Storage specialist WD today announced the release of the WD Black2 dual drive, a model that fuses a 2.5-inch 120GB solid state drive (SSD) with a 1TB hard disk drive (HDD).
Said to be the first of its kind and aimed at consumers and service providers, the WD Black2 dual drive connects through a single cable and fits into a conventional 9.5 mm slot.
"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 programme to provide an exclusive testing arena for key customers and technology influencers of existing and emerging WD storage products."
SSD drives work by using flash memory components and deliver considerable speed improvements over tradition magnetic hard disks, but manufacturing and component costs lead to lower capacities and higher costs.
According to WD, Black2 is free of caching algorithms and delivers SATA 6 GBps interface speeds. It is packaged in a standard 9.5 mm, 2.5-inch form factor with legacy SATA connector, making the WD Black2 dual drive compatible with Microsoft platforms from Windows XP to Windows 8.1.
The Black2 dual drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. MSRP for the 2.5-inch 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD WD Black2 dual drive is not available, but will be announced shortly, WD said.