What Are the WD SN550 Changes? How to Replace It?

What Are the WD SN550 Changes?

Western Digital's WD Blue SN550 budget SSD is a well-reviewed and popular NVMe device that has regularly appeared on various sites' "best SSD" lists since its release in late 2019. Western Digital will replace the NAND flash and update the firmware in the WD Blue SN550 starting June 2021, which will negatively impact its performance when the SLC (Single Level Cell) is depleted.

Western Digital has confirmed that it changed the NAND flash memory in one of its most popular M.2 NVMe SSD models, the WD Blue SN550, which crippled writing speeds according to several reports, leading to a 50% performance hit. NAND flash downgrades likely won't affect the average consumer, as users are unlikely to be constantly filling up 12 GB of SLC cache. However, if you move a large number of files, such as 4K video files or large compressed archives, you will definitely notice a decrease in performance.

Need to Do Western Digital SN550 Change

Because of the 50% drop in performance due to WD SN550 change, many users want to replace their WD SN550. Apart from this reason, there are some additional reasons as follows:

• Low storage capacity: If you find that you are frequently running out of storage space on your WD SN550, you may need to replace it with a higher-capacity SSD.
• Slow performance: If your WD SN550 is running slowly or experiencing frequent crashes or errors, it may be time to replace it with a newer, faster SSD.
• Upgrading to a better SSD: There are many newer and faster SSDs on the market, and if you want to take advantage of the latest technology, you may want to replace your WD SN550 with a newer model.
• Compatibility: If you are upgrading other components of your computer, you may need to replace your WD SN550 SSD to ensure compatibility with the new components.

Fast and Secure Data Transfer to Your New SSD

When you want to replace the WD SN550 SSD on your computer, you may need to migrate your system or data. Since Windows doesn't have a built-in migration tool, we recommend you use the safest and most reliable method to help you do this.

AOMEI Backupper Professional is the perfect software for upgrading or replacing your hard drive with an SSD. It offers various functions like:

• 3 Clone Options: Disk Clone, Partition Clone and System Clone to meet your specific needs. When you use the Disk Clone function, all data from your source disk, including the operating system, app programs, and user files, will be transferred to the destination disk after cloning.
• Two Cloning Methods: Sector by sector Clone and Intelligent Clone, you can choose the one that suits you best. The Intelligent Clone method is the default option, which can clone a larger hard drive to a smaller SSD as long as the SSD has enough space for the used data.
• Also, if you want to replace a hard drive with an SSD on Windows 11, the SSD Alignment option can optimize the performance of your SSD.

It supports all Windows PC operating systems including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. To install this powerful software on your computer, click on the download button below. And if you are a Windows server user, you can upgrade your hard drive using AOMEI Backupper Server. To transfer the data on your WD SN550 SSD, follow the steps below.

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper. Click CloneDisk Clonein order.

2. Select the WD SN550 SSD that you want to clone as the source disk and clickNext.

3. Select the NVMe SSD you installed on your computer as the target disk, and then click Next.

4. You will then see the Operation Summary screen. Since you are doing WD SN550 change, you can click SSD Alignment to increase the read/write speed of the target SSD. After confirming all settings, click Start Clone.

Final Words

The WD SN550 change resulted in a performance drop of up to 50%. As such, many users may wish to replace their WD SN550 SSD with a newer, faster, higher capacity model. To transfer data on WD SN550 SSD to a new SSD, users can use AOMEI Backupper Pro,which provides disk cloning, partition cloning, system cloning and other functions. Hurry to try it.