I bought the Samsung 840EVO mSATA solid state drive because it was cold outside, I was stuck inside and I needed something to do.
I ordered the unit from Amazon and had it delivered to my PO box. When the drive arrived a couple days later, I noticed that the shipping box was really large and heavy for the item I ordered. On opening the box, I found that Amazon had shipped a carton containing 10 drives instead of a single.
No problem, these things happen from time to time. I contacted Amazon and arranged to return the nine extras. Naturally Amazon paid return shipping.
Having never owned a computer capable of running an mSATA drive, it took me a few minutes to determine how and where to install the thing. I also noted that there were no screws included to hold it down.
Having worked on a lot of old cars, I found that there are often "extra" fasteners to be found that could be used when installing smaller accessories - maybe a fender bolt or something - that removing from its original location would not compromise the integrity of the vehicle until I could get to the parts store to get the correct fastener.
Using my experience with old cars, I began to look around the chassis of my laptop for available fasteners that could be used to secure the mSATA. I found a number of screws that were holding a fascia to the computer chassis - Acer V3. The fascia was not going to be under any strain so severe that it needed the two out of many screws available so I took two - not adjacent to each other - screws to hold the mSATA drive down.
With the drive installed, I wanted to transfer my system to the solid state drive to see how it works.
I was not aware that Samsung provided migration software. Since the drive I was transferring from was Western Digital, I went to the Western Digital site to download their transfer application.
I did not make note of why the transfer with Western Digital software did not work but it did not - may have been because hard drive sizes were different and the Arconis software version that I downloaded from Western Digital could not adapt.
I searched the net for other transfer software and found a company in the United Kingdom (UK) who said their software would accurately clone all of the partitions from my hard disk drive (HDD) to the new solid state drive (SSD) with size of the respective drives notwithstanding.
Since I had two backups of my data, I decided to try the UK program. It was free for private use.
I downloaded the software, ran a virus scan on it just in case and then ran the updater to get the latest version if there was one.
The UK transfer/cloning software provided a graphic interface that allows the user to simply drag a partition from the source drive to the new drive. If drive sizes are different, the software adjusts partition sizes so that they fit the new drive.
I was moving four nearly empty (new computer) factory partitions from a 1 TB drive to the 250 GB mSATA drive.
The free software adjusted sizes accordingly so that all partitions were transferred - at least on paper.
I clicked on the transfer button and expected the computer to reboot to release the hard drive in order to access running system files but the UK software ran live with no reboot. After a few minutes, the process was finished.
To test the installation, I removed the original HDD and started the machine with only the Samsung mSATA installed.
I had removed the battery and unplugged the power supply when removing the HDD so as to avoid possible damage due to stray voltages. To test the mSATA, I did not reinstall the battery and only plugged in the power supply.
From a cold dead start to password logon screen, boot took 10 seconds with the mSATA only.
My computer came with "Fast Start" enabled so after the original boot, the mSATA now starts from cold to password sign on in 7 seconds consistently.
Later, I installed the HDD and found that booting to the mSATA took 10 seconds. I'm guessing the increased time was because the system was looking at the HDD for an OS while booting.
Still with time on my hands, I decided to try to encryption feature on the mSATA that is available through Magician software from Samsung. To do this, I had to install a DOS program from Samsung Magician on a flash drive and set up the bios to boot from the flash drive first. The Samsung DOS software needed full access to the mSATA in order to perform the secure erase.
I booted from the flash drive and tried the secure erase from the DOS screen but no good. The error message said the mSATA drive was frozen. The error message said that I needed to unplug the connectors from the SSD and allow the drive to sit for a few minutes to unfreeze.
The mSATA does not have any connectors so, keeping the flash drive installed and the DOS program from Samsung running, I flipped the laptop over and physically removed the mSATA. and set it on the desk.
I went to the kitchen for a sandwich and a beer, watched a few minutes of Fox News, reinstalled the mSATA and tried the secure erase again. It worked.
I had to do a clean windows install in order to get the encryption working but my computer did not have original installation discs for the OS or for anything else for that matter.
Fortunately, Microsoft will allow users to download the complete windows installation disc in the form of an iso that you can burn to a DVD. I think it is too big for a CD.
I made the DVD, downloaded a program to find the windows key for my installation (there is no label on my computer with the product key displayed) and did a clean install of windows 8.1 with none of the fluff programs that come from the factory.
In doing the clean windows install, I did not need to enter the windows product key. Apparently it was stored somewhere in the machines bios.
After doing the secure erase and clean windows install, the encryption did not work because it relies on bitlocker that is part of Windows 8 professional. The information on bitlocker may have been somewhere in the instructions from Samsung but I don need no stinkin' instructions.
I had always thought that "I don need no stinkin..." came from Cheech and Chong or someone similar but in watching a Humphrey Bogart movie called "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" a couple of days ago, there was a Mexican Bandit who used that term just before... I will not say just before what in case someone who has not seen the movie wants to watch.
I do not have the professional version of windows and do not care enough about encrypting my stuff to pay extra.
It has been about a month since I installed the mSATA with the clean version of windows and no problems.
Overall, I am happy with the Samsung 840EVO mSata but will update this review if something happens
| Hard Drive | 1 TB Solid State Drive |
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