Questions About Samsung SM951

[I DSM KILLA I]

Hey Everyone,

My wife's gaming PC is an ASUS GL502VS-DB71. We installed some games, and now she has only about 4GB of free space out of the 256GB drive capacity. I opened it up and to my surprise, it's a Samsung SM951 (MZ-VPV2560). I was looking to install an m.2 in my PC to replace my 128GB OS drive, but what I am thinking is to use her drive, and upgrade hers. So I had the following questions:

1. How difficult is it to move from an OEM drive to a consumer drive?
2. How difficult is it to move from a consumer 2.5" SATA drive to an OEM m.2?
3. What consumer SSD is most similar to the SM951 (950,960,970?)?
4. The processor is an i7-6700HQ (7th Gen) so it supports PCIe 3.0 x 4. Would Pro vs Evo make a big difference for gaming?

Thank you in advance!

 

[USAFRet]

So, just to be clear:
Take the SM951 from the laptop and put it in your desktop. Replacing your current 128GB.
Get a larger m.2 drive for the laptop. 500GB possibly?

Correct?

1. The physical drive is no problem. You'll need to do a full wipe and reinstall in the other hardware.
2. Disregard the word OEM for the physical drives. A drive is a drive.
3. The 960 or 970 would work.
4. M.2 EVO is just fine for gaming. You'd see zero difference with a Pro

What are your plans for all the software and OS?

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

So, just to be clear:
Take the SM951 from the laptop and put it in your desktop. Replacing your current 128GB.
Get a larger m.2 drive for the laptop. 500GB possibly?

Correct?

1. The physical drive is no problem. You'll need to do a full wipe and reinstall in the other hardware.
2. Disregard the word OEM for the physical drives. A drive is a drive.
3. The 960 or 970 would work.
4. M.2 EVO is just fine for gaming. You'd see zero difference with a Pro

What are your plans for all the software and OS?

The only reason for the OEM vs consumer drive is that when I last looked into it, Samsung's Magician software used to not allow the OEM drives (I wanted to use an XP941 years ago). As far as the OS, I'd clone the drive for both which is Windows 10. On my PC, I already have a dedicated 500GB SSD for Programs. Her new drive would be either a 500GB or 1TB, and the computer already has a 1TB 7200RPM drive for data.

 

[USAFRet]

The only reason for the OEM vs consumer drive is that when I last looked into it, Samsung's Magician software used to not allow the OEM drives (I wanted to use an XP941 years ago). As far as the OS, I'd clone the drive for both which is Windows 10. On my PC, I already have a dedicated 500GB SSD for Programs. Her new drive would be either a 500GB or 1TB, and the computer already has a 1TB 7200RPM drive for data.

So then disregard the Samsung Magician. It's just a diagnostic tool. Not critical.

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

The only reason for the OEM vs consumer drive is that when I last looked into it, Samsung's Magician software used to not allow the OEM drives (I wanted to use an XP941 years ago). As far as the OS, I'd clone the drive for both which is Windows 10. On my PC, I already have a dedicated 500GB SSD for Programs. Her new drive would be either a 500GB or 1TB, and the computer already has a 1TB 7200RPM drive for data.

So then disregard the Samsung Magician. It's just a diagnostic tool. Not critical.

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

 

[USAFRet]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

That's what I am trying to get confirmation of.

 

[USAFRet]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

That's what I am trying to get confirmation of.

Does it work with the 951 in its current location?

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

That's what I am trying to get confirmation of.

Does it work with the 951 in its current location?

Haven't tried since I thought both drives had to be connected to use Magician.

 

[USAFRet]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

That's what I am trying to get confirmation of.

Does it work with the 951 in its current location?

Haven't tried since I thought both drives had to be connected to use Magician.

Samsung Magician is merely the diagnostic tool.
You're thinking of the Samsung Data Migration. That is for moving data across drives.

If the Sammy Data Migration does not work, Macrium Reflect absolutely WILL work for the same purpose.

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[karenjoly]

I would not expect Magician to support an OEM product arising from the facts that warranty and endurance limitations are specified by the reseller instead of Samsung.

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

Well that is the best software for Samsung drives right? All of the drives would be Samsung.

It is. But if it doesn't work with those drives, it doesn't.

That's what I am trying to get confirmation of.

Does it work with the 951 in its current location?

Haven't tried since I thought both drives had to be connected to use Magician.

Samsung Magician is merely the diagnostic tool.
You're thinking of the Samsung Data Migration. That is for moving data across drives.

If the Sammy Data Migration does not work, Macrium Reflect absolutely WILL work for the same purpose.

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

Okay I'll check it out when I get back home. I thought Magician was the Data Migration software. All my drives have been clean installs in the past, that's why.

 

[I DSM KILLA I]

I would not expect Magician to support an OEM product arising from the facts that warranty and endurance limitations are specified by the reseller instead of Samsung.

Well it's only my OS drive, so not super important if it fails. Besides, I'll be doing a clean install in a year or 2 since I'm rocking the 4790K still. The notebook is out of warranty anyway at this point (2 years old).