WD Black Dual-Drive 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD Hybrid Review
Test System & Comparison Drives
All tests were performed on a fresh and up-to-date install of Windows 8 Pro x64 with no other applications running while using AHCI mode set through the BIOS. Synthetic Benchmarks were run with the OS loaded on a 120GB Corsair Force SSD. In between every test, the test drive was secure erased using an instance of Parted Magic. As such, all results should be indicative of optimal performance. All components were set to their default speeds and are listed below.
Z77 Test Bench
| Intel LGA 1155 Test Platform | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Brand/Model | Live Pricing | |||
|
Processor |
Core i5 2500k | ||||
|
Motherboard |
ASUS Maximus V Gene Z77 | ||||
|
Memory |
Kingston HyperX KHX16C9B1RK28 8GB | ||||
|
OS Drive |
Corsair Force 120GB (FW 2.4) | ||||
|
Power Supply |
Antec Basiq BP550W Plus-EC | ||||
|
Operating System |
Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit | ||||
Comparison Drives And Other Models We Have Tested
Since there are so many SSDs out there now with different controllers, we started a reference table of which controllers are used by each drive to help you compare results. Different controllers definitely perform differently and each has various strengths and weaknesses. Like CPU’s, even identical drives will have variations in performance and part of that variance may be attributable to the NAND flash used. Since the tests of the drives listed have spanned different test benches and represent different interfaces, we have listed the most recent ones for easy reference.
| SSD MODEL | CONTROLLER | Interface |
| Corsair Force LS 240GB | Phison PS3108 | SATA III |
| Samsung Evo 500GB | MEX S4LN045X01 | SATA III |
| Seagate 600 240GB | LAMD LM87800 | SATA III |
| OCZ Vertex 450 256GB | Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 | SATA III |
| Crucial M500 480GB | Marvell 88SS9187 | SATA III |
| OCZ Vertex 3.20 240GB | SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | SATA III |
| Samsung 840 Pro 240GB | Samsung MDX | SATA III |
| Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB | Marvell 88SS9175 | SATA III |
| Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB | LAMD LM87800 | SATA III |
| Intel 520 Series 240GB | SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | SATA III |
| OCZ Vector 256GB | Indilinx Barefoot 3 M00 | SATA III |
| Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB | SandForce SF-2200 (SF-2281) | SATA III |
| Samsung 830 Series 256GB | Samsung S4LJ204X01-Y040 | SATA III |
CrystalDiskInfo 6.0.4 Readout:
For the WD Black drives, note that both drives are displayed on the same screen labeled D: and T:. The readout on CrystalDiskInfo is two-fold though a bit misleading as it shows that both NCQ and S.M.A.R.T. are enabled as expected but also TRIM shows for both which certainly does not apply to the HDD yet the command does pass through the same SATA III (6Gbps) interface that the HDD is using. This is a great free tool to see lots of detailed information about the drive such as the firmware version for which we are running the latest available at the time of testing – 01.01A01.
Let’s have a look at the performance with some synthetic benchmarks followed up by some real world tests.