Although Seagate is a company that produces SSDs, it’s mostly known for its line of hard drives. But recently, it changed a few things in this category and aimed to create one of their latest devices, the BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD. In this Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review, we’re going to learn more about this unit, its features, specifications, and if it’s a notable performer just like what Seagate claims it to be.
This product is Seagate’s response to their competition. Instead of making a high-end product and an entry-level one, the company decided to produce a device based on its capacity, price, and other standard points.
Inside the Package
The BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD comes in a green-themed cardboard box with black highlights for added appeal. There’s a picture of the SSD at the box’s front portion, while the unit’s name is below. A barracuda’s image is also present on the left of the SSD’s photo, while the top-left area display’s Seagate’s logo. You’ll find the SSD’s capacity posted on the upper-right corner of the package, and what we have with us is the 512GB version.
Inside the box, items present include the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD and warranty information. For more user information, you can download the informational guide from the company’s official site.
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review
This portion of our Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review talks about the SSD. It’s technically a consumer drive for people who want to boost their NVMe interface via workstations, desktops, and ultra-thin laptops.
It sports a single-sided M.2 2280 form-factor, the reason why it has all the PCB elements featured on the side. It comes with the E12 PCIe 3 x4 NVME 1.3 SSS controller, has a 512MB DDR4 DRAM cache specific for FTL caching, and two Bi-CS3 NAND Toshiba packages made for storage.
What’s cool about the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD is that it comes with a cloning software support, a basic SSD toolbox, and is supported by a 5-year warranty as well.
Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Specifications
Our Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review also gives you information about the product’s specifications, and with the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB, it’s generally an M.2 2280 SSD that comes with an internal enclosure. It has a 512GB capacity, a 3D TLC memory package, and it utilizes the Phison E12 and DDR4 DRAM.
The SSD has a sequential read of up to 3,400MB/s and sequential write of up to 2,100MB/s. Its 4K random speed is 340,000 IOPS, while the random write is 500,000 IOPS. Also, it has a 320TBW data storage life and an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) range of 1.8 million hours. The SSD’s electrical power consumption is 3.0W, and 16mW when on standby. The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD’s operating temperature is 0 – 70℃, then -40 to 85℃ for its storage temperature.
For the measurements, the SSD is 2.23 (H) x 22.15 (W) x 80.15 (D) millimeters and weighs 6.9g. The drive is has a 5-year warranty, which is a good move from Seagate.
Product Features
Fast Performance and More Efficient
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 is the perfect drive for your thin or small laptops and mini PCs SSDs since it features an M.2 2280 single-sided form factor. Despite the small size, it delivers adequate speeds for running demanding apps and multitasking.
High Reliability with M.2 NVMe PCIe for Speed Boost
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD delivers ultrafast PCIe NVMe speeds, which are six times faster than SATA SSDs. Its design allows for upgrading most small form-factor systems. Aside from its speed, the five-year warranty, 1.8 million hours of MTBF, and 320 TBW make this SSD more reliable
SATA for Enhancing Speed
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD provides high levels of speed, which is 30 times of standard HDDs. It features a plug-and-play installation process, so upgrading becomes quick and easy.
Rescue Data Recovery Services Plan
Insure your Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD with Rescue Data Recovery Services plan. Once you register your drive, you can purchase the plan and have no worries about retrieving data. Everything will be safe and protected.
Sea-Tools Software
Sea-Tools, Seagate’s free software, is for analysis and testing of your drives. It’s easy to install and is safe for your data. You can download it for free from the company’s official website. Sea-Tools allows you to update your software, read out diagnostic data, clone your drive, or perform a secure erase. Its testing programs are fast, simple, and easy to use. The drives are also easy to find when you launch the program, and with a few clicks, you can begin your drive tests.
Aside from the software, support software apps for the BarraCuda 510 SSDs are also present. The Sea-Tools SSD GUI is for basic monitoring, viewing more details about your SSDs, and checking S.M.A.R.T. data. Another is the DiscWizard, which is for standard cloning and imaging. It’s a free and improved version of Acronis True Image HD.
System Requirements
Seagate’s Sea-Tools has two available versions: Sea-Tools for Windows and Sea-Tools Bootable. Sea-Tools for Windows supports Windows 7, 8, XP, and Vista. Although it doesn’t officially support Windows 10, it worked well for us. For Sea-Tools Bootable, it supports any operating system installed on your drive, and it will work even if there’s nothing installed.
Performance
To give you an idea on how this SSD works, we performed various tests before writing our Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review. Now, let’s see if this is something that you should get for your rig.
Like similar SSDs, the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD’s rate is slightly higher at 3.4 | 2.1GB/s for read and write. It delivers random performance up to 430,000 | 500,000 read & write IOPS.
High write speed should give sufficient endurance for the SSD to handle heavy tasks through the years. It comes with a five-year warranty and covers up to 320 Terabytes.
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD has an SLC cache, like other SSD today. The cache took up to 13 to 14 GB of writes before its performance declined from 2,250MB/s to 630MB/s. This SS’s 3,450MB/s read and 2,100MB/s write shows that its speed is adequate for large file transfers.
When we tried transferring files, the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD performed efficiently. It used a single Watt that’s lower than the regular power consumption of 2.52W. During idle power consumption, it was excellent and well-regulated, as we expected from an E12-based SSD. It consumed 443mW of power with the ASPM disabled, but when enabled, it consumed 46mW.
With its speed, work performance and daily tasks will improve. It will also offer excellent loading time for online games. This SSD gives the most advantage for users who want to enhance their notebooks’ performance, though we also consider this as a good investment for PC rigs.
Overall, the Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD is an efficient all-around SSD, so we’re giving this a thumbs-up.
Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review Conclusion
The Seagate BarraCuda 510 512GB M.2 SSD comes with all the features that the competition has, but it offers more, making it better than other products on the market. It also has a comprehensive software with an intuitive interface, and it’s highly reliable with its 320 TBW and five-year warranty.
This SSD is an impressive performer that will work well for everyday office applications and creative work. Its power efficiency is another advantage since it helps lengthen its lifespan. Its small form factor allows for upgrading mini PCs, which is another reason why it’s a great product. Aside from the notable features, the data recovery plan also makes it worth the purchase. If you liked our Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD Review and want to purchase this SSD, search for authorized partners and resellers through the store locator on the company’s official website.
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