General

Brand	Samsung
Model	PM961
Capacity	256GB
Usage Class	Client

Interface

Host Interface	NVMe
Total Interface Bandwidth	32 Gb/s

Physical Dimension

Form Factor	M.2 2280

Flash & Endurance

NAND Flash	TLC V-NAND
Drive Writes Per Day	0.3
Total Bytes Written	148 TBW

Performance

Sequential Read	2800 MB/s
Sequential Write	1100 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	250000
Random Write IOPS	18000
Average Latency	50 μs

Reliability

Mean Time Between Failures	1.5 Million Hours
Uncorrectable Bit Error Rate	1.0×10⁻¹⁷
Power Loss Protection	No

Part Number

MPN	MZ-VLV2560

Engineer's Note

Compared with the previous-generation MZ-VLV2560, the 256GB Samsung PM961 (MZ-VLW2560) delivers a clear NVMe performance uplift with up to 2,800 MB/s read, 1,100 MB/s write, and 250,000/18,000 IOPS, making it a stronger fit for OS boot, application launch, and read-intensive client workloads. Its TLC V-NAND design also pairs that speed with 148 TBW endurance at 0.3 DWPD, giving this MPN a better balance of responsiveness and usable life than its predecessor in the same capacity class.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 148 TBW, the MZ-VLW2560 can sustain about 148,000 GB of total host writes, which is more than enough for typical office, POS, embedded, or system-drive workloads. In practical terms, if the drive is used mainly as a boot or application drive with light daily writes, it can operate comfortably for many years without endurance becoming a concern. For reliability, the specified UBER of 1.0E-15 means the drive is designed for a very low uncorrectable bit error rate, supporting dependable data integrity in normal operation, while the 1.5 million-hour MTBF further indicates solid long-term stability. This model does not include power-loss protection, so it is best suited to environments with orderly shutdowns or stable power rather than write-critical cache applications, but for standard system and read-focused usage it remains a reliable and low-risk choice.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The NVMe interface removes legacy storage bottlenecks, enabling highly parallel I/O that speeds up VM boot storms and improves CPU efficiency in dense enterprise servers.
2. Its strong sequential read capability cuts the time needed to load large datasets, restore backups, and stream content in data-intensive business environments.
3. The high random read performance helps databases, virtualization clusters, and metadata-heavy applications maintain fast response times under heavy concurrent access.
4. Its modest write-endurance rating makes it best suited to read-dominant enterprise roles such as boot drives, content caches, analytics replicas, and reference-data tiers with predictable write volume.
5. TLC V-NAND paired with very low typical latency delivers a cost-efficient balance of capacity and responsiveness, keeping enterprise applications snappy without requiring premium write-optimized media.

Capacity Sweet

Lower capacity reference: 128GB Higher capacity reference: 512GB At 256GB, the MZ-VLW2560 sits in the sweet spot of the series. Compared with the 128GB model, it gives meaningfully more headroom for OS images, application layers, logs, and growth, reducing capacity pressure in daily enterprise use. Compared with the 512GB version, it preserves nearly the same class of sequential and random performance while offering a more attractive cost profile per node. This makes 256GB a balanced choice for mid-scale deployments, such as equipping around 40 to 60 virtualization hosts or edge servers with reliable boot and infrastructure storage.

FAQ