Just installed the newest firmware and newest version of Magician for the 500GB Evo in my desktop - how exactly do I go about activating TCG Opal encryption? Magician isn't very clear about this at all. Also, assuming this is all done in the firmware, would I be right in thinking it'll work seamlessly on both Windows 8.1 and Linux? (both are installed on this drive)
Tried that, wouldn't let me continue as I don't have a TPM chip. There seems to be very little documentation on what is clearly the most seamless, highest performance method of achieving full disk encryption.
Open the group policy editor (gpedit.msc > Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run as Admin) Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Bit Locker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives
Open the "Require additional authentication at startup" policy. Enable the policy and check the box (under options) that says "Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM"
Click OK, quit the group policy editor, and attempt to enable BitLocker again. It should work. :) Note: as mentioned in the help info for that policy, if you want to require both a USB key and a password, you will have to configure BitLocker using manage-bde (command line) instead of the GUI wizard available through Control Panel.
Has anyone been able to get eDrive working right with the EVO yet? I gave it a shot and I believe I meet all the system requirements (UEFI with CSM disabled and Secure Boot enabled, Windows 8.1 Pro, BitLocker, etc.) but it still asks me if I want to encrypt only the used space or the entire drive (it shouldn't ask that if it's using eDrive from what I've read). Tried this on a Lenovo K410 Desktop without a TPM chip and on Lenovo ThinkPad T430 with a TPM chip without any luck...if it doesn't work on the business line T series ThinkPad then I don't know what will work or what I might be doing wrong?
Finally got eDrive to work on the Samsung EVO but I had to install the Samsung Magician software and enable "Encrypted Drive" which instructed me to perform a secure erase and a clean install of Windows 8 which I did and it but I had to make sure the EVO was #1 on the boot order in UEFI/BIOS and also had to run "bcdboot %systemdrive%\Windows" from the Windows command prompt since I kept getting BitLocker errors saying "element not found". After it's done however the same problem as the Crucial M500 exists where the ATA security set is disabled and one CANNOT perform a Secure Erase on the drive and the Samsung Magician software doesn't allow you to set "Encrypted Drive" back to "Ready to be Enabled" or "Disabled".
I did the Secure Erase/Bitlocker thing on my Samsung 840 EVO and drive was self-encrypting using TPM. But then I updated a bunch of Fujitsu T904 drivers and now Bitlocker says it's not encrypted (including using the manage-bde -status command) even though when I boot I have to enter a Bitlocker Pin and Magician says Encrypted Drive=Enabled. I had set the Bitlocker group policy to require a Pin. Is it possible that the drive is no longer encrypted and the Pin is doing nothing other than satisfying the policy?
You can't enable the encryption via Magician, the firmware update simply provides the support for it. In Windows 8, all you have to do is turn on BitLocker but in Windows 7 you have to use third party software. I'm not sure about Linux though.
So... 1TB in 4 chips, that means in a 2.5 SSD with 8 chips on each side, you could have 4TB! That is double what you can get in the largest 2.5" HDD (which wont even fit in most laptops, being that it is 15mm tall!)
To be fair, Seagate recently announced a Spinpoint 2 TB 2.5" HDD with 3 platters at 9.5 mm height. Yet flash obviously can "easily" surpass even this density (many more than 16 packages could fit into 2.5 ", 9.5 mm high, just need to use controller with more channels or more controllers). Obviously the cost advantage of HDD remains.. and shrinks in relevance.
I would like to know what the firmware upgrade adds with the statement "Optimizing TurboWrite algorithm" (from the firmware download page) ? Speed, endurance or both ?
I prefer others to be guinea pigs for firmware offering performance enhancements, myself. :D Although Samsung retail firmware is generally very good. I've only heard of a reliability issue with pre-release firmware.
I've got an 840 Evo, it's a really good entry level drive. If I really hammered my drive with writes, or kept it for much longer, I'd get a Pro. But I'll probably be replacing it with a ~500GB model in a couple years so it's more than adequate. :-D
I wish their samsung magician software worked for their OEM drives. I got the new XPS 15 haswell from Dell with the Samsung SM841 in it, 512GB mSATA drive... and their magician software says it detected a "SAMSUNG" drive but to use the magician software I need a SAMSUNG drive. Fail.
why not try it out and tell us? i've got embarassingly little experience with raid (read: none), but as long as the firmware is up to date and samsung magician recognizes the drives as 840 pros (or evos) i'd like to think that rapid should be available.
Although RAPID is an awesome technology, we are not going to get such a big difference because the difference between MLC flash and SLC is much smaller than the difference between TLC and SLC, also SATA is still a bottleneck.. Still nice update and I'm all for it, although we can pretty much give an accurate assumptions about what the performance is going to be like (I bet the maximum dedicated SLC will be higher because on an MLC there are more cells than in TLC for the same amount of storage. What a nice bonus!
Regarding that RAPID for the 840 Pro: I use an enterprise level raid controller for my system (LSI/3ware 9750-8i) with 512MB of memory. My main OS drive is a 256GB 840 Pro and my games are on a 250GB 840 EVO. Would it be useful to use that RAPID with this controller, or would it probably be useless or possibly even harm performance?
Kristian, at one point Samsung also promised edrive support for 840 and 840 pro drives. They seem to have forgotten about this and never said more. Have you heard anything, are they going to add edrive or not?
I think this TURBO thingy is kinda dumb on drives that fast. I mean, this would have been nice in early days with jmicron drives, which suffered from poor 4k speeds, but now it doesnt make much sense, except for benching. Also data integrety is affected, unless you're running ups or laptop.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
35 Comments
Back to Article
MadHatter0 - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Wow, large capacity for a msata.klmccaughey - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
"..large capacity for Santa"? perhaps ;)Barfo - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Price?Kristian Vättö - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
To be announced, as mentioned in the article.chrisandtell - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Same price as the 2.5" form factor.En1gma - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
huh, afaik, 2.5' 840evo is based on samsung's MEX controllereven anandtech wrote about that: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7152
extide - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Yeah, probably just a typo. Kristian, can you confirm?Kristian Vättö - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Yup, it was a typo. Looks like my brain was a generation behind MDX (it was used in the 840 and 840 Pro)... It's fixed now, thanks for the heads up :)Kristian Vättö - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
And again, LOL... I meant a generation behind the MEX. I guess this is a sign for me to get to bed.r3loaded - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Just installed the newest firmware and newest version of Magician for the 500GB Evo in my desktop - how exactly do I go about activating TCG Opal encryption? Magician isn't very clear about this at all. Also, assuming this is all done in the firmware, would I be right in thinking it'll work seamlessly on both Windows 8.1 and Linux? (both are installed on this drive)A5 - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
For Windows 8+, it should detect the HW encryption when you turn on BitLocker.I don't know about Linux.
r3loaded - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Tried that, wouldn't let me continue as I don't have a TPM chip. There seems to be very little documentation on what is clearly the most seamless, highest performance method of achieving full disk encryption.InsaneScientist - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Open the group policy editor (gpedit.msc > Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run as Admin)Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Bit Locker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives
Open the "Require additional authentication at startup" policy.
Enable the policy and check the box (under options) that says "Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM"
Click OK, quit the group policy editor, and attempt to enable BitLocker again. It should work. :)
Note: as mentioned in the help info for that policy, if you want to require both a USB key and a password, you will have to configure BitLocker using manage-bde (command line) instead of the GUI wizard available through Control Panel.
LS1 - Thursday, December 19, 2013 - link
Has anyone been able to get eDrive working right with the EVO yet? I gave it a shot and I believe I meet all the system requirements (UEFI with CSM disabled and Secure Boot enabled, Windows 8.1 Pro, BitLocker, etc.) but it still asks me if I want to encrypt only the used space or the entire drive (it shouldn't ask that if it's using eDrive from what I've read). Tried this on a Lenovo K410 Desktop without a TPM chip and on Lenovo ThinkPad T430 with a TPM chip without any luck...if it doesn't work on the business line T series ThinkPad then I don't know what will work or what I might be doing wrong?LS1 - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
Finally got eDrive to work on the Samsung EVO but I had to install the Samsung Magician software and enable "Encrypted Drive" which instructed me to perform a secure erase and a clean install of Windows 8 which I did and it but I had to make sure the EVO was #1 on the boot order in UEFI/BIOS and also had to run "bcdboot %systemdrive%\Windows" from the Windows command prompt since I kept getting BitLocker errors saying "element not found". After it's done however the same problem as the Crucial M500 exists where the ATA security set is disabled and one CANNOT perform a Secure Erase on the drive and the Samsung Magician software doesn't allow you to set "Encrypted Drive" back to "Ready to be Enabled" or "Disabled".Compudoc00 - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - link
I did the Secure Erase/Bitlocker thing on my Samsung 840 EVO and drive was self-encrypting using TPM. But then I updated a bunch of Fujitsu T904 drivers and now Bitlocker says it's not encrypted (including using the manage-bde -status command) even though when I boot I have to enter a Bitlocker Pin and Magician says Encrypted Drive=Enabled. I had set the Bitlocker group policy to require a Pin. Is it possible that the drive is no longer encrypted and the Pin is doing nothing other than satisfying the policy?Kristian Vättö - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
You can't enable the encryption via Magician, the firmware update simply provides the support for it. In Windows 8, all you have to do is turn on BitLocker but in Windows 7 you have to use third party software. I'm not sure about Linux though.extide - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
So... 1TB in 4 chips, that means in a 2.5 SSD with 8 chips on each side, you could have 4TB! That is double what you can get in the largest 2.5" HDD (which wont even fit in most laptops, being that it is 15mm tall!)MrSpadge - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
To be fair, Seagate recently announced a Spinpoint 2 TB 2.5" HDD with 3 platters at 9.5 mm height. Yet flash obviously can "easily" surpass even this density (many more than 16 packages could fit into 2.5 ", 9.5 mm high, just need to use controller with more channels or more controllers). Obviously the cost advantage of HDD remains.. and shrinks in relevance.hojnikb - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Good luck finding a controller, than can handle so much flash though.psc - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
I would like to know what the firmware upgrade adds with the statement "Optimizing TurboWrite algorithm" (from the firmware download page) ? Speed, endurance or both ?Alexvrb - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
I prefer others to be guinea pigs for firmware offering performance enhancements, myself. :D Although Samsung retail firmware is generally very good. I've only heard of a reliability issue with pre-release firmware.I've got an 840 Evo, it's a really good entry level drive. If I really hammered my drive with writes, or kept it for much longer, I'd get a Pro. But I'll probably be replacing it with a ~500GB model in a couple years so it's more than adequate. :-D
skiboysteve - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
I wish their samsung magician software worked for their OEM drives. I got the new XPS 15 haswell from Dell with the Samsung SM841 in it, 512GB mSATA drive... and their magician software says it detected a "SAMSUNG" drive but to use the magician software I need a SAMSUNG drive. Fail.thralloforcus - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Would RAPID work if my Samsung 840 Pros are in a RAID 0 array through an LSI 9265-8i? I'm guessing not..fokka - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
why not try it out and tell us? i've got embarassingly little experience with raid (read: none), but as long as the firmware is up to date and samsung magician recognizes the drives as 840 pros (or evos) i'd like to think that rapid should be available.silenceisgolden - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Check out Tweaktown's channel, I think they interviewed that startup which is doing the die interconnects. https://www.youtube.com/user/camwilmot/videosKristian Vättö - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
I found it now, it's HLNAND.http://hlnand.com/site/ID/120403
Eddie A - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
With the new RAPID feature for the 840 Pro, the new benchmarks on my 256GB 840 Pro are incredible:Samsung Magician benchmark:
Seq Read = 1280 MB/s
Seq Write = 1083 MB/s
Random Read (IOPS) = 140773
Randon Write (IOPS) = 100251
CrystalDiskMark benchmark:
Seq Read = 1896 MB/s
Seq Write = 6195 MB/s
512K Read = 1882 MB/s
512K Write = 5970 MB/s
4K Read = 357.0 MB/s
4K Write = 551.7 MB/s
4K QD32 Read = 634.3 MB/s
4K QD32 Write = 473.3 MB/s
My AHCI Controller is Intel 7 Series C216 v12.5.0.1066 running on 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate with an Intel Core i7-3770 3.4Ghz processor and 16GB RAM.
DIYEyal - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
Although RAPID is an awesome technology, we are not going to get such a big difference because the difference between MLC flash and SLC is much smaller than the difference between TLC and SLC, also SATA is still a bottleneck.. Still nice update and I'm all for it, although we can pretty much give an accurate assumptions about what the performance is going to be like (I bet the maximum dedicated SLC will be higher because on an MLC there are more cells than in TLC for the same amount of storage.What a nice bonus!
hojnikb - Monday, December 16, 2013 - link
dude, RAPID is a tottaly different tech, than what you're describing.This is TurboWrite and 840pro ain't getting that.
dgingeri - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
Regarding that RAPID for the 840 Pro: I use an enterprise level raid controller for my system (LSI/3ware 9750-8i) with 512MB of memory. My main OS drive is a 256GB 840 Pro and my games are on a 250GB 840 EVO. Would it be useful to use that RAPID with this controller, or would it probably be useless or possibly even harm performance?junk430 - Friday, December 13, 2013 - link
Kristian, at one point Samsung also promised edrive support for 840 and 840 pro drives. They seem to have forgotten about this and never said more. Have you heard anything, are they going to add edrive or not?hojnikb - Monday, December 16, 2013 - link
I think this TURBO thingy is kinda dumb on drives that fast. I mean, this would have been nice in early days with jmicron drives, which suffered from poor 4k speeds, but now it doesnt make much sense, except for benching. Also data integrety is affected, unless you're running ups or laptop.hojnikb - Monday, December 16, 2013 - link
*I meant RAPID, not TURBO, silly me :)code42 - Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - link
Can I use the Samsung 840 Pro 1TB with a NAS solution? Can some propose a nice setup? Thanks