Samsung MZQLB7T6HALA-00AAZ 7.68 TB PM983a PCIe Gen3 x4 2.5 inch Read Intensive Solid State Drive

General

Brand	Samsung
Model	PM983a
Capacity	7.68 TB
Usage Class	Read Intensive

Interface

Host Interface	PCIe Gen3 x4
Total Interface Bandwidth	32 Gb/s

Physical Dimension

Form Factor	2.5

Flash & Endurance

NAND Flash	Samsung V-NAND 3D TLC
Drive Writes Per Day	1.3
Total Bytes Written	18250 TBW

Performance

Sequential Read	3200 MB/s
Sequential Write	2200 MB/s
Random Read IOPS	540000
Random Write IOPS	50000
Average Latency	85 μs

Reliability

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

Part Number

MPN	MZQLW7T6HMLA-00007

Engineer's Note

Compared with the earlier MZQLW7T6HMLA-00007, the PM983a MZQLB7T6HALA-00AAZ moves to Samsung V-NAND 3D TLC and pairs 7.68 TB of capacity with 1.3 DWPD / 18,250 TBW, giving enterprise platforms a denser and more endurance-balanced Gen3 NVMe upgrade. Its PCIe Gen3 x4 performance of up to 3200/2200 MB/s and 540,000/50,000 IOPS makes it a stronger fit than the prior generation for virtualization clusters, scale-out storage, and read-centric database nodes that need high capacity without stepping up to a higher-cost mixed-use SSD tier.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 18,250 TBW and 1.3 DWPD, the MZQLB7T6HALA-00AAZ is built to sustain heavy daily write workloads over its service life, making it well suited for always-on enterprise environments. In typical server or storage workloads, this level of endurance means buyers can expect long-term, worry-free operation, including reliable use as a boot or system drive for many years. Enterprise reliability is further strengthened by power-loss protection (PLP), which helps preserve in-flight data and metadata during an unexpected power interruption, reducing the risk of corruption and unplanned recovery events. Its UBER of 1.0E-17 and 2 million-hour MTBF reflect a very high standard of data integrity and operational reliability, giving procurement teams added confidence for business-critical deployments.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, paired with 3200 MB/s sequential read speed, enables fast VM boot, analytics scans, and backup restores without saturating mainstream enterprise server platforms.
2. Up to 540,000 K IOPS in random reads helps database, VDI, and metadata-heavy workloads respond smoothly even under highly parallel access patterns.
3. A 1.3 DWPD endurance rating provides the write tolerance needed for mixed-use enterprise deployments, supporting steady daily overwrite activity with predictable service life.
4. Samsung V-NAND 3D TLC balances cost, capacity, and reliability, making it well suited for scale-out data center storage where performance consistency matters as much as flash density.
5. With typical latency of 85 µs, the drive reduces storage wait time enough to improve application responsiveness in transactional systems and latency-sensitive virtualized environments.

Capacity Sweet

Lower capacity reference: 3.84 TB Higher capacity reference: 15.36 TB At 7.68 TB, this drive sits at the sweet spot of the series. Compared with the 3.84 TB model, it gives much better headroom for data growth, VM sprawl, and cache expansion without changing the expected enterprise-class read, write, and random IOPS profile in a meaningful way. Compared with the 15.36 TB version, it typically delivers a more balanced cost-per-drive while avoiding overprovisioning in mid-scale deployments. It is especially well suited for a 2-node to 6-node virtualization cluster, mixed database workloads, or high-density application storage tiers.

FAQ