WD

WD Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3

WUS5EA176ESP7E1
Ultrastar DC SN655oltpTLC7.68TBNVMe-PCIe4U.3
$1,131.51/TB
$8,690.03
newIn Stock
Price updated
Price accurate as of Sep 15, 2026, 03:31 AM
Buy on Amazon β†’

The WD Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3 is a 7.68TB NVMe-PCIe4 SSD in new condition. It is in stock at $8,690.03 - $1,131.51/TB.

Before you buy: check the bay and the lanes

U.2 and U.3 drives need a backplane wired for NVMe or an adapter carrying PCIe lanes to the bay - a SAS backplane will not do it. Check your chassis supports NVMe in the slot you plan to use before ordering. NVMe drive prices and form factors

Same capacity, other options
DriveInterfaceCond$/TBPrice
Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMeNVMe-PCIe4Refurb$353.64$2715.99Buy
Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMeNVMe-PCIe4New$520.70$3999.00Buy
Model context

Part of the WD line we track.

Quick Verdict

The WD Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3 delivers enterprise NVMe performance at $1131.51/TB. Suited to read-intensive cloud workloads and mixed enterprise applications. Verify U.2/U.3 backplane compatibility before ordering.

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Specifications

Capacity7.68TB
Form FactorU.3
InterfaceNVMe-PCIe4
Recording TechTLC
Sector Sizeβ€”
Workload Ratingβ€”
DWPDβ€”
TBW14016TB
Warranty5 years
ASINB0CJ7XFW86
Market context

Against every other drive we have an in-stock price for today, this one is cheaper per tb than 8% of them (2 of 24). The cheapest we can currently buy is $125.00/TB; the middle of the market is $341.81/TB.

Where the wider market has moved

These are third-party figures about the retail market as a whole, quoted and dated. They are not our own measurements and they do not describe this specific drive.

Compare against every 7.68TB drive we track β†’Cheapest per terabyte, all categories β†’Category price trends β†’
How it compares - 7.68TB NVMe-PCIe4
#1Seagate Nytro 5350 7.68TB U.2
$169.14/TB
#2Micron 7400 PRO 7.68TB U.3
$182.16/TB
#3Seagate Nytro 5050 7.68TB U.2
$270.64/TB
#4Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMe
$353.64/TB
#5Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMe
$520.70/TB

Frequently Asked Questions

The Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3 is designed for mixed enterprise workloads including virtualization, databases and analytics.

The Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3 uses a U.3 form factor with NVMe-PCIe4 interface. Compatible with servers featuring U.2 or U.3 backplanes including Dell PowerEdge, HPE ProLiant Gen10+, and Supermicro with appropriate NVMe backplane.

Endurance is measured in DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day). Check the manufacturer datasheet for this drive's specific endurance rating.

Use Case Scenarios

πŸ—„οΈ
OLTP Database Primary Storage
PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle requiring low latency and high IOPS.
βœ“ Excellent fit
NVMe delivers sub-200ΞΌs latency vs 5ms for HDD β€” a 25x improvement that directly reduces query response times. At 1 DWPD verify your daily write volume stays within endurance limits.
πŸ€–
AI/ML Training & Inference
GPU server loading training datasets or serving inference at high throughput.
βœ“ Excellent fit
NVMe at 6,900MB/s eliminates storage bottlenecks when loading datasets to GPU memory. At 7.68TB you can store substantial model weights on a single drive.
πŸ’Ύ
Bulk Cold Data Archive
Storing large volumes of infrequently accessed data.
βœ— Not ideal
At ~$1132/TB, NVMe costs 10x more than enterprise HDD for cold data. Unless you need fast retrieval, HDDs or LTO tape are far more cost-effective.

Maintenance & Troubleshooting

Maintenance Checklist

On installUpdate drive firmware
Check manufacturer website for latest firmware. Enterprise SSDs receive updates that fix performance and reliability issues.
On installEnable power loss protection verification
Enterprise NVMe drives have onboard capacitors for power loss protection. Verify in drive logs after first power cycle.
MonthlyCheck SMART/NVMe health attributes
Run nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0 (Linux). Monitor: Media_Errors, Available_Spare, Percentage_Used.
MonthlyMonitor write endurance consumption
Track Percentage_Used SMART attribute. At 80%+ consider planning replacement. At 7.68TB and 1 DWPD you have 14,352,384GB lifetime writes.
QuarterlyReview error logs in server BMC
Check iDRAC, iLO or IPMI logs for NVMe errors, PCIe link speed downgrades, or unexpected resets.

Troubleshooting Guide

Cause: PCIe slot not initialized, missing NVMe driver, BIOS not updated, or U.2 cable issue.
Fix: Check BIOS for NVMe in PCIe enumeration. Update server firmware. Reseat U.2 cable. Verify PCIe bifurcation if using adapter. Test in another slot.