General

Brand	Micron
Model	M510
Capacity	256GB
Usage Class	Client

Interface

Host Interface	SATA 6Gb/s
Total Interface Bandwidth	6 Gb/s

Physical Dimension

Form Factor	mSATA

Flash & Endurance

NAND Flash	20nm MLC
Drive Writes Per Day
Total Bytes Written	72 TBW

Performance

Sequential Read	520 MB/s
Sequential Write	300 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	85000
Random Write IOPS	65000
Average Latency	μs

Reliability

Mean Time Between Failures	1.5 Million Hours
Uncorrectable Bit Error Rate	1.0×10⁻¹⁷
Power Loss Protection	Yes

Engineer's Note

The Micron M510 256GB (MTFDDAT256MAZ) is a strong fit for read-intensive server boot, edge caching, and embedded appliance workloads that need the broad compatibility of SATA 6Gb/s with predictable low-latency performance up to 520/300 MB/s and 85,000/65,000 IOPS. Its 20nm MLC NAND and 72 TBW endurance give it a durability and write-consistency advantage over many same-class TLC SATA drives, making it a safer choice where sustained reliability matters more than headline capacity.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 72 TBW, the MTFDDAT256MAZ can sustain writing 72 terabytes of data over its service life, which is more than sufficient for typical OS boot, office productivity, and light application workloads. In practical terms, for use as a system drive in standard business PCs or embedded platforms, this level of endurance supports many years of stable operation and can comfortably cover long-term everyday usage. For enterprise-oriented reliability, built-in power loss protection helps preserve in-flight data and metadata during an unexpected power interruption, reducing the risk of corruption and improving system recovery integrity. Its UBER rating of 1.0E-15 means an extremely low uncorrectable bit error rate, while the 1.5 million-hour MTBF further reflects a design focused on dependable, continuous operation.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The SATA 6Gb/s interface ensures broad drop-in compatibility with mainstream enterprise servers and storage arrays, enabling straightforward upgrades without changing the existing platform architecture.
2. With 520 MB/s sequential read performance, this drive helps accelerate boot storms, large file retrieval, and backup restore operations in read-heavy business environments.
3. Delivering 85,000 random read IOPS, it supports fast-response OLTP, metadata access, and virtualized workloads where consistent small-block performance directly impacts user experience.
4. Rated for [dwpd] DWPD and built on 20nm MLC NAND, it is suited for enterprise write cycles that demand predictable endurance, stronger data retention, and longer service life than read-optimized client SSDs.
5. A typical latency of [latency] µs helps reduce application wait time and tail-response delays, which is critical for transactional systems, VM density, and SLA-sensitive services.

Capacity Sweet

For MPN MTFDDAT256MAZ (256GB), the closest lower-capacity option in the same series is typically 128GB, while the next higher-capacity option is 512GB. Across this enterprise SSD family, sequential read/write behavior and random IOPS are generally in the same performance class, with capacity mainly affecting usable headroom and endurance characteristics rather than causing major performance gaps. In this series, the 256GB model is the practical sweet spot. Compared with the 128GB version, it gives noticeably better space flexibility for OS images, logs, metadata, and application growth, reducing early capacity pressure. Compared with the 512GB option, it usually delivers the best balance between acquisition cost and enterprise-grade performance consistency. This makes it well suited for mid-scale virtualization, such as hosting boot and utility volumes for about 40 to 60 application or infrastructure virtual machines in a dense server cluster.

FAQ