SATA SSDs

Every SATA SSD Spec, Explained

Capacity

The main decision, and the one that cannot be changed later. Importance: highest. Larger versions of the same drive are usually cheaper per gigabyte and rated for more total writing, which is why every capacity is its own row here rather than a dropdown on one page.

Cache: DRAM or DRAM-less

Whether the drive carries its own memory chip for its address map. On SATA there is no middle option: a drive either has DRAM or has nothing, since the borrowing trick used by DRAM-less NVMe drives is an NVMe feature. Importance: high. DRAM-less SATA drives slow down noticeably when nearly full or under sustained writing, which is exactly what happens when you clone a system onto one.

NAND type: TLC and QLC

How many bits each cell holds. TLC stores three, QLC four. QLC is cheaper per gigabyte, slower once its fast buffer fills, and rated for less writing. Importance: high for a boot drive. For a drive that mostly stores files you read, QLC is a reasonable saving.

Endurance (TBW)

The terabytes the maker rates the drive to write over its life, and usually the cap on the warranty. Importance: moderate. Everyday desktop use writes far less than these ratings, so this is mostly a signal of how the maker grades its own components. We score it per terabyte so a larger drive does not win for being larger.

Warranty

Three or five years on nearly all consumer drives. Importance: a signal. Between two similar drives at the same price, the longer warranty is the maker putting more of its own money behind the product.

Put together: pick the capacity, prefer DRAM and TLC for anything you will boot from or write to heavily, check whether your M.2 slot accepts a SATA drive if you are buying that shape, then sort by price per gigabyte and take the highest-scoring drive in the size you need.