250GB Samsung 840 Series 2.5" SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7TD250BW) $140 + Free Shipping (expired)

Quote from joogle : i was hoping for a 500gb sale but i may just jump on this for my desktop

In for 2, waited long enough. Now to find what else I need for my Aurora Alienware desktop install.

Does this include mounting hardware to a 3.5 slot? I didn't see it say anything on the ebay page? If not, anyone know where I can buy a cheap one?

bought one

Not a bad deal at all considering I purchased my 2x 64GB Sammy 830 SSD's for $100 a pop a little over a year ago. Might be time to sell those and pick up one of these.

Quote from sprtsplyr3189 : Does this include mounting hardware to a 3.5 slot? I didn't see it say anything on the ebay page? If not, anyone know where I can buy a cheap one?

If it doesn't I suggest getting one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6817990021

Allows you to mount 2x 2.5" drives in a 3.5" slot. I have one in my gaming rig and one in my media server and I love them.

Quote from bigmace : If it doesn't I suggest getting one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6817990021 Allows you to mount 2x 2.5" drives in a 3.5" slot. I have one in my gaming rig and one in my media server and I love them.

this could be a dumb question. How do I know if my current HD is 2.5 or 3.5"? I want to upgrade to a SSD, but I literally don't know anything about the install/transfer process.

Quote from by4x5 : this could be a dumb question. How do I know if my current HD is 2.5 or 3.5"? I want to upgrade to a SSD, but I literally don't know anything about the install/transfer process.

+1 I've been sitting on a normal HD for about a year now (new machine with pretty strong specs -- i5 3500k, 8GB DDR3, Radeon 7850 -- just needs an SSD!!). From what I understand, these are drastically faster.

Given someone who has decent computer smarts (can changed RAM, GPU, etc), how hard of an install is this?

Installation is a piece of cake. Easier to just format and start fresh rather than trying to transfer all your junk onto it.

I'm very tempted to bite.. How does the 3 year warranty work if you bought on eBay? Still honored if you have receipt/invoice??

Quote from by4x5 : this could be a dumb question. How do I know if my current HD is 2.5 or 3.5"? I want to upgrade to a SSD, but I literally don't know anything about the install/transfer process.

Quote from nJoy7 : +1 I've been sitting on a normal fat/slow HD for about a year now. From what I understand, these SSDs are drastically faster. Given someone who has decent computer smarts (can changed RAM, GPU, etc), how hard of an install is this?

If you have a desktop most likely you have a 3.5" and laptops are usually 99% of the time 2.5". It's an easy process as long as you have a transfer cable then its just transferring files from one to another or cloning the drive through windows cloning utility.

Quote from tennis8363 : Bummer, wish it had the kit with transfer cable.

I don't understand why you would need both the "kit" (tray) AND the cable? I just bought the one with the kit for $150 at the egg. Used the "tray" to turn it into a 3.5" but did not need the transfer cable...I think it is if you are going to put it in a laptop. If putting it in a laptop then you would not need the 3.5" tray use in a desktop. Now....if you're going to put it in a desktop it is quite easy to have a "plan b"....it would probably fit where peeps used to put a floppy drive....frankly, the thing is so small and light you could probably hang it in a bay with rubber bands and have the advantage of reduced vibration. Seriously, when I saw the adapter tray I kind of laughed..it's next to nothing. What do you other folks think?

Quote from robclt : I don't understand why you would need both the "kit" (tray) AND the cable? I just bought the one with the kit for $150 at the egg. Used the "tray" to turn it into a 3.5" but did not need the transfer cable...I think it is if you are going to put it in a laptop. If putting it in a laptop then you would not need the 3.5" tray use in a desktop. Now....if you're going to put it in a desktop it is quite easy to have a "plan b"....it would probably fit where peeps used to put a floppy drive....frankly, the thing is so small and light you could probably hang it in a bay with rubber bands and have the advantage of reduced vibration. Seriously, when I saw the adapter tray I kind of laughed..it's next to nothing. What do you other folks think?

I need a transfer cable only, not the kit -looks like I used the incorrect wording. Only have a laptop and no external drives to transfer pics, etc.

Quote from nJoy7 : +1 I've been sitting on a normal HD for about a year now (new machine with pretty strong specs -- i5 3500k, 8GB DDR3, Radeon 7850 -- just needs an SSD!!). From what I understand, these SSDs are drastically faster. Given someone who has decent computer smarts (can changed RAM, GPU, etc), how hard of an install is this?

EDIT: I may not have answered your question based on other responses. Sorry.

It's easy. You turn off your PC, unplug the power supply, open it up. Once open you use a sata cable (hopefully you have a few or normally it comes with one) and plug it in, you then plug in a appropriately fitting power connector from your PSU (http://www.pimfg.com/ifaq/images/...werfaq.jpg). Then put it all back together and turn it on. You may need to enable it in your BIOS, but many are just Plug and Play. Remember to check for firmware updates.

As far as mounting... I first used tape, then I bought Velcro and just have it snugly against my drive bay. SSD's have no moving parts so they can really be mounted any ol' way. I'm sure some people will disagree but you could even just have it sitting in there.

Regular HDD's are 3.5 and SSD's are 2.5 for desktops. An adapter will be a fixture which you place inside the normal 3.5 drive area fitting it for a 2.5 size drive. An analogy would be the same way a MicroSD card can be put into an SD card adapter and used in an SD card reader.

Quote from bareyataghan : EDIT: I may not have answered your question based on other responses. Sorry. It's easy. You turn off your PC, unplug the power supply, open it up. Once open you use a sata cable (hopefully you have a few or normally it comes with one) and plug it in, you then plug in a appropriately fitting power connector from your PSU (http://www.pimfg.com/ifaq/images/...werfaq.jpg). Then put it all back together and turn it on. You may need to enable it in your BIOS, but many are just Plug and Play. Remember to check for firmware updates. As far as mounting... I first used tape, then I bought Velcro and just have it snugly against my drive bay. SSD's have no moving parts so they can really be mounted any ol' way. I'm sure some people will disagree but you could even just have it sitting in there. Regular HDD's are 3.5 and SSD's are 2.5 for desktops. An adapter will be a fixture which you place inside the normal 3.5 drive area fitting it for a 2.5 size drive. An analogy would be the same way a MicroSD card can be put into an SD card adapter and used in an SD card reader.

Thanks! +reps

Seems easy enough! I guess I would need to reformat afterwards to ensure my O/S is installed on the drive as well.

BTW Samsung's transfer or cloning software could not make it easier...unless there is some compelling reason to start clean it's faster to clone. I normally would have started with a clean install but I was in the middle of building a new rig and had just done a clean install to a HD the week before....no compelling reason to do it again. (unless you have a "true" cloning cable with software which allows you to pick and choose files....which neither version of this drive comes with....they can be had for about $20-25)

If I have an extra computer, would I be able to transfer the HD to it and then load it onto the SSD without having to buy a transfer kit?

edit: I'm also dual booting windows 7/8. I have no use for windows 8, but I'm guessing it would be pretty easy to not transfer a certain partition?