Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD Review: The Budget Upgrade Your Old PC Craves?

We’ve all been there. That once-zippy laptop or trusty desktop tower now takes an eternity to boot up. Opening a simple web browser feels like a chore, and the tell-tale whirring and clicking of the old mechanical hard drive is a constant, grating reminder of its sluggishness. I remember wrestling with an old family PC, a machine relegated to simple email and browsing, that had become almost unusable. Every click was met with a pause, the hard drive light blinking furiously as it struggled to fetch data. It’s a frustrating experience that can make you consider abandoning a perfectly functional machine for a costly new one. But what if there was a simple, incredibly affordable way to breathe new life into that computer, to make it feel responsive and modern again? This is the promise of the entry-level Solid State Drive (SSD), a component designed to solve this exact problem.

What to Consider Before Buying a SATA SSD

A Solid State Drive is more than just a storage device; it’s a key solution for banishing the bottlenecks that plague systems running on traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). By replacing the spinning platters and moving read/write heads of an HDD with flash memory, an SSD provides near-instantaneous access to data. This translates into dramatically faster boot times, quicker application loading, and a snappier, more responsive feel for the entire operating system. The benefits are not just about raw speed; SSDs are also more durable due to their lack of moving parts, making them resistant to shocks and vibrations that could damage an HDD. They run silently and consume less power, which can even lead to slightly better battery life in laptops.

The ideal customer for a budget-friendly SATA SSD like this is someone facing the frustration of a slow older laptop or desktop. If your computer is mechanically sound but feels agonizingly slow, this is one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make. It’s perfect for students, home office users, or anyone looking to extend the life of their existing hardware without a major investment. However, this type of drive might not be suitable for high-end gamers, video editors, or professionals who need to transfer massive files constantly. Those users would benefit more from the blistering speeds of modern NVMe M.2 drives, which offer performance an order of magnitude higher than the SATA interface allows. For them, a SATA SSD would still feel like a constraint.

Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:

• Dimensions & Space: The Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD uses the standard 2.5-inch form factor. This is the same size as most laptop hard drives, making it a direct-swap replacement in the vast majority of notebooks and a straightforward installation in desktops, which typically have dedicated 2.5-inch mounting bays or use simple adapters. Its slim 0.28-inch height ensures compatibility even in the most compact laptops.
• Capacity/Performance: A 128GB capacity is on the smaller side by today’s standards. It’s an ideal size for a dedicated boot drive, housing your operating system (like Windows or macOS) and a few essential programs. This leaves your larger, older HDD for bulk storage of photos, documents, and media. In terms of performance, the key metric is the SATA III 6Gb/s interface, which has a theoretical maximum speed that this drive aims to saturate, with advertised read speeds of up to 550 MB/s.
• Materials & Durability: Unlike an HDD’s fragile mechanical parts, an SSD is a solid-state device. The Lexar NS100 features a lightweight plastic casing, which is standard for budget drives and sufficient for protection. The real durability comes from its internal design, which is inherently shock and vibration resistant. This is a massive advantage for laptops that get moved around frequently, significantly reducing the risk of data loss from a drop or bump.
• Ease of Use & Maintenance: Installation is typically simple: connect the SATA power and data cables, and you’re good to go. The drive includes access to SSD Dash software, a management tool to monitor the drive’s health and performance. Long-term care is minimal, as SSDs manage themselves with features like TRIM to maintain performance over time. The primary consideration is ensuring you don’t fill the drive to its absolute capacity, as this can slow down performance.

Keeping these factors in mind, the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD stands out as a purpose-built solution for a very specific, and very common, problem. You can explore its detailed specifications and current pricing here.

While the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD is an excellent choice for breathing new life into older machines, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition, especially if you need storage that you can take with you. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:

First Impressions: A No-Frills Performance Promise

Unboxing the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD is a straightforward, no-frills affair. It arrives in a simple, compact box containing just the drive itself, securely nestled in a plastic tray. There are no included SATA cables or mounting screws, which is standard practice for bare drives at this price point, so you’ll need to ensure you have them on hand from your computer case or a separate purchase. The drive itself is incredibly lightweight, weighing a mere 34 grams. The casing is black plastic with a simple Lexar logo, feeling functional rather than premium, but perfectly adequate for an internal component that will live its life unseen. Its feather-light construction is a stark contrast to the dense, heavy mechanical drives it’s designed to replace.

Holding it, you’re reminded of the core benefit of SSD technology: the complete absence of moving parts. This isn’t just a piece of hardware; it’s a silent, durable, and efficient upgrade waiting to happen. Compared to market leaders like Samsung’s EVO series or Crucial’s MX series, the build feels less substantial, but at a fraction of the price, this is an expected trade-off. The focus here isn’t on premium materials; it’s on delivering a functional speed boost for the lowest possible cost, and on that front, the initial impression is that it’s perfectly positioned to deliver.

A Deep Dive into the Lexar NS100’s Real-World Performance

A budget SSD lives and dies by one question: does it deliver a tangible, worthwhile speed increase over the old technology it replaces? The spec sheet promises a modern computing experience, but the real test happens when the drive is installed and put through its paces. We tested the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD in its natural habitat: an ageing desktop PC that was struggling under the weight of a slow, mechanical hard drive. Here’s our detailed breakdown of how it performed.

Installation and First Boot: A Fountain of Youth for Old Hardware

The physical installation process was as simple as it gets. We opened up our test PC, unplugged the SATA data and power cables from the old 3.5-inch HDD, and connected them to the Lexar NS100. Since it’s a smaller 2.5-inch drive, we used a simple adapter bracket to secure it in the larger bay, though in a pinch, its light weight means it could even be secured with double-sided tape without issue. For laptop users, the process is even more direct—it’s typically a one-for-one swap. Upon booting into the BIOS, the drive was immediately recognized without any fuss. We proceeded with a fresh installation of Windows 10, a process that was noticeably faster than on the old HDD.

The magic, however, happened on the first boot into the new operating system. The PC, which previously took over a minute and a half to reach a usable desktop, was now ready to go in under 20 seconds. This is the “super powers” effect that one user aptly described. Applications like Chrome and Microsoft Office, which used to launch with a significant delay, now snapped open almost instantly. The entire system felt transformed. This aligns perfectly with the experiences of many users who found it to be a perfect, easy replacement for a failing hard drive, giving their old PCs a new lease on life. For this specific purpose—as a boot drive to resurrect a sluggish computer—the immediate impact is undeniable and profoundly satisfying.

The Real-World Speed Test: Unpacking the “Up To 550MB/s” Claim

This is where the story of the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD becomes more complex. The box advertises a sequential read speed of “up to 550MB/s,” a figure that would put it near the theoretical maximum for the SATA III interface. However, as one user wisely noted, the phrase “up to” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. In our benchmark testing using CrystalDiskMark, the results were a mixed bag. On some runs with large, sequential files, we saw peaks that approached the advertised speeds, hitting around 510-520 MB/s. This is impressive for a drive this cheap and confirms that under ideal conditions, it can perform well.

However, consistency is not its strong suit. When dealing with smaller, random files or sustained write tasks, the performance varied dramatically. At times, the write speeds dropped to levels more akin to a mechanical hard drive, hovering around 120-150 MB/s. This confirms the findings of several users who benchmarked the drive and reported read speeds closer to 280 MB/s, and in some extreme cases, as low as 40 MB/s. It appears the drive lacks a substantial DRAM cache, a common cost-saving measure in budget SSDs. This means that once the small onboard cache is full, performance can fall off a cliff. For its intended use as an OS drive, where the primary tasks are quick reads of small system files, this is less of an issue. But for anyone planning to use this drive for heavy tasks like video editing or transferring large game files, the inconsistent performance would quickly become a major source of frustration.

Capacity vs. Cost: The 128GB Sweet Spot for a Boot Drive

With a formatted capacity of roughly 119GB, the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD is not designed to be your primary data repository. In an era of 100GB+ games and 4K video, this drive would fill up in a heartbeat. But to view it that way is to miss its point entirely. Its true value lies in its role as a dedicated boot drive. By installing your operating system and most-used applications on this SSD, you get all the responsiveness benefits while using a larger, cheaper mechanical hard drive for your massive libraries of photos, movies, and documents.

This compartmentalized approach is a highly effective and economical way to upgrade a system. One user highlighted this perfectly, stating that while they’d opt for a 1TB drive for gaming, this size is “ideal as a dedicated OS drive to keep things separate.” At its incredibly low price point, it makes this hybrid storage strategy accessible to almost anyone. You get 90% of the feel of a high-end system for day-to-day tasks without having to shell out for a large, expensive SSD. This laser-focus on affordability for a specific use case is the drive’s single greatest strength. If you understand and embrace this limitation, the value proposition is hard to beat, making it a compelling choice for a budget-conscious upgrader. You can see if this budget-friendly upgrade is available for your system.

Reliability and Longevity: A Concerning Gamble

While the performance story is one of caveats and compromises, the topic of reliability is where we must raise a serious red flag. While our short-term testing revealed no issues, a concerning number of users have reported catastrophic drive failures in a remarkably short period. We saw multiple accounts of the drive dying completely within weeks or a few months of use. One user detailed a failure after less than three months, while another experienced a complete failure in just 10 days, rendering the drive unrecognizable to any computer. These are not isolated incidents; they point to a potential quality control issue that’s impossible to ignore.

An SSD’s primary advantage over an HDD, besides speed, should be its durability. The lack of moving parts should make it more reliable. However, these user reports suggest that the components used in the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD may not be of the highest quality. While Lexar offers a three-year limited warranty, the hassle and potential data loss from a sudden failure are significant deterrents. For a mission-critical machine, this gamble may not be worth the savings. For a secondary PC or a low-stakes revival project, the risk might be acceptable, but potential buyers must be aware that they are trading rock-bottom prices for a potentially shorter lifespan compared to more established and slightly more expensive models from brands like Crucial or Samsung.

What Other Users Are Saying

Sifting through feedback from other buyers paints a very clear and polarized picture of the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD. The positive sentiment is almost entirely focused on its transformative effect on old computers for a very low price. One user summed it up perfectly: “Great SSD drive and good build quality, went into an old PC fine and gave it super powers.” Another noted, “I changed my old HHD for this lexar SSD, much faster than an HHD.” These comments highlight the drive’s success in its core mission: providing a tangible, immediate speed boost that revitalizes otherwise sluggish hardware.

On the other side of the coin, the criticism is equally specific and centers on two major issues: inconsistent performance and alarming reliability problems. One detailed review pointed out the variable speeds, stating it only “occasionally hitting 550 MB/s, with long periods where it is no faster than a magnetic hard drive.” This sentiment was echoed by another who benchmarked it at just “~280MB/s.” However, the most damning feedback relates to durability. One frustrated user called it “cheap rubbish” after their drive failed completely in under three months. Another reported a “10 day failure,” a record in their 30 years of computing. This feedback is critical because it shows that while the drive can be a fantastic upgrade, it comes with a significant risk of premature failure that every potential buyer must weigh against the low cost.

How Does the Lexar NS100 Compare to the Alternatives?

The Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD operates in the budget-SATA space, but the world of storage is vast. For those with different needs and budgets, it’s important to see how it stacks up against other types of storage solutions, from console expansions to high-end NVMe drives.

1. Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S

This is an entirely different beast for a different ecosystem. The Seagate Expansion Card is a proprietary NVMe SSD designed exclusively for the Xbox Series X|S consoles. Its key advantage is seamless integration, plugging directly into the back of the console to instantly expand storage while matching the exact speed of the internal SSD for a flawless gaming experience. Compared to the Lexar NS100, it offers eight times the capacity and much faster NVMe speeds, but it’s locked to the Xbox platform and comes at a significantly higher price. Someone would choose the Seagate card because they are a console gamer who needs more storage without compromising on load times. The Lexar drive is irrelevant to this user.

2. WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB NVMe SSD

The WD_BLACK SN850X represents the pinnacle of consumer SSD performance. As a PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 drive, its read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s are more than 13 times faster than the Lexar’s SATA-limited maximum. This is a drive for enthusiasts, hardcore gamers, and content creators building a high-end PC who demand the absolute fastest load times and file transfers possible. It offers a massive 2TB of storage, suitable for a large library of modern games and applications. A user would choose the SN850X over the Lexar NS100 when building a new, top-tier PC where budget is secondary to performance. The Lexar drive is a budget revival part; the WD_BLACK is a thoroughbred performance component.

3. SP Silicon Power 1TB UD90 NVMe SSD

The Silicon Power UD90 sits in a compelling middle ground. It’s also a high-speed NVMe Gen4 drive, with read speeds up to 5,000 MB/s, but it’s typically priced more aggressively than top-tier options from brands like WD or Samsung. It offers a fantastic performance-per-dollar ratio for modern PCs. A user would choose the UD90 if they are building or upgrading a modern computer and want to experience the significant benefits of NVMe speeds without paying the premium for the absolute fastest drive on the market. It provides a massive leap in performance and capacity over the Lexar NS100, making it the logical choice for anyone whose motherboard supports NVMe M.2 drives and has a slightly larger budget.

Final Verdict: A Flawed but Potentially Brilliant Upgrade

After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD is one of conditional recommendation. This is not a drive for everyone. If you’re a gamer, a creative professional, or someone who values long-term reliability above all else, you should look elsewhere. The inconsistent performance under load and the worrying reports of early failures are significant drawbacks that cannot be overlooked.

However, if you are the owner of an old, painfully slow laptop or desktop and you’re looking for the absolute cheapest way to make it feel usable again, this drive is a minor miracle. For the price of a couple of pizzas, it can slash boot times from minutes to seconds and make your entire system feel dramatically more responsive. For this specific use case—a low-cost, high-impact boot drive for a non-critical machine—its value is almost impossible to argue with. You just have to go in with your eyes open, understanding its limitations and the potential reliability gamble you’re taking. It’s a flawed hero, but a hero nonetheless for the budget-conscious upgrader.

If you’ve decided the Lexar NS100 128GB Internal SSD is the right fit for your revival project, you can check its current price and purchase it here.