1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

News WD Black Dual Drive is world's first SSD+HDD

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Meanmotion, 25 Nov 2013.

  1. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    1,652
    Likes Received:
    19
  2. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

    Joined:
    8 Aug 2005
    Posts:
    1,039
    Likes Received:
    41
    I wonder how a PS4 would cope with this?

    I know it says Windows only ATM, but there would be an obvious, very large console market for this.

    It would be ideal to shift the game your currently playing on to the SSD whilst storing others on the mechanical drive.
    it's never that simple though, is it...bound to be issues with 2 drives being visible to the PS4 OS.
     
  3. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

    Joined:
    22 Mar 2008
    Posts:
    4,714
    Likes Received:
    122
    Clever, and a good idea for small builds as you'd only need a single drive.

    I doubt it works in consoles, the dual partition would confuse them.
     
  4. dactone

    dactone dact-one

    Joined:
    26 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    372
    Likes Received:
    7
    Stupid idea. Why would you buy this and not a ssd for £70 and and a hdd for £60 ?
     
  5. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,066
    Likes Received:
    6,610
    Because the overwhelming majority of laptops on the market have only a single drive bay?
     
  6. phuzz

    phuzz This is a title

    Joined:
    28 May 2004
    Posts:
    1,712
    Likes Received:
    27
    They do, but it's pretty easy to convert the optical drive bay to housing another HDD. Of course, a lot of laptops don't have an optical drive any more, but surely the Bit-Tech approach is to mod it, rather than buying a product to do it all for you?
     
  7. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,066
    Likes Received:
    6,610
    And that is your problem, right there. I'm typing this on a device with a single internal SATA port. My last laptop had two, but one held a custom optical drive that would have been a real pain to convert. Prior to that? One SATA port, no optical drive again.

    Too many people see "not useful to me" as "not useful." In a world where sales of portables are spanking sales of hulkin' gert desktops, it's churlish in the extreme not to welcome a way to get the benefits of two drives without actually needing two drives.

    If you're happy hot-gluing an SSD to the lid of your laptop and running a cable inside, more power to you; don't buy WD's new drive. For everyone else, it's nice to have the option n'est-ce pas?
     
  8. Redbeaver

    Redbeaver The Other Red Meat

    Joined:
    15 Feb 2006
    Posts:
    2,062
    Likes Received:
    36
    Oooooooooooh perfect for building a mini PC.

    Pro: physical space.
    Cons: dat price. and 5400 rpm.
     
  9. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    1,652
    Likes Received:
    19
    Seriously?

    1. What if you want the optical bay as well?
    2. Have you seen the inside of your average laptop? They are not at all easy to modify.
    3. In my eyes modding should serve a purpose, whether it be aesthetic, financial or performance. I fail to see how any of those criteria will be fulfilled in this instance given the time, money and effort involved.
     
  10. azazel1024

    azazel1024 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    3 Jun 2010
    Posts:
    487
    Likes Received:
    10
    If they made options of

    1) 60GB SSD and 320GB HDD in a 7mm height package
    2) 120GB SSD and 320GB HDD in a 7mm height package
    3) 60GB SSD and 640GB HDD in a 7mm height
    4) 120GB SSD and 640GB HDD in a 7mm height

    Then the 9.5mm option they have and maybe a 240GB + 1TB option

    I could see some interest there. Most ultra books though are 7mm height drive bays (if they have one). Heck, I'd love an "inexpensive" 60GB SSD and 320GB HDD in one for my ultrabook, but this drive won't fit and its a lot more capacity and expense than I need or would want.
     
  11. Icy EyeG

    Icy EyeG Controlled by Eyebrow Powers™

    Joined:
    23 Jul 2007
    Posts:
    517
    Likes Received:
    3
    That's the problem: they'd have to update the firmware to deal with that somehow. So, it probably won't happen.

    If you guys ever get one for review, please try it on Linux, just to see how the OS deals with the drive.
     
  12. Pete J

    Pete J Employed scum

    Joined:
    28 Sep 2009
    Posts:
    7,210
    Likes Received:
    1,770
    I wonder: if you installed two of these, would you be able to link the SSDs in RAID 0? And the HDDs? Though as others have pointed out, if you have two slots available, you're better off picking up a separate HDD and SSD.
     
  13. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    1,652
    Likes Received:
    19
    Should be arriving tomorrow but Linux is unsupported. Appears as a single drive - the SSD - and requires a Windows only driver to have second drive show up.
     
  14. AiA

    AiA Minimodder

    Joined:
    25 Jul 2009
    Posts:
    103
    Likes Received:
    1
    5400 rpm (but the other half's is a SSD :)
     
  15. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,066
    Likes Received:
    6,610
    This gives me a sad. Wonder if it's reverse-engineerable?
     
  16. iwod

    iwod What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    22 Jul 2007
    Posts:
    86
    Likes Received:
    0
    I see two problem.
    1. Price, that is like 30 - 40% premium i am paying for. Which seriously i could do without.
    2. Speed. SSD already saturate the SATA Bus. Until we get PCI-Express.... ( Which the current SSD still dont have a problem saturating it........ may be we need PCI-E 4.0 real soon ?)
     
  17. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

    Joined:
    30 Oct 2012
    Posts:
    9,648
    Likes Received:
    388
    I didn't think SSD's were at those kinda speed yet, are we talking saturating SATA I,II, or III ?
     
  18. Atomic

    Atomic Gerwaff

    Joined:
    6 May 2002
    Posts:
    9,646
    Likes Received:
    94
    That's such a shame, one of these would have been perfect in my MacBook.
     
  19. GuilleAcoustic

    GuilleAcoustic Ook ? Ook !

    Joined:
    26 Nov 2010
    Posts:
    3,277
    Likes Received:
    72
    I second you on that point. Just saw the retail price on my fav French store ... 299€ :wallbash:. It's twice the price of a 1TB / 5400 rpm + 120GB SSD :waah:.
     
  20. azazel1024

    azazel1024 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    3 Jun 2010
    Posts:
    487
    Likes Received:
    10
    Hmmm, looking at some prelim reviews, it looks like the driver/firmware is a little bugged. Concurrent hits to the HDD and SSD apparently caused at least one hardlock that required a reboot and I think deleting and restoring the partitions. It only happened once...but that is one hell of a problem to have.

    Also the SSD speeds are slow. Only ~350ish MB/sec reads and 140ish MB/sec writes. Its apparently just 2 NAND dies on the package (maybe stacked?). So it is actually narrower than most mSATA drives (which are often 4 NAND dies). Seems like WD would have been much better off going for a lower HDD capacity and using the thinner profile to put a full SSD in there, or at least a bigger board with a couple more NAND packages.

    So basically it is a slow SSD with a slow HDD at a big mark-up.

    I get the space saving, but most laptops with only one drive bay and no mSATA slot made in the last 2-3 years seem to have 7mm drive bays. You can always use a spacer to fit the drive in a laptop with a 9.5mm drive bay, so I don't see a good reason they should have limited themselves on this one.

    For the price though, I'd think most users would be better off just getting a 240GB SSD, or even a 480GB SSD as its almost the same price. US MSRP is $299. Checking Newegg there are a few SSDs in the 480/512GB capacity range that are $300-330 right now.

    So I guess I am not seeing the alure anymore at the price WD is trying to sell it at. At $200, sure. Or at much better performance and the price they are asking, sure. I really still think they'd be better of selling a 7mm height 60/120GB SSD and 320GB HDD package at $130 for the 60/320 option or $180 for the 120/320 option. I'd bet WD could still make a good profit off that and I'd bet that would be a very attractive setup for a lot of ultrabook users on a budget (and laptop users).
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page