Question 1

will this work in a laptop? or just desktops?

Accepted Answer

The laptop would have to the NVMe  M.2 2280 connect on the motherboard to work. I don't think most would have that unless it a newer laptop. You'd have to check the specs for the laptop.

Question 2

If I purchase this model without the heatsink will I be able to later purchase just the heatsink to add to it?

Accepted Answer

technically yes, although you will probably need thermal pads. No idea if the official heatsink will be for sale. The official heatsink version comes out in the spring. In my time with the sn750 I havnt had a need for the heatsink and mine sits near my gpu. looks cool though

Question 3

I wonder if it survive prolonged use without heatsink?

Accepted Answer

Any well designed SSD has a built in thermal throttle. If it gets too hot SSD accesses automatically slow down keep it cool and protect the media data integrity. The WD Black is more thermally efficient than many, but If you don't heat sink, it will slow down under heavy load. Its designed to remain very reliable. Also, go with the technology - Sequential read and write access are mostly worthless to Windows or Gaming applications. Random access is the defining spec for these. This is where the WD Black outperforms Samsung very effectively.

Question 4

Can I plug this into a PCIe x4 slot, or does it mandate something unique?

Accepted Answer

I put  this PCIe 3.0 x4  M.2 NVMe in a PCie x4 adapter and insert it to the x16 slot. The answer to your question is "Yes" you can plug it to PCIe x4 slot. 
Initially I tried to use it as just a NTFS formatted data drive, tested performance with CrystalDiskMark, and the performance was close to the advertised speed.  Currently, I have a version of Linux installed to it, and I proved that using this M.2 NVMe with x4 adapter to the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot can be used as a boot drive too. All I have to do is to make selection from Boot Menu whether to boot Windows 10 or the Linux on this M.2 NVMe SSD.
Very good M.2 NVMe drive ! My PC's motherboard has only one M.2 2280 slot, now I can use two M.2  drives with this method.

Question 5

If I'm not overclocking the MB (less heat generated overall), will this device still need a heat sink?

Accepted Answer

I have my Ryzen 5 OC to 4GHz and so far no heat issues. I don't think you need a heat sink for this drive. Sorry for the late response. Excellent drive, thou.

Question 6

Does WD has Win7 NVMe driver for this disk?
I bought one some time ago and WD did not have NVMe drivers for Win7.

Accepted Answer

I found Win7 support for NVMe from Microsoft, there is an update for Win7 to support NVMe drives. Win10 supports NVMe natively.

Question 7

Is this a M-Key or B-Key interface?

Accepted Answer

this drive is 'm' keyed  M.2 2280  and PCIe x4.

Question 8

Is anyone using these in RAID 0?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you need to download the driver from amd website, and then using the nvme raid driver.

Question 9

What the read \ write rated speeds of the 250gb and 500gb models?

Accepted Answer

My friend! 
If you search further, you can find the data sheet for this SN 750 Black M.2 NVMe SSD. The performance for different capacity drives may vary somewhat. Normally speaking, larger capacity drives use more cache , that enables faster speed, and selling at higher price. Drives with 250 GB or less will run slower.
Let me repeat the spec here:
250 GB : seq. read=3100 MB/s   Seq. write =1600 MB/s
500 GB :  seq. read=3430 MB/s   Seq. write=2600 MB/s
1 TB      :  seq. read=3470 MB/s   Seq. write=3000 MB/s
2 TB      :  seq. read=3400 MB/s   Seq. write=2900 MB/s
Usually the 1 TB capacity is the most optimum speed drive

Question 10

Are these backwards compatible with PCI Express x1 (Gen 2.0)?

Accepted Answer

I believe that this device must be tested and validated at the physical and protocol level for backward compatibility to gen 2. I would be surprised if the motherboard had the resources to make use of the device.

Brand	Western Digital
Series	BLACK SN750 NVMe
Model	WDS500G3X0C
Device Type	Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Used For	Consumer

Form Factor	M.2 2280
Capacity	500GB
Memory Components	64-layer 3D NAND
Interface	PCI-Express 3.0 x4

Max Sequential Read	Up to 3430 MBps
Max Sequential Write	Up to 2600 MBps
4KB Random Read	Up to 420,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write	Up to 380,000 IOPS
MTTF	1,750,000 hours (Telcordia SR-332, GB, 40 celsius degree)
HeatSink	without HeatSink

Operating Temperature	0°C ~ +70°C
Storage Temperature	-55°C ~ +85°C

Height	2.38mm
Width	22.00mm
Depth	80.00mm
Weight	7.50g

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