Product image from current catalog dataProduct overview
Real speed, and a real firmware problem to know about
The Samsung 990 Pro 2TB is a PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD rated for up to roughly 7,450 MB/s sequential read. Independent testing backs the headline numbers: StorageReview and Tom's Hardware both measured sequential read speeds around 7,500 MB/s and write speeds around 6,850 MB/s using CrystalDiskMark, and Tom's Hardware's PCMark 10 testing recorded a score of roughly 5,200 — a result the review noted had, at the time, only been achieved by two flash-based PCIe Gen4 SSDs, with the 990 Pro delivering roughly 62% more performance than its 980 Pro predecessor.
Thermal testing was also favorable: reviewers recorded the drive idling around 40°C and reaching roughly 72°C after sustained heavy writes (around 1.6TB), comfortably below the point where SSDs typically start throttling — a meaningful data point for anyone running it without a dedicated heatsink.
Here's the part that has to be stated plainly for an honest review: TechRadar and multiple independent forum threads (including detailed reports on AnandTech's forums) documented a real firmware bug in which 990 Pro drives lost reported 'drive health' at an alarming rate — some users reported drops of 10% or more within days, verified across multiple different SMART-monitoring tools rather than being a single buggy app. Samsung acknowledged the issue and released a firmware update, but that update stops further degradation — it does not reverse or reset the health percentage already lost on an affected drive.
This means if you already own an affected 990 Pro, or you're buying one, updating to the latest firmware immediately after purchase is not optional — it's the only fix Samsung has shipped. It also means the drive's real-world longevity track record has an asterisk that a raw speed benchmark won't show you, and it's worth checking Samsung's support site for the current firmware version before you rely on this drive for anything critical.
Weighing both sides honestly: the speed and thermal performance are genuinely top-tier and independently verified, and the firmware issue affected a documented subset of units rather than being universal — but it's a real, Samsung-acknowledged defect in a drive category (storage) where you're trusting the product with your data, so it changes this from an unqualified recommendation to one that comes with a mandatory first step: update the firmware before you trust it with anything important.
Key Listed Features
PCIe 4.0 NVMe, M.2 2280 form factor
Independently measured sequential read up to roughly 7,450-7,518 MB/s
2TB capacity
Independently measured strong thermal performance (idle ~40°C, ~72°C under sustained heavy writes)
Firmware update available and necessary to address a documented health-reporting bug on some units
