Samsung MZ-7KM960N 960 GB SM863a SATA 6.0 Gbps 2.5" Write Intensive Solid State Drive

General

Brand	Samsung
Model	SM863a
Capacity	960 GB
Usage Class	Write Intensive

Interface

Host Interface	SATA 6.0 Gbps
Total Interface Bandwidth	6 Gb/s

Physical Dimension

Form Factor	2.5"

Flash & Endurance

NAND Flash	Samsung V-NAND 2-bit MLC
Drive Writes Per Day	3.6
Total Bytes Written	6160 TBW

Performance

Sequential Read	510 MB/s
Sequential Write	485 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	95000
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	MZ7LM480HCHP-00003

Engineer's Note

Compared with the earlier MZ7LM480HCHP-00003, the Samsung SM863a MZ-7KM960N doubles per-drive capacity to 960 GB and leverages Samsung V-NAND 2-bit MLC to deliver 3.6 DWPD and 6,160 TBW, making it a materially stronger choice for write-intensive enterprise SATA deployments. Within the SATA 6.0 Gbps class, its 510/485 MB/s sequential throughput and 95,000/28,000 IOPS profile give it a well-balanced advantage for mixed virtualization, OLTP, and read-cache workloads that need both consistent latency and long service life.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 6,160 TBW and 3.6 DWPD, the MZ-7KM960N is built for sustained enterprise write workloads and can comfortably handle frequent daily data updates over its service life. In practical terms, under typical OS, application, logging, and virtualization workloads, it provides long-term write headroom and can serve reliably as a system or mixed-use drive for many years without endurance concerns. For enterprise reliability, built-in Power Loss Protection (PLP) helps preserve in-flight data and protect metadata integrity if power is suddenly interrupted, reducing the risk of corruption and unplanned recovery events. Its UBER of 1.0E-17, together with a 2 million-hour MTBF, indicates a very low probability of uncorrectable read errors and supports the high data integrity and operational stability expected in business-critical environments.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The SATA interface, paired with near bus-limit sequential throughput, makes this drive a drop-in upgrade for legacy enterprise platforms that need faster boot, backup, and bulk data movement without changing server backplanes.
2. Its strong random-read capability accelerates metadata-heavy workloads such as virtual desktop infrastructure, OLTP databases, and read-focused virtualization clusters by serving many small requests in parallel.
3. The high write-endurance rating enables sustained daily rewrites in cache tiers, logging, and mixed-workload servers, helping enterprises extend service life under intensive use.
4. Samsung’s V-NAND 2-bit MLC flash provides a reliability-first balance of endurance, consistency, and data integrity that is better suited to mission-critical enterprise storage than cost-optimized client NAND.
5. The low typical latency improves application responsiveness and reduces storage wait time, which is especially valuable for transactional systems and latency-sensitive virtual machines.

Capacity Sweet

For Samsung SM863 MPN MZ-7KM960N (960 GB), the adjacent capacities in the same series are: - Lower capacity: 480 GB - Higher capacity: 1.92 TB Typical same-series performance reference: - 480 GB: up to 520 MB/s read, 485 MB/s write, up to 97K random read IOPS, 26K random write IOPS - 960 GB: up to 520 MB/s read, 485 MB/s write, up to 97K random read IOPS, 26K random write IOPS - 1.92 TB: up to 520 MB/s read, 485 MB/s write, up to 97K random read IOPS, 26K random write IOPS The 960 GB SM863 sits in the sweet spot of the family. Compared with the 480 GB model, it gives noticeably more headroom for OS growth, application logs, patch cycles, and spare overprovisioning, reducing the risk of early capacity pressure. Compared with the 1.92 TB version, it keeps acquisition cost and fleet-level budgeting under tighter control while delivering essentially the same enterprise SATA performance. It is especially well suited for mid-scale virtualization clusters, such as hosting boot and utility volumes for around 40 to 60 business application instances.

FAQ