What should I do with a second hand SSD?

I have bought a second hand 250 GB Samsung 840 Pro from ebay.

Is there anything specific I should do apart from format it?

I'm planning to put it in a Thinkpad X201 (which I also just got from ebay) but lots of people here talk about the Samsung Magicain software. I've tried looking but I'm not sure what it does.

Is this required or recommended or what? Will it help if I connect it via USB to my existing computer or do I have to wait until it is plugged into the SATA on the new laptop?

Sorry if I sound thick - it is my first SSD.

Hi there
An excellent use for these is to create VM's on them -- connect to computer via SATA-->USB2 or 3 connector -- very cheap.

Even on USB2 a VM --even a Windows VM is quite responsive. Whu not for example learn a bit of Linux --install either VMware player (free) or VBOX (Free) and then install a Linux VM --very good learning tool and you can't break anything.

You could even use HYPER-V - but you need at least W10 PRO to run that and it's a bit more fiddly --especially if you are new to VM's.

Cheers
jimbo

Samsung Magicain software. I've tried looking but I'm not sure what it does.

Is this required or recommended or what?

No it's required. It's a 2 part software....migration - to move your current OS from old HDD to new SSD; optimization tool - to check firmware and other tools.


Samsung Magician and Data Migration Overview | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

Sorry, to be clear, I'm planning to backup the GenuineLicense.xml and then take out the existing HDD and through it away.

I'm then going to clean install Windows 10 on my new (second hand) SSD as per the tutorials here.

My question was whether you had to do something with a previously used SSD or not rather than just format it. There are people who say you should format it in a certain way (block size and that sort of thing).

My backup question was "what is magician for" . @Plankton says "nothing really" which is as far as I can figure out correct.

The Magician software has a tool to correctly wipe the drive for a clean install. It's called secure erase.....see link and then see the 7th attachment in link. Which is what I would do to the new used SSD you have. Do it from another PC.


Quote: "Magician also enables users to Secure Erase their drive (which wipes the SSD in under a minute) and to over-provision to a recommended or user-selected percentage."

Then the tool "Rapid Mode" tool which a lot of my buddies with Samsung SSD's use....You may want to give it a shot.

Yeah that is what I want. I want to make sure it is cleanish before I use it. I also remember people saying you had to align sector boundaries (although I'm not sure about that, that may not have applied to SSD).

I'm not tin foil hat guy I just want to take reasonable precautions and format it correctly in the first place.

If I don't have to do anything in particular then I'm happy with that as an answer.