I bought this WD Blue 1TB SSD to replace a hard drive that I thought was the likely cause of some data corruption experienced in a desktop top-line computer.
It required also buying an SATA III cable and a 2.5” to 3.5” adapter bracket to fit in the desktop bay since they are not included with the drive.
The drive did not come with any useful instructions, but this procedure worked:
1. Shut down
2. Leave original drive as is; connect new drive to power and an unused SATA port on motherboard
3. Power up. Normal but new drive does not show in My Computer
4. Run Acronis software available free from WD’s site
a. Select “Clone disk” and automatic mode
b. It identified the old and new disks
c. It ran about 1.5 hours and cloned the original drive, including all partitions and 500 GB of data
d. It shut down computer automatically
5. Disconnected power and SATA cable from old drive
6. Connected new drive to the SATA port on motherboard where old drive had been
7. Powered up. It booted OK. Everything seems fine.
Boot up and opening programs seems about 5 times faster than with the original spinning disk hard drive. I can’t evaluate long term reliability, but my initial impression is excellent.
I've bought hundreds of drives over the years (I'm an old computer technician) and it always comes down to Western Digital & Seagate for standard mechanical drives; and Western Digital or Samsung for SSD-type drives. I prefer the Western Digital for the mechanical type but for the SSD-type like the Blue 500GB drive referred to here, either the Samsung or WD work great (I have several of each). Go with the least expensive of the two, they are both high quality drives.
Bought 6 of these to upgrade old office PCs and milk another year or so out of them. They are Dell Win 7 machines, and now boot in 15-20 seconds vs 2-3 min before. Everything launches quicker, too, and the SSDs give the impression of a much faster computer without having a faster CPU or memory. Within reason. Won't necessarily speed up already running programs. But, for these old ones that only have 4 GB RAM, it should also speed up shuffling data in RAM to the pagefile virtual RAM.
I used Macrium Reflect to clone each of the drives, using a USB3 external hard drive case made for quick swapping of drives, in case anybody cares.
I got this SSD HD to replace and improve my daughters HP Pavilion Laptop (The original HD was a Segate 5400rpm 500GB SATA II Traditional Laptop HD) the performance issues that this laptop had been having which was mainly due to the growing resource demands over the years from the newer Windows Operating Systems (Going from Windows 7 to Windows 10) and the newer requirements from the current software as well. Needless to say very infuriating for someone who is trying to get her school work done.
PROS: Nothing but Praise
CONS: Absolutely None
Recommended Additional Software and Tools to perform the Hard Drive upgrade with:
- (Needed, unless your reloading the OS from Scratch) Use Macrium Reflect 7 Free Edition (Just do a Google Search to find) to clone your Old hard drive to the New One. It's an easy download that will install into your existing hard drive to make an exact clone to your New One. Best part the Free Edition does not cost a dime.
- (Needed, unless your cloning a Desktop then Optional) Use this USB to SATA Drive connection cable Sabrent USB 3.0 to SSD / 2.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Adapter [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] (EC-SSHD) for only $10 to clone the new drive with. Of course if it is for a Desktop this will not be needed but for 95% of the Laptops out there it's a must!
- (Optional, if you already have a similar tool set) If your changing the hard drive out of these newer Laptops (within the Last 4 years) I would buy this tool kit Soucolor 78 in 1 Precision Screwdriver Set, Magnetic Driver Kit, Repair Tool Kits with Portable Case for iPad, iPhone, Tablets, Laptops, PC, Smartphones, Watches, Electronics Disassembly to access the Hard Drive, especially for those needing a plastic pry tool, can't go wrong for $20.
Once I installed the new SSD the difference was literally night and day, the boot up from Bios to Operating System (Windows 10) was almost literally instantaneous (I would say give or take 5 to 10 seconds), the response time on applications and any action in general was also instantaneous.
Only other recommendation I would make is to make sure the BIOS on your laptop/PC is current so there are no compatibility issues with the SSD.
Please NOTE: This HD is approximately $50 cheaper than it's predecessor Western Digital WD Blue SSD interne 500 Go - SATA 6 Gbit/s 2,5" but has the same excellent results.
Overall I could not be happier, This will unfortunately will be that last upgrade that I will be able to do this Laptop (See the system system specs below).
I would highly recommend this SSD Hard Drive for all older PC performance related problems.
Specs:
HP Pavilion Laptop (June 2012)
OS: Windows 10 Pro
Processor: AMD X6 @ 1.40 GHz (4 Cores)
RAM: 8 GB (Max Capacity)
Hard Drive: 500GB WD-Blue 3D NAND SSD (Replaced original Segate 500GB 5400RPM SATA Drive)
Video: AMD Radeon graphics card (HDMI & VGA)
Display: 1920 X 1080p 17.3 inch Screen
Internal NIC: 100MB
WiFi NIC: Internal Intel Centrino Dual Band/USB LB1 AC600 Dual Band USB Dongle (5 ghz)
USB Ports: 3 X USB 2.0 Ports
ROM: DVD/CD Burner
Warranty Info is misleading!
On the package and in the manual came with the package, it says the warranty is three years. I bought it because of the five year warranty. Thus, I registered the drive on the web site and it indicates that the warranty is indeed five years.
I downloaded the Acronis True Image WD edition from wpc web site and it worked just fine. I have Windows 7 and everything went smoothly. My original drive is 1 TBytes and had a lot of empty spaces. I resized it to less than 500GB from Microsoft Disk Management before running Acronis True Image. Some buyers reported problems using Acronis for Windows 10 though.
Feature Product
- 3D NAND SATA SSD for capacities up to 2TB* with enhanced reliability. |*As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment
- Sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s.** |**As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second
- An industry-leading 1.75M hours mean time to failure (MTTF) and up to 500 terabytes written (TBW) for enhanced reliability. | MTTF = Mean Time To Failure based on internal testing using Telcordia stress part testing. TBW (terabytes written) values calculated using JEDEC client workload (JESD219) and vary by product capacity
- WD F.I.T. Lab certification for compatibility with a wide range of computers
- 5-year manufacturer's limited warranty
- Free downloadable software to monitor the status of your drive and clone a drive, or backup your data
- An active power draw up to 25% lower than previous generations of WD Blue SSD
Description
The WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD utilizes 3D NAND technology for capacities up to 2TB* with enhanced reliability. Featuring an active power draw up to 25% lower** than previous generations of WD Blue SSDs, you’re able to work longer before recharging your laptop, while sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s give the speed you want for your most demanding computing applications.*** Combined with the free, downloadable WD SSD Dashboard software and a 5-year limited warranty, you can confidently upgrade your system to the WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD. |*As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. |** Active power draws are up to 25% lower during sequential reads than previous generations of WD Blue SSD at the 500GB capacity point. |***As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second.
I will not comment on the SSD's performance, other folks in here did a good job on that already.
My goal was to upgrade an original 256 GiB SSD in an Alienware 15 (R0 or R1, the one that does not accept NVMe SSDs) to the larger 500 GiB one. Between a few choices, what drove me to the WD Blue was a combination of good reviews, price, and the availability of the Acronis True Image cloning software.
Obviously there are many choices of cloning software, many of them free and efficient (looking at you, Easeus). I was gladly impressed with the Acronis True Image. I installed the SSD (now what is this about no SSD including the darn screw? A few cents, perhaps a dollar, to include a screw in an $130-plus product?) and loaded Acronis. At first, the new SSD would not be found: I had to make the SSD "online" through Windows' Computer Management interface. Acronis gives you a few choices of cloning: (1) an exact image, which will maintain all partition sizes and location as they were originally (thus you get no increase in size; you would have to do that later); (2) allow Acronis to increase the target partition size as it assumes best; or (3) manual definition of target partition location and sizes.
Option (2) would not work well for me. My original SSD had some 6 partitions (many of them recovery partitions that I do not know were really being utilized, but I will figure that out later), and Acronis would always pick the wrong one to allocate the extra space in the new SSD. Thus, I selected the manual cloning, which gives you an initial exact-image template, and then you can move the partitions and/or change their size in the target SSD. As such, I maintained the order of the partitions on the new SSD, and allocated all the extra space to the "system" partition.
The next issue is that I utilize Bitlocker in my drives. Acronis True Image will not clone Bitlocker-encrypted partitions, either online, or offline (booting from an Acronis boot disk or USB). I had to therefore disable Bitlocker and decrypt my drives prior to cloning, which took a considerable amount of time. Once done, Acronis could initiate the cloning process. I left the cloning operation running and occupied myself with other matters. I came back after a while (one hour, perhaps) to verify what next steps were necessary for Acronis to finish the cloning procedure. I expected to have to configure the new boot device as the new SSD in Windows, or through Acronis. What I found was the computer already rebooted, utilizing the new SSD as the new boot device, all partitions correctly configured as I designed, and the old SSD available and untouched (apart from not set as the boot device any longer).
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Now what is this about not including the darn screw? I will not cut stars because of this, but, come on. Between two competing SSDs, similar prices/performance, one includes the darn screw, which one do you thing consumers would buy?
I bought this for the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM 15.6-Inch FHD Notebook (Intel Core i3-7100U 7th Generation , 4GB DDR4, 1TB 5400RPM HD, Intel HD Graphics 620, Windows 10 Home), Obsidian Black, which I've read in other reviews was not tested with larger than 250GB M.2 drives. However, I thought I'd give it a shot and it worked perfectly with the system. I was fortunate enough to have the standoff screw that apparently others' computers lacked, This SSD has transformed the computer into a fast-booting machine, and it has given me no issues so far.
I highly recommend it for this machine.
I'd have given it 5 starts if I were basing my evaluation strictly on the performance of the product, but there are other things to factor in and they don't allow people to give 9/10ths of a star, which is what the star ranking for the product really is (to me). First let me begin with the one and only negative thing about the WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III; Western Digital's site only provides Acronis True image for cloning your existing drive, and it is a trimmed down version that has no error messages or logs, and doesn't really scan your original HDD to report any corrupted files. So, let me save you some time and trouble on that part - don't go to the wd site and download Acronis. There is free software out there to do a better job, I used Macrium Reflect, and now I've decided to purchase it because it does a much better job at backups than MS Win backups do and it is safe to use. I'm always suspicious of software on foreign sites, but Macrium came recommended by CNET and the 30 trail allows you to clone.
I tried for 2 days using Acronis to isolate the cause of my cloning failures, following all the known issues on various logs including the WD site. In one hour, Macrium Reflect informed me that I had some corrupted files that needed to be fixed and gave me the command line prompt to fix them. Acronis pretended to be cloning, but never completed a single task and then just terminated with no messages, or reasons why. It didn't even pick the task up when I tried to isolate causes and run the clone again, but Macrium did. Acronis made me go through the whole setup, again and again and again.
Now for the positive stuff.
This ssd drive is like having 1TB of RAM. Windows doesn't just load anymore, it blasts on the screen with nerve shattering speed. Applications load like they've never been closed. I do a lot of work in 3D and I can easily load a 1 million polygon file in 12 seconds. While I'm working on 3D models a no longer have to bear the sound of my HDD thrashing around violently. My 8 year old computer performs like a one week old super computer now. I bought an extra device just for my virtual memory and backups. It is just amazing and well worth the frustration of cloning,,, just don't make the same mistake I made, don't use Acronis, use Macrium Reflect.
I bought a similar SSD stick 2 months ago and loved it so much I told everyone how my pc now boots in barely 3 seconds. I decided to update my other main machine, the one I network at home. I bought a different ADATA stick and it's been issues. Runs hot, has errors, and over the past month or so, it's been slowing down. Doesn't really make sense but... that's how I perceived it. So, I got this stick which is slightly newer than the original WD stick and because this one has energy efficiencies that the other didn't. anyhow, I installed it, put original Hd in, cloned it to this new SSD stick, set the boot drive and viola! This machine boots in barely 3 seconds. I'm so happy I can't even describe it! I hope it lasts, it should. I also hoe it reduces energy consumption. It should. Very happy.
Fast and reliable, WD always had a good reputation and looking at the MTBF number of 1.75 million hours, this will out last me. First I downloaded the Acronis clone disk program from WD website, but I had an older version of Acronis which had to be uninstalled. After doing that I found that my windows 7 backup was corrupted. Strike one against Acronis, I had to do a system restore to get back my windows backup. Acronis have a clean up program that suppose to properly uninstall, but strike two, it did not work. After this I would never install Acronis again. I downloaded Macrium Reflect 7 Free Edition and it worked perfectly. I suggest to use this program rather than Acronis. After cloning the ssd it worked perfectly.
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