Designed for everyday computing, the Samsung 860 EVO is powered by the V-NAND technology and a robust algorithm-based Samsung controller to handle the workloads of mainstream PCs and laptops. Get fast, enduring performance with exceptional reliability and expanded compatibility. Samsung V-NAND technology Samsung's V-NAND flash memory helps to overcome the limitations of conventional planar NAND architecture. It stacks 64 cell layers vertically over one another rather than trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal space, in order to provide high density and performance with a small footprint. Fast read/write performance The 860 PRO performs at sequential write speeds up to 520 MB/s and sequential read speeds up to 550 MB/s with a robust a robust algorithm-based Samsung MJX controller (up to 1 GHz). Relentless endurance The 860 PRO SSDs can consistently meet the needs of high-end use and heavy workloads with ease, such as safely storing and rendering 4K videos and 3D data. Expanded compatibility Experience fast, fluid communication with your host system. The robust algorithm-based MJX controller generates high speeds, and the improved queued TRIM helps to enhance Linux compatibility. Robust SSD management software Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your SSD with a simple and intuitive user interface. Get notifications when new firmware is released, and easily install updates for enhanced performance, stability and compatibility. And you can check your drive's sequential and random read/write speeds to benchmark performance. SSD data security The drive includes an AES-256-bit hardware-based, full disk encryption engine that secures your data without sacrificing performance and is compliant with TCG/Opal and IEEE1667.
Designed for everyday computing, the Samsung 860 EVO is powered by the V-NAND technology and a robust algorithm-based Samsung controller to handle the workloads of mainstream PCs and laptops. Get fast, enduring performance with exceptional reliability and expanded compatibility. Samsung V-NAND technology Samsung's V-NAND flash memory helps to overcome the limitations of conventional planar NAND architecture. It stacks 64 cell layers vertically over one another rather than trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal space, in order to provide high density and performance with a small footprint. Fast read/write performance The 860 PRO performs at sequential write speeds up to 520 MB/s and sequential read speeds up to 550 MB/s with a robust a robust algorithm-based Samsung MJX controller (up to 1 GHz). Relentless endurance The 860 PRO SSDs can consistently meet the needs of high-end use and heavy workloads with ease, such as safely storing and rendering 4K videos and 3D data. Expanded compatibility Experience fast, fluid communication with your host system. The robust algorithm-based MJX controller generates high speeds, and the improved queued TRIM helps to enhance Linux compatibility. Robust SSD management software Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your SSD with a simple and intuitive user interface. Get notifications when new firmware is released, and easily install updates for enhanced performance, stability and compatibility. And you can check your drive's sequential and random read/write speeds to benchmark performance. SSD data security The drive includes an AES-256-bit hardware-based, full disk encryption engine that secures your data without sacrificing performance and is compliant with TCG/Opal and IEEE1667.
Designed for everyday computing, the Samsung 860 EVO is powered by the V-NAND technology and a robust algorithm-based Samsung controller to handle the workloads of mainstream PCs and laptops. Get fast, enduring performance with exceptional reliability and expanded compatibility. Samsung V-NAND technology Samsung's V-NAND flash memory helps to overcome the limitations of conventional planar NAND architecture. It stacks 64 cell layers vertically over one another rather than trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal space, in order to provide high density and performance with a small footprint. Fast read/write performance The 860 PRO performs at sequential write speeds up to 520 MB/s and sequential read speeds up to 550 MB/s with a robust a robust algorithm-based Samsung MJX controller (up to 1 GHz). Relentless endurance The 860 PRO SSDs can consistently meet the needs of high-end use and heavy workloads with ease, such as safely storing and rendering 4K videos and 3D data. Expanded compatibility Experience fast, fluid communication with your host system. The robust algorithm-based MJX controller generates high speeds, and the improved queued TRIM helps to enhance Linux compatibility. Robust SSD management software Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your SSD with a simple and intuitive user interface. Get notifications when new firmware is released, and easily install updates for enhanced performance, stability and compatibility. And you can check your drive's sequential and random read/write speeds to benchmark performance. SSD data security The drive includes an AES-256-bit hardware-based, full disk encryption engine that secures your data without sacrificing performance and is compliant with TCG/Opal and IEEE1667.
Designed for everyday computing, the Samsung 860 EVO is powered by the V-NAND technology and a robust algorithm-based Samsung controller to handle the workloads of mainstream PCs and laptops. Get fast, enduring performance with exceptional reliability and expanded compatibility. Samsung V-NAND technology Samsung's V-NAND flash memory helps to overcome the limitations of conventional planar NAND architecture. It stacks 64 cell layers vertically over one another rather than trying to fit itself onto a fixed horizontal space, in order to provide high density and performance with a small footprint. Fast read/write performance The 860 PRO performs at sequential write speeds up to 520 MB/s and sequential read speeds up to 550 MB/s with a robust a robust algorithm-based Samsung MJX controller (up to 1 GHz). Relentless endurance The 860 PRO SSDs can consistently meet the needs of high-end use and heavy workloads with ease, such as safely storing and rendering 4K videos and 3D data. Expanded compatibility Experience fast, fluid communication with your host system. The robust algorithm-based MJX controller generates high speeds, and the improved queued TRIM helps to enhance Linux compatibility. Robust SSD management software Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your SSD with a simple and intuitive user interface. Get notifications when new firmware is released, and easily install updates for enhanced performance, stability and compatibility. And you can check your drive's sequential and random read/write speeds to benchmark performance. SSD data security The drive includes an AES-256-bit hardware-based, full disk encryption engine that secures your data without sacrificing performance and is compliant with TCG/Opal and IEEE1667.
Last updated at 03/21/2026 08:40:58
Samsung SSD 860 EVO SATA III 2.5inch (500GB, Read 520mb/s Write 520mb/s) (MZ-76E500BW)
Delivery $48
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I've purchased this item 3 or 4 times now, and every previous time, the SSD was in mint condition.Not this time.I ordered it for store pickup. When it came in, I stopped at the counter to have them grab it for me from the back, and when he brought it to me, I commented on how beat up the box looked. It seriously looked like someone stepped on it, and then threw it against the wall a few times. I didn't bother to open the box in the store, since I figured it was just "refurbished" because of how beat up the box was.But then I got home and opened it up, and man, it looks like someone took a hammer to the drive. I thought about returning it and just getting something else, but I figured I'd at least plug it in to see if it works. If the guts inside are intact, ... MoreI've purchased this item 3 or 4 times now, and every previous time, the SSD was in mint condition.Not this time.I ordered it for store pickup. When it came in, I stopped at the counter to have them grab it for me from the back, and when he brought it to me, I commented on how beat up the box looked. It seriously looked like someone stepped on it, and then threw it against the wall a few times. I didn't bother to open the box in the store, since I figured it was just "refurbished" because of how beat up the box was.But then I got home and opened it up, and man, it looks like someone took a hammer to the drive. I thought about returning it and just getting something else, but I figured I'd at least plug it in to see if it works. If the guts inside are intact, then I don't really care if the case itself is in rough shape.I was actually pretty surprised to see that the drive did actually work, and I was able to use it to clone an Xbox One drive onto it, and it works perfectly.I would give it 1* if this didn't work, or 5* if it didn't look like someone smashed the crap out of it, but I feel like 2* is a good compromise.When people buy refurbished, they typically assume that it will be in good condition, not damaged condition.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
Over the last few months I have purchased three of these 500gb refurbished SSD's from Best Buy to upgrade several computers. All drives were well packed and arrived on schedule, and all are working perfectly. Since the Samsungs are among the highest rated SSD's, the refurbished approach gives you a more economical way to upgrade to SSD, which provides a noticeable improvement of performance for older computers. Most recently, I have upgraded my old dual core HP DC5700 desktop which still has a meaningful role in the array of computers. I also upgraded a 10 year old Samsung NC10 netbook which is now a full time, 15 hour per day, living room slideshow computer. Transitions between slides are smoother now with a refurbished 860 EVO 500gb drive installed.Cloning the ... MoreOver the last few months I have purchased three of these 500gb refurbished SSD's from Best Buy to upgrade several computers. All drives were well packed and arrived on schedule, and all are working perfectly. Since the Samsungs are among the highest rated SSD's, the refurbished approach gives you a more economical way to upgrade to SSD, which provides a noticeable improvement of performance for older computers. Most recently, I have upgraded my old dual core HP DC5700 desktop which still has a meaningful role in the array of computers. I also upgraded a 10 year old Samsung NC10 netbook which is now a full time, 15 hour per day, living room slideshow computer. Transitions between slides are smoother now with a refurbished 860 EVO 500gb drive installed.Cloning the drives with the Samsung migration software did not work for me when cloning an 860 EVO SSD for a laptop, as it did not result in a bootable drive. I therefore have used the free version of MiniTool Partition Wizard for cloning, installed in each of the computers to be upgraded, with the SSD connected via USB. This cloning utility also preserved the EasyBCD settings, as the DC5700 is a dual boot computer.Just make sure that you uncheck any bloatware before installing MiniTool Partition Wizard. After cloning, you can create an extra partition before installing the SSD. Also remember to turn off automatic defragmentation, as SSD's do not require this, and is reportedly counterproductive.While you can certainly purchase a new Samsung EVO 860, there seem to be no problems with purchasing one of these refurbished SSD's. I can therefore highly recommend these refurbished Samsung EVO 860 SSD's from Best Buy.
originally posted on bestbuy.com
I use this in an ASUS gaming laptop (10th-gen i5 with NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti and 24GB RAM). This is a mid-range gaming/productivity setup so my approach is probably overkill, but I keep my Windows and Linux operating systems on the m2 NVME and I keep my Steam library and media (mostly 80GB of music, with some photos and videos) on this 860 Evo SSD. This keeps my OS disks clean, lightweight, and bloat-free.For gaming/media/heavy productivity users, the Samsung 860 Evo is plenty fast and the SATA interface isn't a major hinderance. For photo/video editing, I will move the file to the m2 drive with faster read/write speeds, finish my editing there, then move the finished file back to the Samsung. For most everything else, this drive is plenty fast enough to leave ... MoreI use this in an ASUS gaming laptop (10th-gen i5 with NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti and 24GB RAM). This is a mid-range gaming/productivity setup so my approach is probably overkill, but I keep my Windows and Linux operating systems on the m2 NVME and I keep my Steam library and media (mostly 80GB of music, with some photos and videos) on this 860 Evo SSD. This keeps my OS disks clean, lightweight, and bloat-free.For gaming/media/heavy productivity users, the Samsung 860 Evo is plenty fast and the SATA interface isn't a major hinderance. For photo/video editing, I will move the file to the m2 drive with faster read/write speeds, finish my editing there, then move the finished file back to the Samsung. For most everything else, this drive is plenty fast enough to leave everything here. Like I said, my system is mid-range so this is approach is probably overkill, but it works for me. (For users without tons of memory and discrete graphics - including users who don't know what I just said, this drive is perfectly fine and is likely still a pretty big speed and size upgrade from your OEM SSD. And if you're still using a spinning hard drive, this is probably all you need.)The Samsung Magician software is nice. It is far more feature-rich than WD's Dashboard software and has a few more metrics, benchmarks, and optimization features.For what I use this for, this drive is excellent!
| General | |
| Device Type | Solid state drive - internal |
| Capacity | 500 GB |
| Hardware Encryption | Yes |
| Encryption Algorithm | 256-bit AES |
Samsung SSD 860 EVO SATA III 2.5inch (500GB, Read 520mb/s Write 520mb/s) (MZ-76E500BW)
Delivery $48
I've purchased this item 3 or 4 times now, and every previous time, the SSD was in mint condition.Not this time.I ordered it for store pickup. When it came in, I stopped at the counter to have them grab it for me from the back, and when he brought it to me, I commented on how beat up the box looked. It seriously looked like someone stepped on it, and then threw it against the wall a few times. I didn't bother to open the box in the store, since I figured it was just "refurbished" because of how beat up the box was.But then I got home and opened it up, and man, it looks like someone took a hammer to the drive. I thought about returning it and just getting something else, but I figured I'd at least plug it in to see if it works. If the guts inside are intact, ... MoreI've purchased this item 3 or 4 times now, and every previous time, the SSD was in mint condition.Not this time.I ordered it for store pickup. When it came in, I stopped at the counter to have them grab it for me from the back, and when he brought it to me, I commented on how beat up the box looked. It seriously looked like someone stepped on it, and then threw it against the wall a few times. I didn't bother to open the box in the store, since I figured it was just "refurbished" because of how beat up the box was.But then I got home and opened it up, and man, it looks like someone took a hammer to the drive. I thought about returning it and just getting something else, but I figured I'd at least plug it in to see if it works. If the guts inside are intact, then I don't really care if the case itself is in rough shape.I was actually pretty surprised to see that the drive did actually work, and I was able to use it to clone an Xbox One drive onto it, and it works perfectly.I would give it 1* if this didn't work, or 5* if it didn't look like someone smashed the crap out of it, but I feel like 2* is a good compromise.When people buy refurbished, they typically assume that it will be in good condition, not damaged condition.
Over the last few months I have purchased three of these 500gb refurbished SSD's from Best Buy to upgrade several computers. All drives were well packed and arrived on schedule, and all are working perfectly. Since the Samsungs are among the highest rated SSD's, the refurbished approach gives you a more economical way to upgrade to SSD, which provides a noticeable improvement of performance for older computers. Most recently, I have upgraded my old dual core HP DC5700 desktop which still has a meaningful role in the array of computers. I also upgraded a 10 year old Samsung NC10 netbook which is now a full time, 15 hour per day, living room slideshow computer. Transitions between slides are smoother now with a refurbished 860 EVO 500gb drive installed.Cloning the ... MoreOver the last few months I have purchased three of these 500gb refurbished SSD's from Best Buy to upgrade several computers. All drives were well packed and arrived on schedule, and all are working perfectly. Since the Samsungs are among the highest rated SSD's, the refurbished approach gives you a more economical way to upgrade to SSD, which provides a noticeable improvement of performance for older computers. Most recently, I have upgraded my old dual core HP DC5700 desktop which still has a meaningful role in the array of computers. I also upgraded a 10 year old Samsung NC10 netbook which is now a full time, 15 hour per day, living room slideshow computer. Transitions between slides are smoother now with a refurbished 860 EVO 500gb drive installed.Cloning the drives with the Samsung migration software did not work for me when cloning an 860 EVO SSD for a laptop, as it did not result in a bootable drive. I therefore have used the free version of MiniTool Partition Wizard for cloning, installed in each of the computers to be upgraded, with the SSD connected via USB. This cloning utility also preserved the EasyBCD settings, as the DC5700 is a dual boot computer.Just make sure that you uncheck any bloatware before installing MiniTool Partition Wizard. After cloning, you can create an extra partition before installing the SSD. Also remember to turn off automatic defragmentation, as SSD's do not require this, and is reportedly counterproductive.While you can certainly purchase a new Samsung EVO 860, there seem to be no problems with purchasing one of these refurbished SSD's. I can therefore highly recommend these refurbished Samsung EVO 860 SSD's from Best Buy.
I use this in an ASUS gaming laptop (10th-gen i5 with NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti and 24GB RAM). This is a mid-range gaming/productivity setup so my approach is probably overkill, but I keep my Windows and Linux operating systems on the m2 NVME and I keep my Steam library and media (mostly 80GB of music, with some photos and videos) on this 860 Evo SSD. This keeps my OS disks clean, lightweight, and bloat-free.For gaming/media/heavy productivity users, the Samsung 860 Evo is plenty fast and the SATA interface isn't a major hinderance. For photo/video editing, I will move the file to the m2 drive with faster read/write speeds, finish my editing there, then move the finished file back to the Samsung. For most everything else, this drive is plenty fast enough to leave ... MoreI use this in an ASUS gaming laptop (10th-gen i5 with NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti and 24GB RAM). This is a mid-range gaming/productivity setup so my approach is probably overkill, but I keep my Windows and Linux operating systems on the m2 NVME and I keep my Steam library and media (mostly 80GB of music, with some photos and videos) on this 860 Evo SSD. This keeps my OS disks clean, lightweight, and bloat-free.For gaming/media/heavy productivity users, the Samsung 860 Evo is plenty fast and the SATA interface isn't a major hinderance. For photo/video editing, I will move the file to the m2 drive with faster read/write speeds, finish my editing there, then move the finished file back to the Samsung. For most everything else, this drive is plenty fast enough to leave everything here. Like I said, my system is mid-range so this is approach is probably overkill, but it works for me. (For users without tons of memory and discrete graphics - including users who don't know what I just said, this drive is perfectly fine and is likely still a pretty big speed and size upgrade from your OEM SSD. And if you're still using a spinning hard drive, this is probably all you need.)The Samsung Magician software is nice. It is far more feature-rich than WD's Dashboard software and has a few more metrics, benchmarks, and optimization features.For what I use this for, this drive is excellent!
I can't believe I waited so long to do this. Samsung made it SO EASY.Before purchasing, I found some blogs recommending various free cloning software for when I decided to finally make my move of upgrading my 5400rpm 3 year old laptop drive over to an SSD. I knew I would be downsizing from my 1TB drive to a 500GB for affordability just to get a solid state drive. My husband chose a PNY brand drive at first, but after reading reviews on the process of cloning an HDD to an SSD of a smaller size... we spent the extra $10 to buy this Samsung drive because of the included drive health monitoring software; not to mention, the cloning software seemed simple and straightforward. This was an understatement!!The Samsung drive's manual (included) was mostly for show, ... MoreI can't believe I waited so long to do this. Samsung made it SO EASY.Before purchasing, I found some blogs recommending various free cloning software for when I decided to finally make my move of upgrading my 5400rpm 3 year old laptop drive over to an SSD. I knew I would be downsizing from my 1TB drive to a 500GB for affordability just to get a solid state drive. My husband chose a PNY brand drive at first, but after reading reviews on the process of cloning an HDD to an SSD of a smaller size... we spent the extra $10 to buy this Samsung drive because of the included drive health monitoring software; not to mention, the cloning software seemed simple and straightforward. This was an understatement!!The Samsung drive's manual (included) was mostly for show, directing us to a website under samsung,com in order to download Samsung's clone-ware, the aforementioned monitoring software, and some basic instructions on how to swap the drive. It couldn't have been more user-friendly. We didn't even need to read the instructions. The cloning software was super simple and handled all the partition resizing/downsizing for us.THE PROCESS:First step, we ran CHKDSK on our existing drive to be sure there were no existing errors that would carry over to the new drive.... then we simply used a SATA to USB-A cable to connect the new drive to my laptop externally (no enclosure needed), opened the Samsung clone-ware which auto-selected my existing hard drive for cloning, then I selected the external Samsung drive to export the clone to, and clicked START. Just under 6 hours later, I powered my laptop down, pulled the power sources (battery and plug), swapped the drives, and booted up to the fastest computer I've owned in a long time without having to reinstall a single thing. Even all my software registrations and licenses copied over smoothly and Windows reported 0 errors when running a CHKDSK on the new drive after installation.Before buying the drive, I had downloaded one of the more popular cloning programs available.... and it was far more complex and left us open to making mistakes while cloning the partitions. Zero regrets and would purchase again and again for the software alone. The software is only compatible with a Samsung drive.
I needed to replace the hard drive in my Dell laptop (working very slowly) and verified with Best Buy support that this was compatible. I watched a few online videos to learn how to replace the hard drive in my laptop and used the truly seemless Samsung Data Migration tool (downloaded for free from Samsung) to move EVERYTHING over from my old hard drive to this SSD. This program literally moves everything over (you just need to buy a USB SATA connecting cable to plug into your laptop and new SSD) from your old to your new drive. You plug the USB into your laptop and the wider SATA part into the new Samsung SSD. I bought one made by "SKL" on Amazon form like $10 instead of paying more and probably returning it after 1 use. It takes a while to migrate the info but ... MoreI needed to replace the hard drive in my Dell laptop (working very slowly) and verified with Best Buy support that this was compatible. I watched a few online videos to learn how to replace the hard drive in my laptop and used the truly seemless Samsung Data Migration tool (downloaded for free from Samsung) to move EVERYTHING over from my old hard drive to this SSD. This program literally moves everything over (you just need to buy a USB SATA connecting cable to plug into your laptop and new SSD) from your old to your new drive. You plug the USB into your laptop and the wider SATA part into the new Samsung SSD. I bought one made by "SKL" on Amazon form like $10 instead of paying more and probably returning it after 1 use. It takes a while to migrate the info but worth the wait. Once finished, once you place the new Samsung SSD in your laptop and turn it on, there is NOTHING else to do after you turn it on. The Samsung Data Migration tool moves everything, including your files AND Microsoft Office programs over so you don't have to download them again. It's amazingly simple and the laptop starts up in less than 30 seconds.
I had a privilege to test out Samsung's Solid State Drive (SSD) that came with 1TB of storage and I decided to put it into a good use and test it out in two different systems: a PC and PlayStation 4. First of all, it is amazing that storage technology has evolved and advanced so far that the end users are able to store more data as well as make their PCs to run faster and more efficient. I have originally installed 1TB SSD into my all-in-all PC. The installation was pretty easy and involved plugging the cables in the drive and booting up the PC. I used the drive to install a fresh copy of WIndows 10. Installation went pretty quick just because it was a solid state drive and data writes were fast, compared to my regular 3.5" HDD which took a longer time to do the ... MoreI had a privilege to test out Samsung's Solid State Drive (SSD) that came with 1TB of storage and I decided to put it into a good use and test it out in two different systems: a PC and PlayStation 4. First of all, it is amazing that storage technology has evolved and advanced so far that the end users are able to store more data as well as make their PCs to run faster and more efficient. I have originally installed 1TB SSD into my all-in-all PC. The installation was pretty easy and involved plugging the cables in the drive and booting up the PC. I used the drive to install a fresh copy of WIndows 10. Installation went pretty quick just because it was a solid state drive and data writes were fast, compared to my regular 3.5" HDD which took a longer time to do the same task (I did a test run on a similar PC). The best part, the boot to Windows desktop took only 5 seconds and Boom! My PC was up and ready to perform tasks. Chrome browser fired up quickly as well as other programs I threw at it like Adobe Photoshop, MovieMaker software, etc. I also ran a couple of read and write tests and transfer rates were sufficient enough running around 400 MBs. This drive used a V-NAND technology which means that Instead of having flash memory cells stacked horizontally, V-NAND technology stacks memory cells vertically. Different types of NAND architectures are more resilient than others and this one should handle about 35000 write cycles. Write cycles, also called program and erase or P/E cycles, are another important metric touching on SSD reliability. This type of SSD is able to endure a finite number of write cycles. In reality it should serve you many years of service. I have also tested this drive in my PlayStation 4 and I was so surprised how quickly my PS4 was able to start up and the game load times were shorter significantly. So I would definitely recommend this drive for any console that offers a hard drive swap. It is definitely worth it! All in all, once you go the SSD route you will never want to switch to the regular old HDD technology. This drive will offer your PC a new life that is worth experiencing.
the 860 evo 500gb mz-76e500b/am has served me well for more than three years.samsung's reputation of durability and speed with their ssds holds true for this consumer review. i'm thoroughly pleased and satisfied with this product. five of five stars.it hasn't been quirky a single time. you would expect it not to be quirky. it is solid state, after all.and what about the design of the product? like that holds any relevance whatsoever for most folks? i'd consider it to be minimal, simple and "sexy" as far as computer products go. xd lol it's subtly textured, i believe, like a bit of grain on it or something. what's with the gray blip square in the bottom center? ahahaha. funky.
I don't know what Samsung's appeal is or how they continue to do business. The consensus of review fora, Better Business Bureau and class action lawsuit websites is furious customers lawyering up over known defects which Samsung refuses to address. I had such a case with this SSD, which didn't let me disable over-provisioning or resize any partitions. Accordingly, 20% of my hard drive was inaccessible. It may have been a software problem with Samsung Magician (which is also poorly reviewed), but after having to copy-and-paste my support request and previous support IDs, they just said "Go to Newegg for support, we won't help you." Fortunately, Newegg processed an RMA without argument. I'm going to try my luck with a Crucial drive, which has somewhat better online ... MoreI don't know what Samsung's appeal is or how they continue to do business. The consensus of review fora, Better Business Bureau and class action lawsuit websites is furious customers lawyering up over known defects which Samsung refuses to address. I had such a case with this SSD, which didn't let me disable over-provisioning or resize any partitions. Accordingly, 20% of my hard drive was inaccessible. It may have been a software problem with Samsung Magician (which is also poorly reviewed), but after having to copy-and-paste my support request and previous support IDs, they just said "Go to Newegg for support, we won't help you." Fortunately, Newegg processed an RMA without argument. I'm going to try my luck with a Crucial drive, which has somewhat better online reviews and fewer outstanding class action lawsuits against them.
This past month I started with one Samsung 1TB 860 EVO SSD as a best bang for the buck upgrade experiment for my main rig. Being that it is a nearly $9,000 system I was not expecting much, but then again for the sale price of $159.99 what did I have to lose. The system is a server class work station that I mainly use for video editing, browsing and general use, NOT a big gamer, although it will destroy performance highs in most games. With a mid-level 6-core 12 thread Intel Core i7 processor, 64 GB of quad channel RAM, dual RX-480 8GB GPUs in Crossfire, a Corsair 1500 Watt power supply and no less than 60 Terabytes of internal storage space it was no surprise when I didn’t notice a huge performance increase, sure there was a bit of a gain, 8% to 10% at best, but ... MoreThis past month I started with one Samsung 1TB 860 EVO SSD as a best bang for the buck upgrade experiment for my main rig. Being that it is a nearly $9,000 system I was not expecting much, but then again for the sale price of $159.99 what did I have to lose. The system is a server class work station that I mainly use for video editing, browsing and general use, NOT a big gamer, although it will destroy performance highs in most games. With a mid-level 6-core 12 thread Intel Core i7 processor, 64 GB of quad channel RAM, dual RX-480 8GB GPUs in Crossfire, a Corsair 1500 Watt power supply and no less than 60 Terabytes of internal storage space it was no surprise when I didn’t notice a huge performance increase, sure there was a bit of a gain, 8% to 10% at best, but this gave me inspiration to try out this upgrade on some of my other machines. I was already running a 500GB Samsung SSD in my main laptop, with is going on 10 years old, Intel i7, 32GB RAM, nVidia 660GTX 2GB GPU and a 17.3” screen makes this a tough laptop to give up and even though the swap was from a 500GB Samsung SSD to a 1TB Samsung SSD the performance was similar to my workstation but allowed me to get creative and swap my 2nd 1TB SSHD to a larger 4TB HDD (granted that took some power tools and skills) I now have a 10 year old laptop that still beats 90% of brand new laptops so I am happy with the 860 EVO. NOW for the big surprise, I have a 3 year old Toshiba laptop with a Intel i7, 12GB RAM, 17.3” touchscreen and onboard graphics, For the better part of the last 3 years this backup laptop has been a paper weight 90% of the time, with the other 10% for skype calls when I am on the go and need both laptops, otherwise I was very disappointed in that $2,400 investment and I had always thought that the main hang up was the lack of a dedicated graphics card as video editing and even Windows 10 is very graphic intensive, I had thought many times of selling it and was constantly offered a fair price for it but secretly I wanted to troubleshoot some more and find out if it really was that much of a difference, on chip Intel graphics verses AMD or nVidia dedicated graphics, well I can honestly say that the results are in and the culprit of the 2 minute boot times, slow reactions to clicks, and poor browser performance was in fact due to Toshiba cheaping out on the 1TB hard drive they installed in this near flagship system. With the Samsung 1TB 860 EVO the Toshiba has become quick, useful and dare I say enjoyable, I genuinely would have banged my head against a door had I sold it for the $800 to $1,000 I was constantly offered for it. With that I also decided to even out Toshibas odd one 8GB & one 4GB RAM modules and purchased a 2nd 8GB module bringing the laptop to 16GB (still half of what is in my main laptop) but none the less it made a additional improvement. With this happy increase I decided to get my parents a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO for Christmas and upgrade their aging Dell which took around 4 minutes to boot, and browsing the web was worse than waiting for water to boil, it took forever and they were considering getting a new computer, but the struggle of learning a new OS (they are still on Windows 7) and other features was not something they were looking forward to, so I got them one of these drives and cloned their boot drive, making it a simple swap and their performance is up 400%, yes it was that dramatic of a difference, & thus I also upgraded their RAM from 4GB to 8GB and now with the exception of their aging GPU in that system, they are extremely happy with the new life that it has gained. And finally I purchased a 5th 1TB 860 EVO to upgrade one of my other PCs from a tiny 128GB SSD and to my surprise it was also a dramatic improvement of at least 200% so with all this real comparison data, I can whole heartedly tell you as a IT & hardware expert of 28+ years that if you want to breathe some more life into pretty much any computer or device you own or are planning to own then the SINGLE MORE IPRESSIVE ITEM YOU CAN GET TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE PERFORMANCE IS A SAMSUNG SSD. Keep an eye on Intel & Samsung to bring new 3D & V-NAND drives to mass market this year, but as for best single item for under $200 to improve performance across the board, get a Samsung SSD.
The 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SATA solid state drive has been installed for over a week and works great so far. The SSD is smaller than the standard 3.5" drive bay so an mounting adapter is necessary if one plans to install it in a regular hard drive (HDD) bay. SATA and power cables are not included with the SSD either. The Samsung cloning Software would not clone my C (boot) drive with Windows 10 OS because it was originally partitioned as a dynamic drive. I ended up spending an additional $50 to purchase one of a few software packages that are available on the internet that will clone a dynamic drive and it solved the problem. Much to my surprise, the particular cloning software that I purchased also was able to trim 10 Giga Bytes off of the clone to get to get it to ... MoreThe 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SATA solid state drive has been installed for over a week and works great so far. The SSD is smaller than the standard 3.5" drive bay so an mounting adapter is necessary if one plans to install it in a regular hard drive (HDD) bay. SATA and power cables are not included with the SSD either. The Samsung cloning Software would not clone my C (boot) drive with Windows 10 OS because it was originally partitioned as a dynamic drive. I ended up spending an additional $50 to purchase one of a few software packages that are available on the internet that will clone a dynamic drive and it solved the problem. Much to my surprise, the particular cloning software that I purchased also was able to trim 10 Giga Bytes off of the clone to get to get it to fit on the SSD. I had a USB to SATA adapter cable but did not need it with the particular cloning software that I used. I did not have to reauthorize Windows on the clone but did have to reauthorize a few apps and did have to relocate some USB keys which was pretty much expected. No software reinstalls were necessary in my case. The SSD does not come preformatted so a QUICK format was necessary. The instructions that come with the SSD are also very limited. Things like checking SATA drive and boot configurations in BIOS, turning off drive optimization (SSD only), and checking drive index settings should be clear to experienced users but not so much for the novice. Samsung Magician software was also pretty much useless in my case. I entertained the idea of moving the Windows Users folder and/or portions of the Windows users folder including documents, downloads, email, etc. to an HDD to decrease the number of SSD writes but need additional research before doing so.
| General | |
| Device Type | Solid state drive - internal |
| Capacity | 500 GB |
| Hardware Encryption | Yes |
| Encryption Algorithm | 256-bit AES |
