Crucial M4From real comments

Name: Crucial M4
Rating: 1.8 (22 reviews)

Verdict distilled from 22 mentions across 5 aspects in comments under product review videos.

Positive sentiment44%

PROS 44%

CONS 56%

Rank based on 22 mentions across 5 aspects

View the verdict as

Buy this if...

You want a budget-friendly SSD with a strong reputation for long-term reliability
You're upgrading an older Mac or PC and value backward SATA compatibility
You prioritize durability and steady performance over top-tier peak speeds

What users love

Long-term reliabilityKey factor0 mentions

Strongly positive

Skip this if...

You're not prepared to apply firmware updates to avoid the 5000-hour bug
You're on a Mac and want guaranteed hassle-free TRIM/garbage collection support
You need class-leading heavy-workload benchmark performance over reliability

What users complain about

5000-hour firmware bugNotable0 mentions

Frequently criticized

Mac TRIM and garbage collection uncertainty0 mentions

Generally negative

Confusing firmware update process0 mentions

Generally negative

Occasional BSODs0 mentions

Mildly negative

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7Mid

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You are here

31Mid

Crucial M4

Long-term reliability5000-hour firmware bugMac TRIM and garbage collection uncertaintyConfusing firmware update process

Crucial M4

Long-term reliability

5000-hour firmware bug

Mac TRIM and garbage collection uncertainty

Confusing firmware update process

Fast boot times
1. Samsung 860 EVOarrow_upward12
2. Samsung 840 Proarrow_upward6
3. Samsung 850 EVOarrow_upward6
Fast speed
1. Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5arrow_upward16
2. Seagate FireCuda 520arrow_upward6
Good value
1. WD Black SN750arrow_upward9
2. Samsung 850 EVOarrow_upward5
3. Seagate FireCuda 520arrow_upward4
Reliable
1. Crucial M4arrow_upward9
2. Samsung 840 Proarrow_upward5
3. Crucial MX100arrow_upward4
Setup confusion
1. Crucial MX100arrow_downward4
2. Samsung 860 EVOarrow_downward7

Overall Impression

Long-term reliability is the M4's standout trait. Multiple users report years of daily use without failure, including one citing over six years of daily use with only capacity feeling dated, and others noting a full year of gaming-drive use with fast load times. Commenters repeatedly call it a 'tank' and say they'd buy Crucial again, praising consistency across multiple units bought for builds and RAID setups.

The 5000-hour firmware bug caused real problems for some owners. Several users describe drives locking up, not being recognized, or dying entirely after roughly 5000 hours of uptime, with one needing to call Crucial support and another fixed by simply installing a later firmware update. Crucial's firmware releases progressed from CD/ISO-based 0009/0309 updates to an easier 000F .exe installer, which some praise as good customer support while others struggled with the update process.

Mac compatibility and TRIM support left some users confused. Mac owners debate whether TRIM Enabler is necessary, with some citing forum claims that Crucial's garbage collection is weak without it and others reporting amazing performance without enabling it at all. A few mention negative online reviews about drives not being recognized by Macs or being dead out of the box, though direct commenters here mostly report smooth installs on 2010 MacBook Pros at reduced SATA bandwidth.

Outdated / Not-accurate data?

verifiedLong-term reliabilityKey factor

9 mentions

Strongly positive

Many users report years of trouble-free daily use, including one drive still working well after over six years. Owners consistently call the M4 a dependable, tank-like drive that outlasts other PC components.

@Knaeckebrotsaege

1:17 My 256GB m4 is still working just fine 6+ years of daily use later. The only \"problem\" is its size (256GB is entry-level area these days). \nBought it in late 2011 (right before the prices started falling below 250eur.. dammit). Definitely got my moneys worth out of it though :D

smart_display

May 7, 2018

@mrpingu-isfound8469

I've had my Crucial m4 for over a year now. Still works great and is fast. I've recently bought the Samsung 840 Evo 250GB as my main OS drive and I'm using the 128GB Crucial m4 as my games drive to install my Steam and Origin games. Battlefield 3 loads really fast.

smart_display

January 23, 2014

@mrpingu-isfound8469

I've been using the 128GB Crucial m4 SSD for over a year as main OS drive for windows 8. Now I've bought the samsung 840 Evo 250GB as main OS drive and I'm using the 128GB Crucial m4 as game drive. I've installed my Steam and Origin games on it. My games start very quickly and I just love it.

smart_display

January 22, 2014

@WireyWhenWet

I was waiting for you to do a video of the Crucial SSDs and 4 days ago I thought why not and picked up a 128gb M4 for £104. I'm an SSD virgin here, is there a way to lower the capacity slightly on the M4 drives to add longevity to them? I've heard that you can on some drives so that data cells can be interchanged but as I said, this is a while new experience for me right now!\nI've used Crucial brand components for almost all the builds I've done before and have never had an issue, 100% reliable!

smart_display

March 5, 2012

warning5000-hour firmware bugNotable

4 mentions

Frequently criticized

A well-known bug caused lockups, non-recognition, or complete drive death around 5000 hours of uptime for several users. Firmware updates were needed to resolve it, and at least one user's drive died despite troubleshooting with Crucial support.

@Turbohead25

So i went to go try it and its DEAD, 5000 hour bug or something, I called crucial and they sent me all the stuff about power cycle and none of it worked. This happen to you?

smart_display

August 8, 2013

@Tim._..

My computer was locking up after about every 20/30 minutes for the last day. Then the hdd wasn't recognised so I had to drain the power by holding the power button with it unplugged from the mains, so it would recognise the M4 SSD again. Then I remembered coming across this video a year ago, but never updated. I updated it and it hasn't locked up since. It must have been that bug because I it would have been about 5000 hours of uptime.

smart_display

January 12, 2013

@PanzerIV88

Who the hell anyway have run this SSD for already over 4000-5000 houres! Even 24/7 which I highly don't recommand it's still way too much, it's like 1 full year non-stop so it must have happened to very few people. That's lame from Crucial for not doing a .exe setup on this firmware as they did it for the previous one. Mine was perfect on v1.0 then when I went on the 2nd firmware, I now have BSOD when I wake from sleep 1 time on 5.. awesome -_- This 3rd firmware better fix this too!

smart_display

January 28, 2012

@ShevCheNko_tv

You just made my day sir !\nI own a 128GB of this drive and it had a firmware of 0009 !\nThanks to you, I have prevented it from that bug ! :D

smart_display

January 27, 2012

helpMac TRIM and garbage collection uncertainty

4 mentions

Generally negative

Mac users report conflicting information about whether TRIM Enabler is needed and cite outside reviews claiming weak garbage collection without it, alongside reports of Macs failing to recognize the drive.

@4portadec

Are you still happy with this SSD drive from Crucial? They have a lot of negative reviews online for long term reliability, or even being dead out of the box. Something about Mac's not being to recognize them in a lot of cases.... ?

smart_display

August 14, 2012

@PrinceLX

Nice video :) If you haven't already, get TRIM Enabler on your Mac. Anandtech reviewed this (easy enough to find on Google to verify) and said the garbage collection on this SSD was pants, and without TRIM support in the OS (which OS X doesn't have for third-party SSDs) the M4 can get very slow over time. \n\nAlso, take care if you ever update the drive's firmware. Crucial tend to botch Mac users with them from reviews I've Googled.\n\nLooking at the 512GB one for my studio work. How's yours going?

smart_display

July 5, 2012

@PrinceLX

Do you have TRIM enabled in Lion? Opening all those programs at once, whilst impressive, is going to litter your SSD in garbage files...\n\nGood review though mate :) Found the 512GB version for around £500 on Amazon, so I'm debating either that or a 32GB iPad 3 when it comes out... This'll make the programs I use fly!

smart_display

January 8, 2012

@SuperGadgetGuy

@na1du Ya I downloaded the Trim Enabled but didn't enable it as I read different results online with Mac OS Lion. Some said the Garbage Collector with the 009 firmware is good enough that they got the beach ball with the Trim Enabled. I can always enable it later and so far the performance is AMAZING.

smart_display

September 24, 2011

buildConfusing firmware update process

3 mentions

Generally negative

Several users had trouble with the older CD/ISO-based firmware updater, with drives not being detected or updates not improving speeds as expected. The later .exe installer was seen as a major improvement.

@OtakuOG

NEW UPDATE FOR CRUCIAL M4: It's 000F! And now it's an .EXE application! No need to burn a CD/ use a USB! Please check Crucial.com for more info!

smart_display

April 28, 2012

@SuperLC1010

My computer successfully installed the 0309 firmware update from Crucial, yet the speeds are not any faster (tested by Crystal Disk Mark & AS SSD Software) I ran the software twice, re-booted and ran it again. Shut my PC down for around a few hours then tried it again and yet still the same speeds as I was getting with the 0009 firmware. I checked the SSD drives details and it says the firmware currently is 0309. Can someone help meeeee!

smart_display

April 2, 2012

@narc0tlc

I can't get this to work. I downloaded the ISO and burned it to a CD. It sits at the Finding drives part for ever and never updates. I've swapped my SSD from 6.0 sata to 3.0 sata ports thinking it would help. I have a CT256M4SSD2 firmware 009. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or what else to do.

smart_display

February 5, 2012

errorOccasional BSODs

2 mentions

Mildly negative

A couple of users mention occasional blue screens of death, though one attributes this to specific software rather than the drive itself.

@Dam13nL

I really like my SSD, the only problem is the occasional bsod. You do need to take your software in account and which could be causing it ( in my case Firefox, hardware acceleration).

smart_display

March 4, 2012

@PanzerIV88

smart_display

January 28, 2012

Crucial M4chat_bubble_outlineFrom real comments

thumb_up_off_altBuy this if...

What users lovefavorite_border

thumb_down_off_altSkip this if...

What users complain aboutheart_broken

Compare in seconds

Who wins on what

Fast boot times

Fast speed

Good value

Reliable

Setup confusion

auto_awesomeOverall Impression

Crucial M4From real comments

Buy this if...

What users love

Skip this if...

What users complain about

Overall Impression