14 DAY TRIAL // In the past, we saw HHDs (hybrid hard drives) and SSHDs (solid-state hybrid drives) launched by Western Digital, Seagate and/or Toshiba, but now WD has launched something truly different.
Well, maybe not truly different because the underlying principle is, in the end, pretty much the same: add flash support to a magnetic storage device.
The implementation is totally different though. It's not just a few NAND chips next to an HDD, it's a dull SSD in the same case.
Sure, the drive had to make do with being thicker than normal (9.5 mm versus 7 mm or even 5 mm), but that's hardly a big loss.
Especially when the SSD has a capacity of 120 GB and the HDD is of 1 TB. This is like SSD caching on a whole new level, since a single cable is used.
To elaborate, it's possible to "combine" an SSD with an HDD inside a PC, via SSD caching, Intel Smart Response technology as it were.
However, the Western Digital Black2 dual drive, as the new product is called, does all that on its own, automatically.
And since it achieves all that in a 2.5-inch form factor, that means the newcomer is ideal for notebooks, not just desktops and workstations.
Western Digital Black2 has a price of $299 / €299. Obviously, SATA 6.0 Gbps technology is used for the interface.
"Our customers told us they like our Solid State Hybrid Drive technology, but our tech savvy users asked for more control of where they store their data," said Matt Rutledge, senior vice president of WD's Storage Technology business unit.
"The WD Black2 dual drives empower our customers to enjoy SSD performance and access high capacity storage in a no-compromise package. The WD Black2 dual drive is a direct result of our interaction with our customer base through WD Labs initiatives. WD devised its beta labs program to provide an exclusive testing arena for key customers and technology influencers of existing and emerging WD storage products."
