UV500 refers to the umbrella brand for a full series of 2.5in, M.2 and mSATA SSDs. It offers you different storage capacities (120GB, 240GB, 480GB and 960GB) at slimly different prices. Here in the following content, a comprehensive introduction to Kingston UV500 M.2 SATA SSD will be given to you.
With 2.5-inch, mSATA, and M.2 form factors, the Kingston UV500 M.2 SATA SSD series can easily run on almost all common systems. To be honest, the UV500 is the first 3D NAND-enabled SSD of Kingston and what’s more important, it is featured with full-disk encryption.
Regarded as one of the safest drives, the UV500 M.2 provides high security for your sensitive data; this all thanks to the 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption. Combined with the 3D NAND Flash, Kinston’s UV500 is able to be powered by a Marvell 88SS1074 controller.
Kingston UV500 M.2 SATA SSD – Overview
Features
Hardware
As I mentioned just now, a Marvell 88SS1074 controller that is paired with 3D TLC NAND is used to power the Kingston’s UV500 series.
The UV500 has the following merits:
- Boost endurance
- Enhance reliability
- Adopt Marvell’s third generation error-correcting
- Introduce low-density parity check (LDPC) technology
The four-channel controller has the following merits:
- High efficient
- SATA 3.2 compliant
- Low power consumption
- Device Sleep (DevSlp) support
- 256-bit AES encryption option
Speed
The speeds of Kingston UV500 M.2 SATA SSDs aren’t so satisfactory. Why? The speed is greatly affected by the 256-bit AES full-disk encryption since a thick layer of protection will be added to every byte of data you have saved on the drive automatically. To tell the truth, Kingston has shipped the 3D NAND SSDs with full-disk encryption for the first time. Both are involved but never combined in a single product before.
Actual speed of UV500 M.2 SATA SSD series:
- 120GB model: 320MB/s sequential, 18K IOPS random performance
- 240GB model: 500MB/s sequential, 25K IOPS random performance
- 480GB model: 500MB/s sequential, 35K IOPS random performance
- 960GB model: 500MB/s sequential, 45K IOPS random performance
TCG Opal 2.0 specification
Kingston UV500 series meet the TCG Opal 2.0 specification. That is to say, some extra tools are introduced to keep things safe:
- Pre-boot authentication
- On-disk decryption
Another good way to keep things secure is automatic file backup. You should backup all the files that are important to you and get the backups updated regularly.
Endurance
Endurance is also an important factor to define a good drive. According to test, I find the 240GB UV500 is rated at 100TBW. That explains why so many users can get years and years of service before the drive starts to degrade naturally. It is said that the 250GB 860 Evo is rated at 150TBW; this also seems to be good. As for the 120GB model, it only scores 60TBW; yet, this value jumps up to an impressive 200TBW when it comes to the 480GB model.
Price
The pricing of UV500 is reasonable. Generally, it comes in below the 2.5in-form factor 860 Evo.
- The 480GB model enjoys the best value: 24.6p per gigabyte.
- The 240GB model is in the middle: 25.2p per gigabyte.
- The 120BG model is the worst: 30.4p per gigabyte.
As a result, when it comes to value, the UV500 drive sits between the 860 Evo and the XPG SX950U.
Conclusion
Usually, anyone who’d like to encrypt his drives should either turn to third-party software or rely on something like BitLocker (a function included in the Pro version of Windows which is more expensive). In this case, the UV500 is a wonderful choice for you; it will complete encryption process for you automatically.
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