SAMSUNG 830 Series 2.5-Inch 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PC256B/WW

by Samsung

• Type of Drive :SSD
• Form Factor:2.5-inch
• Interface SATA3 (SATA 6Gbits/s)
• Random Read Speeds: 80,000 IOPS
• Memory Type Toggle DDR 2xnm class NAND Flash
• Sequential Read/Write Speeds: 520 MB/s / 160 MB/s

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.9 x 0.3 x 2.8 inches ; 2.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0077CR66A
• Item model number: MZ-7PC256B/WW
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (540 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #75 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Data Storage > Internal Solid State Drives
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 9, 2012

Product Description

Capacity: 256 GB

From the Manufacturer

Experience fast PC performance--and prolonged battery life--with the Samsung 830 Series Solid-State Drive. This data storage device has a capacity of 256 GB, making it ideal for everyday computing needs like browsing the web, creating documents, viewing multimedia files, or playing PC games. The product features a black-tone, brushed metal design, and at only 0.28 inches thick, it can fit in any computer, even ultra-thin laptops.

Samsung 830 Series SSD (256 GB)

• Enables you to boot up your computer in as little as 15 seconds
• Energy efficient--improves battery life by up to 30 minutes
• Solid-state design provides greater shock protection for data
• Brushed metal case blocks dust and corrosion
• Superior multi-tasking performance with 3-Core Samsung MCX Controller
• Samsung SSD Magician 3.0 software simplifies SSD management
• 100-percent Samsung genuine components
• Backed by a three-year limited warranty

Fast Performance for Everyday Computing

The Samsung 830 Series Solid-State Drive boasts superior random read speeds (up to 80,000 IOPS) and fast sequential read and write speeds (up to 520 MB/s and 400 MB/s, respectively). As a result, it's well suited for a wide range of computing needs, like web browsing, document creation, viewing or editing multimedia files, and playing PC games.

The device enables you to boot up your computer in as little as 15 seconds, and its energy-efficient design can improve your battery life by up to 30 minutes.

This SSD is a drive only. Samsung also offers full installation kits, the 830 Series SSD for Desktop Computers, and the 830 Series SSD for Notebook Computers.

Thin Profile Design

The 830 Series drive is notable for its slim profile and precision design. At only 0.28 inches thick, the device can accommodate ultra-slim PC cases and ultra-slim laptops.

Easy Drive Management with SSD Magician Software

Samsung's SSD Magician software eliminates the confusion and uncertainties of SSD management, making it simple for you to maximize the performance and lifetime of your Samsung SSD. The software helps maintain the SSD at its peak condition, giving you the same optimal performance and reliability throughout the life of your PC.

In addition to its performance maintenance features, SSD Magician also provides system information and facilitates performance benchmarking, performance optimization, operating system optimization, firmware updates, securely erasing data, and over-provisioning.

Compatibility and Warranty Information

This Samsung drive is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux systems. The device measures 0.28 by 2.75 by 3.94 inches (H x W x D) and weighs 2.15 ounces.

The Samsung 830 Series Solid-State Drive is backed by a three-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box

Samsung 830 Series Solid-State Drive, Samsung SSD Magician software and manual CD, and documentation.

Capacity 64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB Model MZ-7PC064B/WW MZ-7PC128B/WW MZ-7PC256B/WW MZ-7PC512B/WW Type of Drive Solid State Form Factor 2.5-inch standard (Reduced 7mm thickness for use with ultraportables and netbooks) For Use With Laptops, ultraportables, netbooks, desktops Interface SATA revision 3.0 (SATA 6Gbits/s) Random Read Speeds 80,000 IOPS Sequential Read/Write Speeds 520 MB/s / 160 MB/s 520 MB/s / 320 MB/s 520 MB/s / 400 MB/s Controller 3-Core MCX Multi-Core Controller Type of Memory Toggle DDR 2xnm NAND Flash Memory Included Software Samsung Magician 3.0 Dimensions 0.28 by 2.75 by 3.94 inches (H x W x D) Warranty Three-Year Limited *The Samsung 830 Series SSD Drives also comes in full-installation kit form. These kits include mounting hardware and a copy of Norton Ghost for a seamless upgrade with your current system. If you prefer the full-installation kit, please follow the links below. Capacity 64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB Full-installation kit - Notebook model   MZ-7PC128N/AM MZ-7PC256N/AM MZ-7PC512N/AM Full-installation kit - Desktop model MZ-7PC064D/AM MZ-7PC128D/AM MZ-7PC256D/AM MZ-7PC512D/AM

ENDPRODUCT NAME: Samsung 830 Series SSD (512 GB)

Product Description

SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Works fine on my mid-2009 13" Unibody Macbook Pro July 21, 2012

By R. Larsen

Size Name:256 GB|Amazon Verified Purchase

I installed this as my main system drive on my Macbook Pro. It works fine out-of-the-box and everything loads much faster. A complete restart takes under a minute easily, and that's with all kinds of peripherals attached (hard drives, monitors, printers, etc). I can launch Safari in seconds and everything is just much snappier. I moved all of my larger media files (music, photos, videos) to a 2nd hard disc that now lives in the superdrive bay.

There is one big caveat: if you install this on a decent older computer, you'll have a really hard time justifying a new computer. I was in the market for one of those fancy new Macbook Pros w/ Retina display, but after installing this I'm good to go for a couple more years at least. Granted, I'm no power-user by any stretch of the imagination.

I will update this review after the SSD gets some hours on it. If you see no updates, you can assume everything is peachy.

UPDATE 12/10/12

Still going strong. No hiccups whatsoever. Battery life seems better as well. Overall, I'm happy. Will definitely buy another in the future. I'm sold on SSDs.

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More than I can say April 19, 2012

By Minh Le

Size Name:512 GB

It took me some days to think about buying a SSD. I read a lot of review, comments and decided to go with Samsung 830 series.
The first impression is it is light and slim. It's slimmer than normal 2.5 inch HDD. The process to upgrade is pretty straight forward. Here are the steps that I did:

1. Connect the SSD to MBP via usb cable then create an ext2 partition.
2. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the entire Mac partition to the SSD.
3. I also have a bootcamp partition that running windows 7, so I use WinClone to create an image for bootcamp partition.
4. Turn off and replace the hard disk. Turn on and It only takes about 15s to boot up.
5. Everything work fine except the TRIM is not supported (TRIM is only supported for Apple SSD), so search google for how to enable the TRIM feature for Mac OS X. It brings you about 10% to 15% performance.
6. Create a windows partition (FAT) and use WinClone again to copy the bootcamp partition from the image to disk.
7. Enjoy the speed.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic in my Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 17" (MacBookPro6,1) July 2, 2012

By Thomas

Size Name:256 GB

Before this drive, I was experiencing 90-120 second startup times and 30-45 second shutdown times (I have a few servers running). Parallels would resume Windows 7 in about 90 seconds.

Now, startups (from clicking the button to login screen) are 25 seconds (13 of which the screen hasn't even turned on yet--the SSD can't speed that up). Tack on 2-4 seconds for logging in and starting my servers, etc. Shutdowns occur in around 10 seconds now, mostly because Crashplan slows things down a bit. Parallels resumes Windows 7 in 7 seconds flat and shuts down in 2-3. Not too shabby.

Here are the steps I followed to install this beast:

Plug SSD into PC to check for latest firmware. Update if necessary. (Mine came with the latest)
Unmount drive then disconnect cables
Put SSD in external eSATA/USB enclosure and plug into Mac
Format with Disk utility as a single "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" partition
Get Carbon Copy Cloner (Free) and open it
In Preferences, ensure first check box (Auto create archive of Lion's Recovery HD volume) is checked
Select Source: Old Macintosh HD
Select all files on the drive
Select Destination: New Macintosh SSD
Click Clone
It should walk you through extracting Lion's Recovery Partition. Just follow the steps
If, for some reason, the clone stops mid-way through, just start it back up again and it should continue where it left off.
Once complete, swap the drives and reboot. You'll need a really small philips head screwdriver and torx driver.

Note: Upon starting up with the new drive, Little Snitch and a couple other random programs on my computer seemed to have lost some of its preferences.

Good luck, and hope this helps someone!

48 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this little speedster! May 4, 2012

By Avery D. Lyde

Size Name:128 GB|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have got to say. This little ssd is a breast. There are others that may be faster, but for the money and value in my opinion it does not get any better. It is especially easy to install the firmware and Trim support for Windows 7. This keep your ssd running in tip top shape, and for those of who like speed consider this an option. I have had other ssd's such as OCZ, Kingston, and Corsair where you normally have to go into the bios to perform firmware upgrades. This process is tedious and quite annoying. In other cases, tuning your computer for trim is also a hassle. Samsung has streamlined this process and made it simple.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardware = AMAZING / SSD Magician software = Good August 2, 2012

By GeezingInVA

Size Name:256 GB

This SSD is absolutely amazing! I thought my WD VelociRaptor was an improvement over ordinary HDDs, but this Samsung SSD is light years faster. I'm not a big gamer, but my TrainSim 2013 on Steam used to take upwards of five minutes to load and run, now it takes a bit more than 30 seconds! Happiness!

UPDATED 11-16-2012: The lastest version 3.2 of the SSD Magician software works with Windows 7 64-bit (which the prior version didn't).

By all means purchase the current series of this SSD. It's AMAZING!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fast April 12, 2012

By Josh

Size Name:128 GB|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was building a new high end computer and decided to get an SSD as my boot drive. This was one of the cheapest 128GB I could find. I really like Samsung products, read good reviews about it, and decided to buy it. In a desktop though, you need to get an adapter. I decided to go with the SILVERSTONE SDP08 3.5 to 2 X 2.5-Inch Bay Converter. Everything fits like a glove, and my Windows 7 Experience Index rates this drive a perfect 7.9. You should install the Samsung SSD Magic and run the optimization though. Without running that, my index was around 5.9. it only takes a few minutes. Very happy with this product.