Samsung released its latest 2.5-inch SATA SSD today, the 870 Qvo, which comes in capacities up to 8TB – twice as big as the largest 860 Qvo model released in 2018 and substantially bigger than most desktop hard drives. It’s an impressive milestone, even if UK pricing for the largest 8TB model is nearly £800. Still, with game install sizes ballooning out of control – I’m looking at you here, Warzone – a massive new SSD could be just what the doctor ordered.
So how have Samsung produced a 7mm tall SSD that packs in so much storage space? Unlike most of Samsung’s drives, the Qvo series uses QLC NAND, meaning it stores four bits per cell instead of two (MLC, used on Pro series drives) or three (TLC, used on Evo series drives). That, combined with vertical stacking of the flash memory modules, allows the Korean chaebol to offer higher capacities than would otherwise be possible for a given price or form factor, which has lead to the existence of that flagship 8TB model.
* signifies data that has yet to be confirmed by Samsung, but was previously rumoured.
