SanDisk Ultra 3D 4000GB

The SanDisk Ultra 3D 4TB is a high-capacity implementation of Western Digital’s 3D NAND architecture, pairing a Marvell 88SS1074 4-channel controller with SanDisk/WD BiCS TLC NAND and a dedicated DRAM cache to manage the logical-to-physical mapping table. This configuration helps the drive sustain high write throughputs until the pseudo-SLC cache is exhausted and is effectively capped by the SATA interface. The drive is physically identical to Western Digital's equivalent SATA product line following the harmonization of SanDisk and WD product lines, and 4TB production batches may use higher-layer BiCS TLC to reach the necessary density.

Key Specifications

• Interface: SATA III (6Gb/s)
• Sequential Read/Write: 560 MB/s / 520 MB/s
• Controller: Marvell 88SS1074
• NAND Flash: WD/SanDisk BiCS 3D TLC
• DRAM Cache: Yes (Proportional to capacity)
• Encryption: Supports nCache 2.0 technology

Hardware Alternatives

• WD Blue 3D NAND (SATA): This drive is the direct hardware clone of the SanDisk Ultra 3D, sharing PCB layout, controller, and firmware, differing only in labeling.
• Samsung 870 EVO: A primary competitor in the high-tier SATA segment, using a proprietary MKX controller and V-NAND, generally showing slightly higher queue-depth performance in synthetic benchmarks.
• Crucial MX500: A direct competitor using the Silicon Motion SM2258 (or SM2259 in newer revisions) controller; a DRAM-equipped SATA drive positioned for OS or heavy storage workloads.