Question Your best, most reliable 4TB NVME for media storage at $200?

[DreadBelch]

I'm looking at these two at the moment for my MSI Z690-A PRO DDR4 motherboard. They've been mentioned here and on HardOCP. I need them to store graphic design media. I'll also be using cloud storage.

Lexar NM790 $190​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C91RNCDV/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

and

TEAMGROUP MP34 ~$170​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7LN8NM/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=AWD7GDDT7Q2ZT&th=1

I've heard the TeamGroup's controller isn't the best and I've honestly never heard of Lexar. Although the Lexar drive has a favorable review from Tom's Hardware (here).

So what's your recommendation? This will be a Christmas gift to myself later this year. Thanks!

 

[Shmee]

Are you only considering m.2 format? I am not really familiar with these drives, but there are some good 4TB drives out there for a bit more such as the Adata Legend 960 and Crucial P3 plus. Also you could consider used/refurb enterprise u.2/u.3 drives with an adapter card and cable.

 

[Tech Junky]

I used the lexar briefly when switching to all ssd storage and they worked fine. I setup four of them in raid 10 before finding U3 being cheaper from a TB/$ standpoint. You can get 8tb for $400 vs M2 format being $800.

 

[Shmee]

Another option would possibly be 2 of those u.2 or u.3 drives, of ~4TB, probably could find for around $300. I did that for a mirror volume in my NAS.

 

[DreadBelch]

Are you only considering m.2 format? I am not really familiar with these drives, but there are some good 4TB drives out there for a bit more such as the Adata Legend 960 and Crucial P3 plus. Also you could consider used/refurb enterprise u.2/u.3 drives with an adapter card and cable.

I have an open M.2 slot on my motherboard. But would consider u.2/u.3.

 

[Tech Junky]

I found the speeds of U drives to be all over the place and the prices the same. One model listed for $3k one place and $1k in another.

I used a cheap $20 M2 converter to oculink and oculink cable for my setup. Disk speed test is showing 6.5GB/s. Card and cable are about $50 all in.

 

[Tech Junky]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BFL485F - cable
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HTPWLXM - M2 adapter
KCD8XRUG15T3 - drive

I tried Micron 7450 Pro first due to price being better but, had issues with them on 2 of the drives that lost the partition table for some reason but, I think it was more due to the MOBO I was using in my existing setup. I swapped from Intel to AMD and no further issues were observed. The Intel board though seemed to have some hidden issues I didn't find until trying to do the U upgrade.

 

[DreadBelch]

Well I'm glad I asked. These are some solid options to consider. Thank you.

 

[Tech Junky]

Yeah, there are some interesting options these days at similar price points depending on how much storage you need and/or the speed of it. The nice thing with the U drives is the capacity goes way beyond M2/HDD. IIRC the biggest one you can get is 30/60TB but, you have to have a black card to buy them comfortably. If you pin down the make / model you want make sure you shop around as there's a wide spread in terms of prices.

https://www.wiredzone.com/shop/category/components-hard-drives-115?order=list_price+asc&filter=46-658&filter=48-1371&filter=48-673&filter=49-701&filter=49-702&filter=49-703&filter=49-704&filter=49-705&filter=49-706

I found these to be comprehensive in terms of different make/model for sorting through the specs a bit easier

 

[jarablue]

990 Pro is 200$ today with deals. Not to bad if you ask me. I paid 249$ for my 990 Pro at microcenter 2 days ago.

 

[nOOky]

I was going to post the same, but the deal has expired. I had $55 rewards at best Buy, so I bought one anyway for a new build I'm doing around X-mas time. Still a good deal at $250 imho.