB/Crystal.jpg) with crystaldiskmark on the ct4000mx500 4Tb? I get about the same values except on the RND4k test where I get 35 and 88. The disk is new as well as the installation and everything is perfectly up to date, I left the program in default and the basic test, so I don't understand if... someone can explain...

thanks !

[NikoB]

I get about the same values except on the RND4k test where I get 35 and 88

You are using Q1T1 for 4k, and in the screenshot Q32T1.

What's more interesting to me about this model (I have one) is why its specifications indicate PLP support, but not a single reviewer on the Internet could find it on the plate inside the disk. And also the second unpleasant moment - after the first write to the disk, the % values in the attributes (SMART) of the reserved space immediately become equal to 0 (raw 62 for my 1TB). How to understand all this?

[robbert]

I'm actually using rnd4k q1t1 (sorry, I wasn't paying attention), so are the values I'm getting more or less consistent?

If not, I have a p5 plus nvme and I've noticed that the value of the time of use is not at all related to my use (much less than the reality), I think that the smart with ssd is not as reliable (and useful) as with hdd for which it was created.

[NikoB]

In general, your values in 1TQ1 for 4k are within the normal range. Do not forget that as soon as the disk is filled with a mass of files and the complexity of the translator increases sharply, the average access latency increases up to 2 times.

The operating hours counter on an SSD most often does not correspond to the actual operating hours (with the computer/laptop turned on) for a simple reason - the use of DIPM+HIPM modes. It automatically turns off, going into deep sleep mode, and in this mode, the time the computer is running on the sleeping disk is not taken into account.

For example, on a pci-e SSD in an old 2019 laptop, the total operating time does not exceed 3 days, because most of the time the disk apparently just sleeps. SATA traditionally has a longer operating time than pci-e versions, because... they are slower and have to be in an active state more. But in general, it depends on the specific load on the disk in each particular case.

[NikoB]

And don't forget to frequently backup critical data to the SSD, if you have any on it. Considering that the MX500 series has obvious problems with backup space and overall reliability is lower than, for example, the 860 Evo, and 4TB is quite a large volume, it's easy for the owner to relax and forget that this is not a HDD (which, moreover, can be completely defragmented , on a logical volume dedicated to valuable data) - if the SSD fails, it is almost impossible to extract valuable data from it, even in specialized paid services, due to the monstrous complexity of the translator and the complete fragmentation of data on the disk.

The higher the SSD capacity, the more often naive owners will face unpredictable losses of valuable data, relying not on frequent backups, but on luck. Don't forget that TLC memory stores data for much less time (especially when the temperature rises above 25C) than HDD platters, and the larger the SSD volume, the more "cold" data there is, never updated, even with a constantly running disk, despite automatic block wear leveling procedure...