- Description
- Specifications
Cable-Free M.2 Installation With Two Terabytes Behind It
M.2 describes the shape of a drive, not its speed. This Western Digital Blue SA510 is a 2280-length M.2 stick that communicates over the SATA 6Gb/s bus, which means it seats directly into an M.2 slot with a single screw and no power or data cable, while remaining compatible with the SATA-wired slots found on a great many desktop boards and laptops. At 0.23 oz and 3.1 inches long, it reads at up to 560 MB/s, writes at up to 520 MB/s, and carries 500 TB written of rated endurance behind a five-year limited warranty. Compare it against the rest of the solid state drives range at Island Electrical Supply.
Where It Fits
- Desktop builds whose M.2 slot is wired for SATA rather than PCIe, where an NVMe stick would not initialize.
- Small-form-factor and mini PC builds with no room to route SATA power and data cables to a 2.5-inch bay.
- Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines, with 85,000 random read IOPS and 83,000 random write IOPS for everyday multitasking.
- Capacity upgrades where 2TB on one stick replaces a smaller boot drive, cloned across with the included Acronis True Image for Western Digital.
Which Is Better, an M.2 SSD or a SATA SSD?
The two are not alternatives, which is the part that trips most buyers up. M.2 is a physical connector and card size; SATA and NVMe are the protocols that run over it. A drive like this one is both at once: an M.2 2280 card speaking SATA. Choosing it comes down to what the slot on the board supports. If the M.2 slot is wired for SATA, this drive works where an NVMe card would not, and it does so without the cables a 2.5-inch drive needs. If the slot is wired for PCIe, an NVMe drive will post higher sequential numbers, but SATA remains the broadly compatible option and delivers the full jump from a mechanical hard disk either way. Checking the motherboard or laptop manual for the M.2 slot type is the one step worth doing before ordering.
After installation, the downloadable Western Digital SSD Dashboard reports drive health, temperature, and available space, and the drive includes a free three-month Dropbox Professional trial.
