Crucial MX500 1TB M.2 SATA SSD Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing and Availability

At the time of writing, Crucial’s MX500 (CT1000MX500SSD4) M.2 SSD with 1TB is available for £213.59 and $249.99 at Amazon. That’s a low price for a lot of capacity on first-grade hardware.

Design

There isn’t a whole lot to say to the design. After all, it’s an M.2 module. The 2280 form factor allows it to be installed in close to any modern system with a SATA compatible M.2 slot. the added full-coverage Crucial sticker on the top side gives the drive a great look when installed. With up to 1TB capacity in this form factor, you can easily store a huge gaming library in an SFF or otherwise size restricted setup.

Performance and Endurance

The MX500 isn’t a top performer, but we didn’t expect it to be. It lands nicely in the middle of the charts with great results. Not only that, the results are consistent and not just peak performance. That is one of the regions where the MX500 sets itself apart from most other drives in this market segment. It will also be a long-lasting drive for you. It’s covered by an impressive 5-year warranty.

Features

Along with the basics, Crucial adds only the best features they have to offer. My favourite is the NAND-integrated power-loss protection. Power-loss protection isn’t new as such, but it used to be through extra hardware. With M.2 modules, that can create real-estate issues. The MX500 has that feature built directly into the NAND die with an integrated circuitry

The dynamic write acceleration is another one of the wonderful MX500 features. It uses the SSD’s native NAND array dynamically without sacrificing user-addressable capacity. The advances in Micron NAND technology enable the SSD firmware to achieve acceleration in an on-the-fly mode. It switches between SLC and TLC modes to create a high-speed SLC pool that changes in size and location with usage conditions.

Bonus Content

There is a bonus included with the MX500 SSD which is Acronis True Image HD. With this cloning software, upgrading to your new MX500 SSD is an easy task.

Pros

• Steady performance
• Impressive feature set
• Large capacity and multiple form factors
• Cloning software included

Cons

• none

“Crucial sets new standards for what you should expect from a budget-oriented SSD. The MX500 is something different.”

We would like to thank Crucial for this sample.