yes, you need a new sata cable if your current system doesn't have an additional cable for it. afaik there is no sata cable bundled with a ssd package.

indeed u need to buy extra sata cable (either u plan to fresh install OS or do a clone from existing HDD; except the cloning process need a converter for the sata-to-usb dongle/adapter) since u said ur current pc has only 1 sata cable... the old windows on ur current hdd can be wipe easily afterward when u make the hdd as secondary storage hardisk... but make sure to transfer all needed files (to a large enough external storage like external hdd or large capacity usb pendrive) before u clean wipe everything to zero...

i think a sata cable is good enough. you can use it for cloning too.

yeah the installation is like what you said. make sure it's connected to intel sata port for better performance (check your mobo manual for the right port), and check the bios and make sure the sata operation is set to ahci.

i think it's good to clear the os and system partitions in the hdd first (ONLY DO THIS AFTER FULL DATA BACKUP!) this is to get rid of hidden system partitions that might be added by boot loader as one of your boot options. if you wanna keep the os on hdd as fail safe,you can take out/disconnect the hdd first, then install ssd and do the windows installation. this is to prevent windows installation to use the existing system partitions in hdd to store necessary files of your new install.

ok hehe

it's better to wipe the hdd clean. if not, i suggest you clean up c: and system partitions that are hidden too, because there is a chance that the new installation will make use of existing system partitions.

ohh, didn't know that u partitioned the single 1TB hdd... you can just wipe the C: partition and like Horns says included the hidden system partition (if u used wins 10, it usually 500MB in size), then leaft the D: partition untouched... if it was mine, i prefer to transfered all the remaining files in the D: partition and wipe entire HDD and make it as a single partition only... just take few times only to do so... but, like I said, if u dont wanna waste time and wanna get easier, just left the D: partition as it is

Yes you should do that. My point is that the system partitions might be reused by windows installer if the hdd is present when new installation takes place. This might not be what you want. By 'wiping' i don't mean just reformatting, but deleting partitions physically (and logically), leaving behind unallocated space. I normally use windows installer to do that, since you cannot remove any of them when they are in use. After that, shut down the computer, install new ssd, and boot it to do new install.

It sounds complicated but it's easy to do in practice.

yeah just use disk management to extend the volume.

it all depends on your budgets. if it's for common usage, entry-level ssd like uv400 should be good enough. i personally will go for 850 evo because of longer warranty period. (have tested m.2 sata variant of 850 evo; not bad)

as for its shelf life, don't worry about it. i have 2x old 840 evo 500gb (planar tlc). after a few years' use (close to 3 years), the tbw is currently about 2tb only (the laptop is used for programming and compiling; running virtual machines. however i do use primocache with deferred writes on).

Just bought a 480gb sandisk ssd plus for 369(After 150 discount) at gemfive.
Anyone interested can check it out

tbw is 'total bytes written', a guaranteed limit of the amount of data to be written (and get erased) to ssd within valid warranty period.

another measurement for endurance is wpd, or 'drive writes per day', e.g. for a ssd with a capacity of 480gb, 1 wpd means the ssd is guaranteed so that it can be written 480gb of data everyday without fail, within warranty period. my old samsung sm843t 480gb has a random terabytes written endurance of 2wpd for 5 years, which means it can be written 2x 480gb (its sequential terabytes written endurance is 11 wpd for 5 years) it's an enterprise drive built to last (and expensive). seriously you don't need it.

all in all, just don't worry about the lifespan. with proper use, you will not exceed even the consumer ssd limit for many years. (don't use it for torrents; hdd is good enough for that)

personally i think it's worth it to pay myr 90 per year for the additional warranty; plus you can run rapid mode (free ram caching with magician; if you have extra system ram to do this).

kingston ssd tool doesn't provide ram caching afaik.

it's just my personal preference. if you don't need long warranty or ram cache, you probably can just save 180 and go for uv400.

Yeah, I think it's OPTIMISATION instead of DEFRAGMENTATION. Windows 10 has improved management features for SSD and it's a blessing indeed.

I'm still looking forward to removing some of the unnecessary stuff that comes with Windows 10. Maybe slap in 16GB RAM in my lappie as the next step (currently at 8GB of RAM)? 

By the way, I nearly taken home the Sandisk Extreme II but they ran out of stock. 

I bought it last Sunday for RM309 (inclusive GST) at Low Yat Plaza. I didn't really do a price comparison and went straight in for the kill. It might not be the best price. 

Oh, it could be either Extreme II or Ultra II. 

as long as it's sufficient 8gb is fine. however i think the current optimal is 16gb. software do make use of ram to enhance much better user experience.

Yeah it's better to invest it if you use it frequently

imo the optimal system setup for current personal computing consists of:

1. 1x sata ssd, at least 240gb;
2. 1x hdd (mainly for data storage);
3. 16gb ram.

This setup is affordable these days. You can use it for quite some time for normal use. When it gets too old, just convert it to storage server at home.