Side-by-side: Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB ($898) vs Crucial P310 4TB ($519). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
This is a generational matchup at 4 TB: the older-gen drive offers proven reliability and better $/TB, while the newer-gen sibling brings raw bandwidth that most users never tap.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB runs on Samsung's Presto controller — built in-house to push V-NAND to its Gen 5 ceiling. The Crucial P310 4TB pairs the DRAM-less Phison E27T, common in value-tier 2TB and 4TB Gen 4 drives.
Money matters here — $129.75/TB on the Crucial P310 4TB versus $224.50/TB on the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB. That's enough of a spread that for budget-conscious builders, the Crucial P310 4TB becomes the default unless reviews of your specific workload prefer the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB.
On sequential reads the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB pulls ahead by 7,700 MB/s (14,800 MB/s versus 7,100 MB/s). That matters for moving large files but rarely shows up in game loads.
Write speeds skew toward the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB: 13,400 MB/s sustained against 6,000 MB/s. Content creators feel this; gamers do not.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Crucial P310 4TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
Endurance leans toward the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB at 2,400 TBW (versus 1,760 TBW for the Crucial P310 4TB). For most consumers this never becomes a real concern — 600 TBW lasts a decade of normal writes — but heavy daily writers should weight it.
For PS5 expansion, both are PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2280 drives that meet Sony's minimum spec (7,100 MB/s read). The console can't take advantage of speeds beyond that, so save money by choosing the Crucial P310 4TB. Comparing across generations always invites the same question: does the bandwidth gap convert into user-visible improvements? Honest answer for the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB vs Crucial P310 4TB pairing: only for sustained sequential reads of multi-GB files. Video editors will gravitate toward the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB for its write headroom (13,400 MB/s sustained). Project saves and proxies move faster, which compounds across a workday. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB ranks #5 of 6 Gen 5 4 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Crucial P310 4TB ranks #3 of 6 Gen 4 4 TB drives. Neither cracks the top of the value table, so it's worth glancing at the alternatives below before picking either.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB and Crucial P310 4TB on $/TB:
Go with the Samsung 9100 PRO 4TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,800 MB/s), higher sustained writes (13,400 MB/s), a higher TBW endurance rating (2,400 TBW), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. Samsung backs the PRO series with one of the strongest warranty experiences in consumer storage — RMAs typically process within 5 business days globally.
Go with the Crucial P310 4TB for the lower retail price ($519 vs $898), and better $/TB economics ($129.75/TB).