WD Black2

Overview

WD's own twist to the hybrid hard drive, the Black2 is a dual drive solution, fusing individual 120GB solid-state and 1TB 5400rpm mechanical drives into a single 2.5-inch package. The Black^2 will be seen as two separate drives on your system, even though they share the same SATA 6Gb/s connector and take a single slot, meaning it can fit in your laptop as a faster disk replacement without issue.

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 38 expert reviews

Excellent:

12
Good:

13
Average:

7
Bad:

6

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Last revision on December 4, 2015

Reviewers Liked

Solid SSD performance
Good HDD performance
The fact that the above two bullets are possible in a single 2.5" 9.5mm package

Reviewers Didn't Like

Logical addressing of the SSD and HDD may be an issue for some power users

Expert reviews and ratings

By TechSpot on December 04, 2013 85

While it may not be the fastest or most affordable option, the Black2 works as expected and fills a gap in the storage market, which seems worthy enough of our outstanding award. Kudos WD for trying to shake things up a little.

By Computer Shopper on September 29, 2014 60

The unique Black2 kit combines a full-fledged SSD with a 1TB hard drive in one chassis, letting you install both kinds of storage in a single laptop drive bay. Even with a recent price drop, however, it's a lukewarm value for most notebook upgraders,...

By Maximum PC on July 24, 2014 90

The WD Black2 is an answer to the prayers of mobile users who have just one drive bay but want the speed of an SSD with the capacity of a hard drive. Unlike a hybrid drive, which stores all data on a hard drive but uses a limited amount of flash storage...

By hardwarebbq.com on April 08, 2014 63

Dissapointing. While the mechanical HDD's performance is not surprising since its a WD Slim Blue...

By PCWorld on March 05, 2014 50

The WD Black2 is faster than a mechanical hard drive, but it's not nearly as fast as a comparably priced 500- to 512GB SSD. Its SSD write speed is particularly disappointing.

By PC Authority on February 19, 2014 100

It is pretty safe to say that we don't see a huge amount of consumer-facing innovation in the hard drive space. Most of the significant advancements over the past few years have revolved around fitting larger and larger capacities into smaller and...

By reviewstudio.net on January 28, 2014 83

The WD Black2 Dual Drive is a masterpiece as in that small enclosure it fits both a 120GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. The performance is excellent, and so is the power consumption. The only drawback is the price which competes with that of a 512GB SSD. PROsCONs -...

By ThinkComputers on January 27, 2014 80

So what can we say about the Western Digital Black2 Dual Hard drive? First you have to understand what Western Digital's goal was. They wanted to give you the ability to fit two drives in a single drive bay and give you a performance boost over a...

By Bit-tech.net on January 13, 2014 70

The Western Digital Black2 Dual Drive is certainly a mouthful to name but thankfully it's worth the effort as it really does deliver on being an ingenious upgrade for anyone out there with either a PC or laptop that only has room for one 2.5in drive....

By Alphr on January 10, 2014 83

A cost-effective, high-capacity SSD hybrid – a tempting upgrade for owners of older...

By Expert Reviews on January 09, 2014 80

A hard disk and SSD together in one drive, but it's not...

By TechRadar on January 06, 2014 60

It's a pity because the combination of SSD and magnetic drive in a non-hybrid package is a very compelling proposition and no mean feat of engineering. Unfortunately for WD, it also has to add up as a value proposition and at this price point, it's not quite there.

By thessdreview.com on January 02, 2014 86

IN a new approach, Western Digital creates the Black2 Dual Drive taking advantage of both the performance of the SSD and capacity of the HDD. They then tap on a 5 year warranty for a promising...

By PC Mag on December 31, 2013 50

At a lower price point, the Western Digital Black2 internal hybrid drive could be a contender. At $299, it's just too...

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