Western Digital500GB WD Blue 3D NAND Internal PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm, Up to 560 MB/s - WDS500G2B0A, Solid State Drive

In this review, I am going to rate the WD SSD 500GB. The review will be on four main criteria, and I will mention what I liked, and what I didn’t like about the product. Furthermore, I will also share my experience and how I got the product up and running.This review is very detailed, so if you just need to upgrade MacBook Pro, just scroll down to “Upgrade”.This review has been written on the day I had the product running. This review has not been sponsored by WD, and it is solely my own experience and tips I’d like to share.Price:No one can argue that this SSD is fairly priced. I can say it is definitely worth the investment. The value for money is just ridiculous.Quality:Even though this product will be stuck underneath the laptop case, but the plastic feels solid, and it came well packed.Speed:Using BlackMagic Disk Speed Utility, I got the result of 276.7 MB/s write and 504.6 MB/s read. Not quite the promised but good enough. Besides, since this is a 3rd party tool and not embedded in the operating system I don’t expect exact results.Performance:Generally, after replacing my drive, I found out that it made my mac at least 5-8 times faster. Moving large files is instant, starting applications and everything else is much quicker.-----------------------------Upgrade for MacBook Pro 13 inch ( Mid 2012 model - Non-Retina )~~~~~~~~~~I bought this SDD to upgrade my MacBook Pro 13 inch (Mid-2012 model). This Apple MacBook model is essentially the last model with the upgradable disk. Some other models are upgradable with M2 SSD. So, if your MacBook Pro is a mid-2012 or below, it is most likely upgradable.For non-Apple devices, you need to look up your model and check if this SSD is suitable. Amazon offers a handy tool to do so. This guide will only help for Macs.~~~~~~~~~~Disclaimer:I shall not be held responsible for any damages to the drives or loss of data as a result of your mistakes in the process. You are to do this upgrade at your responsibility, and you hold all the risks associated with the upgrade.*It is however advised to backup your data ( mainly the most important ) and to watch other tutorials to have a better idea of the procedure. This is only a guide with the concept of the procedure and is LACKING SOME STEPS.**Basic knowledge of how partitioning and how disk drives work may be important.~~~~~~~~~~Before anything, you need to decide the size of the disk. My original was a 500GB spinning drive (HDD), and I bought the 500GB SSD. If you decide that you need more storage, the OSX installation is skipped. Just keep in mind that this could be a major investment in your computer, so if you are left with something between 0-75 GB, you might want to consider getting a bigger sized drive.Step 1: Restart your Mac and press (CMD + R) to enter recovery mode. Go to desk utility and check your currently installed drive (should appear under internal), check the Partition style. Mine showed APFS, but it may be another like Mac OS (Journaled).Step 2: Take the new SSD drive and put it in an enclosure for USB connection. I used the AmazonBasics enclosure, the price and the quality are great. Plug it into the mac’s USB. The drive should appear under external.Step 3: Erase the new drive and format with the format identical to the original drive. (CONFIRM THAT IT IS THE EXTERNAL DRIVE). You can give the new drive any name but try to go for something unique so you don’t confuse it with the current drive.Step 4 A: If you chose an SSD with size larger than your current drive, you can just go back to the EXTERNAL drive in the disk utility and click restore. Then choose the current internal drive as the source. This will fully clone your old drive to the new drive.Step 4 B: If you chose an SSD with size equivalent or smaller than your current drive ( note: You can’t cram 400GB of data into a 250 GB drive), you need to go back to the main recovery page and click on reinstall OS. It will ask you which drive to install into for this case choose the EXTERNAL ( whatever you named it). It will then reinstall the operating system. Next, It will then ask you if you want to get data from another drive just choose the current drive (INTERNAL). Tick everything to get a full copy (Trash is not copied).Step 5: The time it takes usually takes a while depending on your data. After you confirm that the new drive is working fine, you can swap the drives. (You can find step-by-step tutorials on Youtube)——————Pros:It is Excellent. That’s it.Cons:Not sure if I should consider this as a drawback but more of a ”would behandy to have”. I think if WD supplied software to assist in the logistics of moving data, it would have been really fantastic. As an IT, I don’t trust free 3rd-party software, and if I went for paid software, it would cost high. Otherwise, there is absolutely none.Overall:I think this product is really great, it will give life to ancient computers, and I totally recommend it. You can buy it without hesitation.Other products you may consider (That I've been also considering, but haven't tried) :Sandisk UltraKingston A400

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 PraiseCONS: Absolutely NoneRecommended 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 ProProcessor: 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 ScreenInternal NIC: 100MBWiFi NIC: Internal Intel Centrino Dual Band/USB LB1 AC600 Dual Band USB Dongle (5 ghz)USB Ports: 3 X USB 2.0 PortsROM: DVD/CD Burner