Lexar NQ100 2TB SSD Review UK (2026) – Tested

After a decade of testing storage drives, I’ve seen the SATA market shift from premium to budget territory. NVMe has stolen the spotlight, but here’s the reality: millions of older laptops and desktops can’t use those blazing-fast drives. They’re stuck with SATA III ports. And if you’re upgrading one of those machines from a mechanical hard drive, you still get a massive performance jump. The Lexar NQ100 2TB SSD sits squarely in this space, affordable capacity for systems that need a speed boost without the hassle of checking M.2 compatibility or dealing with driver updates. But does it deliver where it counts, or does Lexar cut too many corners chasing that price point?

I cloned a Windows 10 installation from a mechanical drive to the NQ100 using Macrium Reflect. The entire process took about 45 minutes for 180GB of data. Once booted from the SSD, the difference was night and day, application launches that previously took 15-20 seconds now happen in 2-3 seconds. File Explorer navigation is instant instead of that annoying pause you get with mechanical drives.

But (and this matters if you’re doing specific workloads), sustained write performance drops after filling the SLC cache. I transferred a 120GB video project folder and watched speeds start at 490MB/s, then drop to around 180MB/s after about 12GB. That’s the drive switching from fast SLC cache to slower TLC NAND. For most users, this won’t matter, you’re not regularly copying massive files. But video editors and data hoarders should know about this limitation.

One thing I appreciate: the SATA connector feels solid. I’ve tested budget drives where the connector feels loose or wobbly, which can cause intermittent connection issues. The NQ100’s connector has proper tension and locks into place securely.

Windows 10 and 11 recognise the drive immediately. If you’re adding it as secondary storage, you’ll need to initialise it through Disk Management, right-click the Start button, select Disk Management, find the new drive, initialise it as GPT, then create a new volume. Takes about 90 seconds total.

For OS migration, I used Macrium Reflect Free (it’s actually free, not a trial). The software walked me through cloning my existing Windows installation to the NQ100. The process is mostly automated, select source drive, select destination drive, click clone, wait. The only gotcha: make sure your current Windows installation is smaller than 2TB, obviously.

The Samsung 870 EVO costs roughly £40-50 more but delivers meaningfully better performance thanks to its DRAM cache. Random read/write speeds are noticeably snappier, and the 1,200 TBW endurance rating means it’ll outlast the NQ100 by years. If you’re building a new system or upgrading a primary workstation, that extra investment makes sense. But if you’re resurrecting a 2015 laptop for basic tasks, the 870 EVO is overkill.

Look, if you’ve got an M.2 slot available, forget SATA entirely. The WD_BLACK SN7100 or Crucial P510 will absolutely destroy any SATA drive in performance tests. We’re talking 5-7x faster sequential speeds and dramatically better random access. But those drives cost more and require a compatible M.2 slot, many older systems simply don’t have that option.

Several reviewers mentioned using the drive in older gaming PCs as secondary storage for their Steam libraries. Game load times improved noticeably compared to mechanical drives, though not as dramatically as moving to NVMe. That’s the sweet spot for this drive: secondary storage where you want SSD speeds without paying premium prices.

Here’s my honest take on value: the NQ100 makes sense if you’re upgrading an older system or need affordable secondary storage. It doesn’t make sense if you’re building a new high-performance machine, in that scenario, spend the extra money on NVMe drives that will actually utilise modern motherboard capabilities.

The 2TB capacity is the key selling point. Smaller drives (500GB-1TB) from premium brands cost nearly as much but force you to manage storage more carefully. With 2TB, you can install Windows, your entire Steam library, Adobe Creative Suite, and still have breathing room. That practical advantage outweighs the theoretical performance benefits of pricier SATA drives for most users.

This drive makes sense in specific scenarios: you’re breathing new life into an older laptop, building a budget desktop, or adding secondary storage for games and media. It doesn’t make sense if you have M.2 slots available (get NVMe instead) or if you need maximum endurance for professional workloads (spend more on a drive with DRAM cache).

After three weeks of testing, I’d confidently recommend the NQ100 to friends and family upgrading older systems. The performance improvement over mechanical drives is genuinely transformative, and the 2TB capacity provides enough breathing room that you won’t constantly juggle storage space. Just understand its limitations, this is a budget-friendly workhorse, not a performance champion.