Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification

If you're finding photo processing and video editing slow going, then it could be due to using an HDD as your storage drive. One of the most effective, ways to speed this up is to replace the slowest thing in your computer, which in this case would be the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with a new Solid State Drive (SSD). The latest 870 EVO range of drives is designed to offer the large amounts of storage you'd normally need an HDD for and is available in 1, 2, 4 and 8TB sizes, so this drive could be a great addition if you already have a fast boot drive.

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Samsung SSD 870 QVO 4TB Features and Handling

The Samsung Solid State Drive (SSD) 870 QVO gives you a faster hard drive, by using V-NAND flash (solid-state) memory, instead of a physical spinning platter in a normal Hard Disk Drive (HDD). With no moving parts, there is no noise, and the drive should not suffer from wear and tear. The drive also comes with a 3-year warranty and is available in a variety of capacities, including a whopping 8TB.

The Samsung 870 QVO is available in the following capacities and prices:

• 1TB - £110
• 2TB - £220
• 4TB - £438
• 8TB - £795

Samsung Magician can be used to monitor the drive, as well as install any firmware updates when and if they become available. There's also Samsung Data Migration Software to help transfer one drive to another if needed. These are both available for download from Samsung.

Key Features

• 2.5inch SATA III / 7mm SSD
• Data Migration Software (free download for Windows only)
• Samsung Magician Software to manage the drive
• Low power consumption
• 3-year warranty

Samsung Magician software - for firmware updates, drive settings and even check the performance of the drive.

There is no software provided for Mac users. We've previously used Samsung SSD drives, with the clone software that comes provided, and had no issues. There are also a number of free clone tools out there, including AOMEI Backupper, that works smoothly and easily without problems.

If you are cloning your HDD to the SDD, then this can be quite a time-consuming process, depending on how much data is on your drive to be cloned, and it's a good idea to take the opportunity to clean up your computer to get rid of unwanted or unneeded files.

If you need the drive to fit a 3.5inch HDD bay (common in older desktop and tower PCs), then you'll need to buy a cage or bracket for the drive. 

Samsung SSD 870 QVO 4TB Performance

The performance section is where we look at the performance of the drive. Additional product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

We ran CrystalDiskMark on our existing 4TB storage hard drive (a Seagate 4TB, 5400rpm HDD), to see how it performs, and got the following results, although it's worth noting that this drive is almost full, and therefore the speed obtained isn't the same as it would have been if it was empty (maximum speeds we saw when empty were around 180MB/s).

4TB HDD Nearly Full

We ran the same test on the new Samsung 870 QVO drive:

Samsung Evo 870 4TB SSD Diskmark

Performance - As you can see, the increase in speed is between 5.4-10.5x faster (Seq read/write), and 575x faster (4K Q32T1 read), depending on the test used. This was without switching on RAPID or OP (see below).

Samsung Evo 870 Magician Benchmark

In Samsung Magician, you can also set up "Over Provisioning" to improve performance and lifetime, as well as switch on RAPID status, which is also said to improve performance, although if you do switch this on, be warned that a reboot will be required and can't be cancelled (or stopped) once started.

We've previously looked at how much quicker using an SSD drive as a boot drive is, compared to using an HDD as a boot drive (with a Toshiba SSD and SATA300), and the difference is impressive to say the least. It doesn't just make Photoshop and Windows quicker, it makes every program you load quicker. For anyone who plays modern games, this could make a huge difference.

Value For Money

When we last reviewed an SSD drive, we were able to get around 480/500GB for around £100 (20p/GB). Now we can buy a 1TB SSD drive for the same price (10p/GB), this makes using an SSD drive as a work drive in addition to a fast boot drive a very realistic prospect. We can finally think about relegating the old HDD to a slow backup or archive drive, rather than having to use it as a work drive.

Samsung SSD 870 QVO 4TB Verdict

The Samsung SSD 870 QVO is available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB sizes, making it suitable for large file editing, including high-resolution raw files, or 4K video editing, and should give seriously impressive speed improvements compared to using an HDD. If you're using a laptop, and only have space for one drive, then you're no longer limited to having to use a smaller drive. And if you're still using an HDD, then there's nothing stopping you from getting an SSD to greatly improve your computer, in fact, you'll wonder why you didn't do this much much sooner.

The Samsung SSD 870 QVO is a great upgrade to any computer that needs to deal with large files.