Samsung MZ-7KM480B 480 GB SM863A SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Mixed Use Solid State Drive

General

Brand	Samsung
Model	SM863A
Capacity	480 GB
Usage Class	Mixed Use

Interface

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

Physical Dimension

Form Factor	2.5"

Flash & Endurance

NAND Flash	Samsung V-NAND 2bit MLC
Drive Writes Per Day	3.6
Total Bytes Written	3083 TBW

Performance

Sequential Read	520 MB/s
Sequential Write	485 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	97000
Random Write IOPS	28000
Average Latency	95 μs

Reliability

Mean Time Between Failures	2 Million Hours
Uncorrectable Bit Error Rate	1.0×10⁻¹⁷
Power Loss Protection	Yes

Part Number

MPN	MZ-7KM480E

Engineer's Note

Compared with the earlier MZ-7KM480E, the MZ-7KM480B (SM863A) delivers a more endurance-focused enterprise SATA profile with Samsung V-NAND 2-bit MLC, 3.6 DWPD, and 3,083 TBW, while sustaining up to 520/485 MB/s and 97,000/28,000 IOPS for consistently heavy mixed workloads. Its distinctive value in the 480GB SATA class is combining near-SATA-limit sequential performance with high write endurance, making it a stronger fit for write-intensive virtualization, logging, and read-caching tiers where service-life predictability matters as much as speed.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 3,083 TBW and 3.6 DWPD, the MZ-7KM480B is designed for sustained write-intensive use far beyond typical client or light server workloads. In practical terms, for common OS boot, application, and general business data workloads, this level of endurance means the drive can serve reliably for many years, including around a decade of system-disk use under normal conditions. For enterprise reliability, the drive includes Power Loss Protection (PLP), which helps preserve in-flight data and protects metadata integrity if power is suddenly interrupted. Its ultra-low UBER of 1.0E-17, together with a 2 million hour MTBF, indicates a very low probability of unrecoverable read errors and supports dependable operation in business-critical environments.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The SATA interface and its near-bus-limit streaming performance make this drive an easy drop-in upgrade for legacy enterprise servers and storage arrays, accelerating bulk data reads such as backups, boot images, and content distribution without requiring a platform refresh.
2. Its high random-read capability helps virtualized environments and read-heavy databases serve far more small-block requests with less queue buildup, improving VM responsiveness and user transaction speed during peak demand.
3. The strong write endurance rating supports sustained daily rewrites in cache tiers, OLTP systems, and logging workloads, reducing replacement frequency and lowering lifecycle risk in always-on deployments.
4. Samsung V-NAND 2-bit MLC provides enterprise-grade program/erase durability and tighter performance consistency than TLC-based alternatives, making it better suited for mission-critical workloads that cannot tolerate unpredictable write behavior.
5. The very low typical latency shortens storage response time at the microsecond level, helping applications deliver steadier QoS and faster tail-latency performance for latency-sensitive services.

Capacity Sweet

Reference capacities in the same series: Lower capacity: 240 GB Higher capacity: 960 GB Capacity positioning analysis: Within this enterprise SSD family, the 480 GB model is the sweet-spot capacity. Compared with the 240 GB version, it gives much better space headroom for OS images, logs, patches, and application growth, reducing early capacity pressure. Compared with the 960 GB option, it preserves nearly the same enterprise-class sequential and random I/O behavior while offering a more attractive cost-per-node and easier budget control. It is best suited for mid-sized virtualization or application clusters, such as hosting boot and service volumes for about 40 to 60 light-to-medium workload servers.

FAQ