Question 1

is this for a desktop?

Accepted Answer

Assuming your desktop has a sata interface on the motherboard, It will interface electrically with the sata connector on the motherboard through a sata cable so no problem electrically,

BUT 
you will need a "tray" to physically put and connect the drive in one of the desktop I/O slots.   Samsung packages the tray in the over the counter retail product.   BUT if you buy the OEM oackage all you get is the drive no "tray", no sata cable.   So be careful of what Samsung package you buy (OEM or retail).

Question 2

Why is the word "vertical" in the title of this SSD? Mut it be installed vertically in your computer? I want to install it horizontally. Is that possible?

Accepted Answer

The drive can be installed in either orientation.  The term vertical refers to how the drive is physically built.  There is a great article on IT Pro Portal that explains this, here is an excerpt.

In essence, like the name suggests, 3D V-NAND means an SSD made up of flash cells stacked vertically and 3 dimensionally. This is significant because before now, most SSDs have been built on 2D Planar NAND technology.

Now 2D architecture can be limited if you want to offer higher capacity – basically make your memory bigger. Think of it like building a housing estate. In 2D NAND, if you wanted to increase the number of houses on your SSD housing estate, you’d need to expand over acres and acres of land across the landscape building houses all on one level. In 3D you can build lots of housing going upwards in skyscraper apartment blocks. Suddenly you have much higher capacity that’s much more efficient.

If you would like to read more-- you can find it on the site.

Question 3

Will this drive fit in the regular slot of a desktop?

Accepted Answer

Not without a mounting kit. Standard HDD slots are 3.5 and this is a 2.5" drive. Its a FANTASTIC HDD but it DOES NOT Come with the kit. Consider purchasing this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16 81 79 84 024 (remove spaces to make link work) This is what I used to mount it.

Question 4

Does this include the Samsung software to convert from an existing drive?

Accepted Answer

I believe mine only came with Samsung magician but, I went to the Samsung website and downloaded Samsung migration software and it worked great first time. Remember if you are coping from a mechanical to a SSD you will need to edit your registry to have windows run your drive in ACHI mode for best performance. Search for something like this ( GUIDE - Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 7 Installation ) you will find a guide it's easy. Newegg won't let me provide links :-(

Good luck!

Question 5

Does this come with any type of drive bay converter?

Accepted Answer

I purchased in January 2015 and mine did not. You will likely want to pickup a 2.5in to 3.5in SSD drive bracket.

Question 6

is it suitable for laptop use?  the specification says power usage 3.5W active.  is it correct?  if so, it is more than 10x of other SSD products in similar capacity. It will also lead to temperature issue.

Accepted Answer

Yes it is suited for laptops. 2.5" is the standard size for most all laptop hard drives. It is much lower power and less heat than a rotating media hard drive that typically comes with a laptop so you will not have any issues with heat. In fact your battery life will be greatly improved.

Question 7

I presume that "vertical" means the way the drive is constructed and doesn't imply that it can only be mounted vertically.  Shouldn't make any difference.  Correct?

Accepted Answer

You are absolutely correct Lee. All vertical means to the consumer is that the drive will store more memory per chip. You can mount it any way it will fit. Just don't bounce it around.

Question 8

Is this sold with a mounting kit?  Is it sold with a Sata III cable?

Accepted Answer

No, and no.  Just the bare drive.

If you are mounting in a laptop and replacing a traditional 2.5" laptop drive that is 9.5mm thick, you may need a "spacer" to go from 7mm to 9.5mm to fill the gap for proper mounting.  Most times we can get a 7mm drive in a 9.5mm slot successfully without a spacer.  There have been a few instances where when we had to have a spacer we just use cut to fit cardboard.  Actual plastic SSD spacers are inordinately hard to find.

If you are mounting in a desktop that has 3.5" full size hard drives, you probably want to buy a 2.5" to 3.5" mounting kit so it fits properly.

Samsung did used to sell "kits" with the 840 Pro series that included a spacer and a data transfer kit, but I cannot locate that option with the 850 Evo series.

Anyway, great drive.  Very happy with the dozen or so I have installed so far.  Good luck.

Question 9

i just purchased two of these.  Just want to make sure because I have a desktop.  Are these designed for a desktop?

Accepted Answer

Sure! I have one in the desktop I am using now. Great drive and extra capacity for my system drive. They are very thin and can be used in laptops, too.

In the desktop case, you may need a tray or two to mount them if you don't have a newer case. There are lots of ways to mount them, too.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Question 10

Does this product come with the usb to 2.5" adapter cord to allow transfer of old hard drive data to new?  I'm specifically doing this on a macbook pro.  Thanks for your time.

Accepted Answer

No it does not, plus you can't connect a bare internal drive directly to a USB port without an enclosure or a dock of some sort, you can find fairly cheap enclosures with USB and/or firewire, a little more $ for thunderbolt,
or you might want to look at external SSD drives that come ready to connect to your USB port.
Best,
JB

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