SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Pros: Had thought of having a SSD for a new build, and was waiting for the Haskwell release. Then, my primary drive failed, and requiring immediate replacement.

Like everyone else new to SSDs, am honestly surprised how fast this is. I may even delay my new build for awhile, as this is pretty impressive. (Not really, still will build, but it more of a preference now than a necessity)

Cons: Had to make a trip to the local electronics store to pick up a special very very small Torx wrench, to attach the SSD to my existing platform/heat sink which held my old drive. It bolted right in, but didn't realize initially this would be required.

Other Thoughts: Was mentally prepared for a much more difficult transition and build, but the Samsung SSD and software made it pretty straightforward. I would suggest reading up on ACHI configuration as opposed to IDE.

I am a little concerned about constant writes to a disk for IE 10 or other internet programs. I had an extra WD drive laying around, and am using that for IE, limiting the writes to the SSD drive.

Pros: It works

Cons: The included SSD Magician is giving me some bad results:
Seq reads 519
Seq writes 88

Random Reads 70910
Random Writes 4762

Is this indicating that I have a bad SSD, as I imagine?

Win 7 Ultimate
MSI Big Bang X-Power II MB
Intel i7-3930K
64GB Corsair Dominator 1600

Pros: fast....thats all...FAST!
biggest SSD for the $

Cons: installation

Other Thoughts: i bought this to replace a Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW240A3K5 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)...it died...RIP :(
installing the Samsung SSD it wasnt recognized by Win 7 Computer Managment....i had to use a old HD with Win 7 installed...then run the Samsung Firmware ....then reload Win 7 on the Samsung SSD...then remove the HD and reboot with the Samsung SSD...the reload the OS....then Win 7 recognized the SSD and WHOOSH...away it went!

granted it was alot of extra steps...but when all was said and done the Samsung 500 GB SSD is great....glad i got it!

oh..btw...i got the Samsung cuz Newegg was out of stock of the Intel 480 GB SSD. but in reading the reviews of the Samsung controller vs the Intell Sandforce....the Samsung won out!

Pros: I previously purchased the 256 GB Pro and installed Win 8; this was three months ago and it is working well, zero issues; of course 3 month is a little short to provide a good, relevant data point (wait for my 3-year review!). Samsung Magician and Crystal DiskMark benchmarks match the specifications, using the latest AHCI drivers available for my system. All SMART parameters appear OK (wear-level count at 2 with 0.6 TB written to drive; all other relevant parameters at 0). I imaged the drive and compared the same system with a test 7200 rpm drive, and the difference is night and day (10 sec boot vs 30 sec+ with Win 8 fast start disabled; launch CS6 is 5-7 seconds not 15, getting real-world transfer of 400-500 MB/sec for folders of multiple jpg/mp4, etc). It is also of course significantly faster than my old 300GB Velociraptor in previous build. And I love the quietness! So, to complement my 2TB HDD data drive, I ordered the 512 GB Pro for additional data where speed and reliability is important. MTBF is 1.4 million hours, and annualized failure rate is 0.16%....not 2-6% for mechanical hard drives. Maybe the 1 TB Velociraptor is a contender with a high MTBF as well, but speed and *reliablity* (most important to me) are still higher and more predictable using SMART and amount of data written to the drive.

Cons: Newegg shipped my SSD in a single envelope, which looked like a truck run over it. Read below for the details.
As I said, I value reliability above else. I have multiple backups in different physical locations, using professional software with byte verification, but, reliability of the drive holding valuable data is still a priority. So, starting with shipping, SSDs have a huge advantage over HDDs. Look at the percentage of combined 1-2 egg reviews on most SSDs (3-6% max) vs HDDs shipped OEM (anywhere from 20-30%!); even if those percentages are not always representative, looking at reviews over the past 15 years, damage during shipment appears to be a common recurring failure mechanism.
So, SSDs have an advantage over HDDs for shipping resitance. If they are shipped well. But they are still not indestructible! My first SSD, the 256 GB Pro, shipped in a box from Newegg. For the 512 GB, reading reviews below about shipments in envelopes and at least one DOA drive, I took the precaution of ordering at the same time additional items, to make sure it would ship in a box, well packaged. I ordered through Newegg, which was more expensive than two famous competitor sites, because I trust Newegg more. Well, Newegg decided that it would be completely acceptable to cram all of my items, SSD included, in an envelope. The envelope had obvious signs of abuse (it’s a bubble envelope), but the SSD Samsung box appears fine, only a bent corner (the Samsung package, not the drive). The drive inside had no damage of course. I installed it no issues…for now. I wasn’t sure there was enough damage evidence to allow a return and get another one…perhaps in an envelope again. So I used it. But just think about this: what if the UPS driver put a bunch of huge heavy packages on top of my envelope, sitting directly on the SSD? Unacceptable. SSDs are shock resistant, not crush resistant.

Pros: Beautifully elegant, Fast, worked as advertised.

makes things way more snappy even coming from a raptor.

install into comp was simple, setting up windows was a breeze, once you figure out the correct settings.

Cons: setting it up is not as simple as regular old fashion HDD are. but after some reading on a few online sources I figured out exactly what to do. wish this info came in the manual.

also would have liked it to come with the bracket to make it fit in a 3.5 bay because this thing is tiny.

Pros: I bought in when the price was low. The SSD is extremely lightweight and compact.

Cons: I'm having a similar experience as another commenter. I'm witnessing extremely slow Random read/write IOPS. Compared to what has been advertised, I'm getting about 8k/23k. Games like SecondLife have dropped to 1 FPS (not even worth playing), and websites with any sort of animated gifs seem to cause the whole browser to stutter.

Other Thoughts: Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know this hard drive is capable of more, but I don't know if maybe I just got a defective drive, or maybe the drive isn't compatible with Gigabyte 890 motherboards?

Pros: Added in as easily as the first. Runs fast. No issues with any of these Samsung 840 Pro Series. OZC needs to look at these drives as these do what is advertised, no CS support issues and absolutely no BSOD.

Cons: Prices keep dropping so price not an issue, works like it is supposed to so no cons

Other Thoughts: Getting ready to buy 4 more as these drives are exactly what the manufacturer tells you. Oh I did I mention this is #2 vs the OCZ constant failures with OCZ lousy CS, with no issues, no BSOD just plain works like it supposed to. Oh my bad forgot to mention that Newegg still rocks with getting the items I order to me quick. Big time thanks to all at Newegg!

Pros: I purchased this model primarily because of excellent online reviews, but a recent promotion made it all the sweeter.

This is replacing an Intel 320 120GB SSD as my main drive. The Intel drive is a few generations behind in performance, so I was interested to see how much better things have gotten.

To start off, the performance is very high. Various online reviews will show you the numbers, and they impress! My Intel drive was very nice, but this one blows it away. There are some applications where it becomes quite visible, namely when large files are involved. Batch processing of RAW photos for instance is much quicker now than it was before.

Other things like Windows boot-up aren't that much faster. That's because a lot of time during boot-up is spent on initializing devices, not so much on loading lots of data.

In addition to the excellent speed, the drive comes with decent software. I actually used the drive imaging software to transfer my Windows installation from the Intel drive to this new Samsung drive and I had zero trouble.

You also get a sort of "toolbox" software that automates setting up Windows properly for operation with an SSD, runs a benchmark to confirm that you are running at maximum potential, and also lets you set up a "reserved space" area that's larger than what the drive ships with. The purpose of that area is to give the drive controller more "work area" that it can use as temporary space. This can speed up some usage scenarios rather dramatically.

The software doesn't sound like a "big deal", but it certainly makes working with the drive much, much nicer and easier.

The warranty is also excellent, something to consider.

Cons: This isn't a cheap device; it should come with a mounting frame to enable users of desktop cases to mount the drive into a 3.5 inch bay.

Other Thoughts: When I bought a 120GB drive years ago, it was a huge deal and it was expensive. Now a high quality 512GB drive has hit almost-affordable levels. Exciting stuff!

Pros: none

Cons: died in about 2hr work find at first installed a clean windows 8 booted up fine every thing seem to work ok went to shut down try windows 8 shut down but it would not shut down did a power button shut down. try to restart windows icon came up and try to start but went to a blue screen.try repair but it kept doing same thing. would not let me boot to my windows seven drive until I unpluged it on its way back to newegg. Have been by from newegg for years this is only my second rma. Newegg has been very good for me and in no wayis it their fault.

Pros: Very fast
Quiet
Cool
Reliable

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Had this drive for over 2 months now without any problems or complaints. Getting over 500+ read/write with achi enabled. Great drive; would buy another if not for the price!