Alternatively you can opt for online sellers at garage sales.
Usually the box or ssd label have firmware version info. You can also use crystal diskinfo to get the firmware version.

You can download new firmware from goplextor.com. The update procedure is simple, and is normally non-destructive. For safety's sake, just do a data backup first. Create a usb bootable with the iso via rufus/pendrivelinux tool and use it to boot and apply the update.

The need to update the firmware depends on issues on the current firmware. it's optional if your drive works well.

m6s

mostly i stored dramas, apk, rom etc. my 8GB adata kantoi so i bought this one. sandisk too many fake out there. transfer speed not exactly the same they stated but so far ok. importantly made in korea expect the adapter made in china.

1) for warranty claims, just put stock parts back in their original places. honestly when i modify my laptops, i keep stock parts untouched. i then buy new parts (ssd, hdd, ram, wifi card, etc.) and replace them.

2) usually it can be a boot drive, but you should wait for a more definitive answer from other y510p owners.

if you still used the stock os with stock bloatwares, that might be the case. normally bloatwares will add services in the background and they might add more reads/writes to hdd. also know that even a plain, non-optimized os can cause 100% usage of hdd. you should do some system optimizations, and throw away bloatwares that you don't use. the better way is to do a fresh os install and build your system up from scratch.
m5pro, m5m.
yes, it's better to avoid potential issues like mixing up boot orders of your computer.