Side-by-side: WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB ($440) vs Crucial P310 2TB ($299). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for September 2026.
This is a generational matchup at 2 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 WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB runs on the SMI SM2508 — a 6nm Gen 5 controller running notably cooler than first-gen Phison E26 designs. The Crucial P310 2TB pairs Phison's E27T — a four-channel Gen 4 controller for HMB designs.
Money matters here — $149.50/TB on the Crucial P310 2TB versus $220.00/TB on the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB. That's enough of a spread that for budget-conscious builders, the Crucial P310 2TB becomes the default unless reviews of your specific workload prefer the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB.
Read speeds favor the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB: 14,900 MB/s versus 7,100 MB/s for the Crucial P310 2TB, a 52% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB writes about 45% faster (11,000 MB/s vs 6,000 MB/s). Whether that matters depends entirely on what you write to the drive — gameplay capture and large project saves benefit, browsing and gaming do not.
The DRAM-vs-HMB question divides opinion: WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB's on-board DRAM theoretically helps under sustained workloads, while Crucial P310 2TB's HMB approach has matured enough that most users won't see the difference. Pick on price if everything else is similar.
On warranty endurance the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB carries 1,200 TBW against Crucial P310 2TB's 880 TBW. Both will outlast typical use, but the gap matters if you're doing professional content work.
If this purchase is for a PS5 storage expansion, the comparison flattens — Sony's PCIe Gen 4 controller normalizes both WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB to roughly equal in-game load times. The cheaper drive is the smart pick. Comparing across generations always invites the same question: does the bandwidth gap convert into user-visible improvements? Honest answer for the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB vs Crucial P310 2TB pairing: only for sustained sequential reads of multi-GB files. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB's 11,000 MB/s sustained write speed. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
Market context: the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB ranks #9 of 11 Gen 5 2 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Crucial P310 2TB ranks #3 of 11 Gen 4 2 TB drives. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
As of September 7, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB and Crucial P310 2TB on $/TB:
Go with the WD_BLACK SN8100 2TB for meaningfully faster reads (14,900 MB/s), higher sustained writes (11,000 MB/s), a higher TBW endurance rating (1,200 TBW), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip.
Go with the Crucial P310 2TB for the lower retail price ($299 vs $440), and better $/TB economics ($149.50/TB).