WD Black 2 Dual-Drive SSD+HDD Hybrid Review

Performance Summary: The WD Black 2 isn’t a barn burner, as our benchmarks have shown. To squeeze a 120GB solid state drive and 1TB hard disk drive, into a single 2.5” device, with 9.5mm Z-Height, WD had to make some obvious concessions. Don’t let the synthetic numbers fool you, though. In the trace-based PCMark 7 storage benchmarks, which are a better indicator of real-world performance, the WD Black 2 trails faster, standalone SSDs by only a few percentage points. The WD Black 2 offers the same responsive, and speedy performance SSD users have some to expect.

The WD Black 2 SSD + HDD Dual Drive - Currently $299 on Amazon

WD deserves some kudos for bringing a product like the Black 2 to market. The drive is obviously not for everyone. Desktop users would save a few bucks and be better served by separate solid state and hard disk drives. All-in-One, small form factor, or mobile users, with systems that have only a single 2.5” drive-bay, however, no longer have to compromise between speed and capacity. With the WD Black 2, users can enjoy the benefits of an SSD and still have plenty of bulk storage space at their disposal.

This level of integration comes at a premium, though. WD is currently selling the Black 2 Dual Drive for $299, or roughly $0.28 per gigabyte. That’s way more affordable than any decent standalone solid state drive at the moment, but about the double (or more) than some hybrid drive or standard hard drives. Whether or not the WD Black 2 is a good fit for your needs is going to depend on your type of systems and budget, but there’s no way you’re going to get a similar capacity SSD in that price range. With that said, 480GB solid state drives are available for about the same price as the Black 2, so weigh you options and capacity needs carefully.

Innovative Design SSD Performance, HDD Capacity "Just Works" - No drivers or caching software necessary	Price Premium SSD Not Terribly Fast Must "Unhide" HDD at first