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	180000
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	MZVLV256HCHP

Engineer's Note

Compared with the previous-generation MZVLV256HCHP, the Samsung PM961 (MZVLW256HEHP-000L7) advances to a newer TLC V-NAND NVMe platform that delivers up to 2800/1100 MB/s and 250,000/180,000 IOPS, providing noticeably higher bandwidth and stronger random-performance responsiveness for mainstream OEM client systems. Its standout value at 256GB is the balance of PCIe NVMe speed and 148 TBW endurance at 0.3 DWPD, making it a more capable choice than earlier SATA-class or legacy OEM NVMe drives for OS boot, application acceleration, and read-heavy workstation notebooks.

Endurance & Reliability

With an endurance rating of 148 TBW, the MZVLW256HEHP-000L7 is well suited for typical OS, office, and general business workloads, where daily writes are usually modest. In practical terms, this level of endurance can comfortably support a system-drive role for many years, and at about 40 GB of writes per day it can reach roughly 10 years of use before hitting its rated TBW. For reliability, the drive is rated at 1.5 million hours MTBF and an UBER of 1.0E-15, meaning it is designed for dependable operation with a very low probability of unrecoverable read errors in normal use. It does not include power-loss protection (PLP), so while it is a solid choice for standard client or read-focused business environments, systems that face sudden power-off risk should rely on stable platform power, UPS coverage, or software-level data protection measures.

Technical Specs & Insights

1. The NVMe interface, paired with strong sequential read throughput, speeds up OS boot, VM provisioning, and large dataset loading in read-intensive enterprise servers.
2. With up to 250,000 random read IOPS, the drive can efficiently support high-concurrency workloads such as OLTP databases, VDI boot storms, and metadata-heavy virtualization clusters.
3. Its 0.3 DWPD endurance profile makes it a practical fit for read-centric enterprise deployments where capacity density and cost control matter more than sustained heavy write duty.
4. TLC V-NAND delivers a balanced mix of enterprise-grade capacity, power efficiency, and cost effectiveness for mainstream data center storage tiers.
5. A typical latency of 50 µs helps reduce application response time and improves service consistency for latency-sensitive workloads such as caching, indexing, and real-time query handling.

Capacity Sweet

Lower capacity reference: 128GB Higher capacity reference: 512GB In the PM961 family, the 256GB model sits at the sweet spot of the range. Compared with the 128GB version, it gives materially better space headroom for OS images, application binaries, logs, and working data, reducing early capacity pressure. Compared with the 512GB option, it keeps acquisition cost and fleet replacement budgets under tighter control while still delivering broadly similar sequential throughput and random IOPS for mainstream enterprise workloads. It is best suited for small to mid-size virtualization clusters, such as shared boot and utility storage for about 40 to 60 light virtual machines.

FAQ