Crucial BX500 SATA SSD 2TB, 2.5" Internal SSD, Up to 540MB/s, Laptop and Desktop (PC) Compatible, 3D NAND, Dynamic Write Acceleration, Solid State Drive - CT2000BX500SSD101

A 1TB version of this SSD drive ordered to replace my 500GB disc drive on an ageing laptop that was really slow to boot up as Windows gets ever larger and requires faster computing power.Not ready to dump my laptop just because another corporate company no longer wishes to support it’s ageing architecture just to sell newer models I read that solid state drives were the way forward, these Solid State Drives have now become more affordable as old disk drives disappear so time to venture into the present now upon me.The drive does come with a good instruction sheet and gives the internet address to obtain free software to enable and copy the drive, this software installed prior to starting setup of the drive.I know Crucial as a very well established memory company the reason this item ordered, on arrival the SSD drive does require enabling for use before fitting into a laptop, this done via the USB port using a cheap USB SATA adapter and the downloaded software.Once recognised as a separate USB drive on the laptop the provided software can be used to make an exact copy of the existing disk hard drive including Windows operating system, this did take several hours due to the 400GB plus content of the old hard drive.Once completed the old Sata 2.5” Disk drive removed from the laptop and the new Crucial Sata SSD drive installed, laptop booted and hey presto my laptop back in action, I will say it did take two or three reboots to gain speed but now instead of waiting four to five minutes to boot it takes twenty seconds and all using exactly the same operating software and programs as before, in fact all programs boot at speed now, no more waiting for my old Calendar program to boot it just appears.In use every day the Crucial SSD drive has not failed to impress, with the free software included by download it makes this item an ideal fast replacement for old Sata 2.5” disk drives.

This is great, and was simple to install. I ghosted a copy of my old HDD to it and it has transformed my old pc into something usable. Until I got this, my old pc was pretty much useless and took an age just to get to the password screen, never mind open up anything, yet now it's pretty much instant for everything. No doubt Windows will slow it down in time, but for the foreseeable future, it's injected some oomph into my old PC.

Works as expected, fits the drive space it needed to, feels sturdy, nice and fast though you need to make a partition first before you can use it which is expected of an internal drive than external

Contents and additional hardware requirements:As expected, just the bare drive is supplied.You will need a SATA cable, a spare power connection and (e.g. if fitting in a 3.5" bay in a desktop PC) a mounting bracket. If you are replacing an existing HDD you can typically use the existing SATA and power cables but may need the bracket. If this is an additional drive you will normally have a spare power connection but may need an extra SATA cable; make sure you get one of a suitable length, and if the drive connection is near the case you may need a right-angle connector on one end for it to fit comfortably.Fitting:In my case I was replacing an existing 2.5" 240GB SATA SSD in one of the 3.5" bays of a Dell Optiplex 7010 mini-tower. This was done as follows. Disconnect power and SATA cable from old drive; eject quick release drive caddy; unclip mounting bracket from caddy; undo 4 x cross-head screws to release old drive from mounting bracket; then reverse this procedure to fit the new drive. This took less than 5 minutes. Note that on desktop PCs which do not use quick release caddies, access to screws can be difficult; for laptops the entire procedure may be considerably more difficult and time consuming.A note about SATA ports:If your device has multiple SATA ports, it's important to connect your SSD to the correct port. For example my desktop PC has four SATA ports on the motherboard, and they are colour coded as follows:Port 0: Blue, speed=6GB/s, default boot devicePort 1: Black, speed=6GB/sPorts 2 and 3: White, speed=3GB/sIn this case, the operating system (boot) drive should normally be attached to port zero. Non-boot SSDs should be attached to port 1.SSDs should not normally be attached to ports 2 and 3 since this will halve their speed - these ports should ideally only be used for slower devices like HDDs and optical drives.Other PCs will have different arrangements, typically described in a technical manual on the manufacturer's website, and all SATA ports may be full speed on your device.Operation:Powered up the PC, partitioned, formatted and mounted the drive and it works just fine. As I use Linux, I performed various manual steps to get it set up as per my requirements. The capacity (960GB) and the speed (6Gb/s via one of the SATA III ports) were as expected.I understand that for Windows, if you're using it as an additional data drive you need to use the "Disk Management" tool to partition and format the drive; if you're replacing your main drive and re-installing Windows then the Windows installer will perform these steps for you.Endurance:As is normal for such a product, if it works initially the only real test is how long it lasts (typically measured by amount of data written), which I won't know for some time. SMART data currently shows the drive as healthy with all indications normal.

Excellent for my use as storage for my master astrophotography images.I run 3 in my new i9 285 build along with 3 4Tb nvme

Great affordable SSD. I needed a new drive to get an older laptop up and running again but didn't want to spend a fortune. For the money here your getting a good SSD from a actually trusted brand. Laptop boots up quickly enough with this drive and it works as expected. Would buy again.

great product

Not the quickest on the market but reliable as a clone backup drive.