Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Review

Samsung SSD Magician Software
There are not many companies that bundle their hard drives with software, but Samsung does.  As we mentioned in our unboxing video the drive comes with Norton Ghost as well as Samsung’s own SSD Magician software.  This has to be the most comprehensive solid state drive companion software that we have seen.  Starting off with the System tab you are given the system and SMART information for the drive.

Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive

Next is the Performance Benchmark.  Here you are able to benchmark the drive, which you can use to compare results after you run the Performance Optimization and OS Optimization.

Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive

Performance Optimization is a great tool to get the best drive performance after extended use with the drive.  This tool is a must for people who are running systems that do not support TRIM.  OS Optimization gives you even more options like being able to turn Superfetch, Defragmentation, Readyboost, and Indexing on or off.

Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive

Normally updating the firmware for solid state drives can be very annoying and you need to do it via a bootable USB drive.  Here you are able to do it within Windows, many users will appreciate that.  One of the best features of the Magician software is the secure erase function.  It allows you to secure erase the drive, bringing it back to “brand new” status.  This is all done within Windows.

Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive

Another cool feature built into the software is the ability to change the size of the over provisioning on the drive.  For the 128GB drive it recommends 11.90GB, but you can select any size.  Again the operation can be done within Windows, even if your SSD is the Windows drive.  As I said a full version of Norton Ghost comes with the drive and you can launch it directly from the Magician software.

Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 128GB Solid State Drive

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