Question 1

i have recently purchased a MSI CX61 2PC-499US Gaming Laptop Intel Core i5 4200M (2.50GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 2GB 15.6"

My question is can i use this SSD as an up grade and replace the 5400 HDD?

Accepted Answer

It'll physically fit and be seen by the laptop.  However, this SSD isn't really meant for laptop use - it consumes a high amount of power for an SSD (5.5W active/1.3W idle) and has no power-saving features, so it'll impact battery life (an average 7200RPM laptop drive will consume around 3W active/0.8W idle).

Question 2

Does this unit come with cloning software of some sort?

Accepted Answer

I believe migration software is available via download from Intel, however, an old version of Acronis (11) worked by cloning a previously installed single disk Windows OS to a two disk Intel chip set configuration setup as Raid 0, booting from the Acronis media.
     Hope this helps.

Question 3

I'm assuming I can use this drive in my Dell Laptop to replace  one of the two sATA 7200 rpm 500Gb drives I have installed, and continue to use the second drive? No issue of spinning HD and SSD together?

Accepted Answer

It should technically not matter. There isn't a compatibility issue if the drives are used separately (e.g. ssd is drive E, and hdd is drive F). If you're planning to use one as a backup of the other in a raid configuration then the only effect would be that you're limited to the speed of the slower drive and the smaller drive space, but otherwise it is still configurable.

Question 4

BACKWARD COMPATABILITY WITH C DRIVE?

Accepted Answer

The short answer is Yes.

Your question isn't heavily technical so I will have to make some assumptions while addressing it.

To address the backwards compatibility portion. You will need to know the type of connector you have in your current system. This drive has a SATA connection. SATA connections differ in speed, but are backwards compatible. Older systems use IDE connections which are noticeably different. IDE connections have a bunch of pins on the drive.

To address the C Drive portion. If you are wondering if the drive can be used as your primary drive or operating system drive. Yes, this is a great drive for that. The speed of the drive will reduce the amount of time it takes for the operating system to load. However it is limited by existing hardware. As mentioned the SATA speeds differ and if your original hardware is of a slower speed it will only run at that speed.

If you are performing this replacement your self I would highly recommend searching (googling) the specifics of your system.

Search and get familiar with visual the differences of SATA and IDE.

If this is for a laptop they generally have the model number on the bottom. Go to the manufacturers site and find their support number. Contact the manufacturer and ask if they can confirm the type of connection your system uses.

If this is for a desktop or something else the same applies with regards to contacting the manufacturer. However it sometimes easier to get into bigger machines in your own.

If you don't have much info on the computer, and have visibility to the motherboard. You can search the make/model of the motherboard. There's usually some type of stamp or sticker on the board giving such details. You may have to search a few things before you get it right.

Good luck, and remember to backup your system before making any changes!

Question 5

Does it work as the primary (C:) drive for Windows 10?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it can.

Question 6

How can I get this to work with the MSI X99S Power motherboard?  Do I need to get an adapter?

Accepted Answer

This drive has a standard SATA connector so it should work with any motherboard with SATA ports. This drive is small. Not only is it 2.5", it is also very thin and will require an adapter to fit in a 3.5" drive bay. I used the Icy Dock EZ-Fit Lite for my PC. It's cheap and plastic, but it does the job.

Question 7

I have a I-7 core computer that's 5 years old with a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard with 12 gig's of ram. I was wondering if this would be a good replacement of my seagate hard drive and is there any special install instructions of setting it up with windows 7? My computer is slowing down with all the new updates and hope this would bring new life to it.
Thank You 
Robert Anthony

Accepted Answer

I replaced a magnetic drive with this product on a machine close to what you've described.  As I recall, I used a third party disk imaging application to replicate an image of the disk I was replacing.  I've been quite pleased with the performance increase that this upgrade produced.  It significantly reduced boot times.

Question 8

Does this product come with software to clone the old drive to this SSD?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it comes with a CD that contains Intel's data migration software.  One caveat is that your current machine (with the old HD) must be working.  The migration software gets installed and you run the software to copy the data from the old hd to the new ssd.  You can also downloaded directly from the Intel's website without using the CD.  The software only works with Intel SSDs.

Question 9

My Intel Rapid Storage Technology is showing that I have 2 SATA connections.  Does that mean I have a place for 2 hard disk drives in my laptop?

Accepted Answer

Maybe, maybe not.

The best way to find out is look up the model of the laptop and see if it has the availability or just look at the bottom of the laptop. Most laptops will show a symbol of what looks like disks stacked on top of each other.

Side note: The question that you had asked is irrelevant to the SSD that is here. HOWEVER if you plan on buying this SSD. Go for it. I highly recommend this!

Question 10

Hi
I want to replace my laptop  Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW240A3K5 2.5" 240GB SATA III with  this Intel 730 Series SSDSC2BP480G4R5 2.5" 480GB SATA 6Gb/s MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD). Are they compatible ? the intel 730 is also SATA III ? thank you.

Accepted Answer

I am not technically competent to answer your question, but I can say that my SSD (bought at a much higher price some time ago) like this one is totally satisfactory: trouble free and eye-blink fast.

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