WD Black Dual Drive in a Toughbook

I'm thinking of putting one of the WD Back Dueal Dries into my CF-30. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to pass on with putting one of those in a CF-30?

 

Ok I gotta ask but what is that ??

 

I think it's WD Black Dual Drives

Interesting idea..
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1190

The Black2 consists of a 120GB SSD and 1TB dual-platter 5400rpm hard drive. It's not a hybrid drive (or SSHD) by definition like the Momentus XT because there's no caching involved. The SSD and hard drive appear as separate partitions, giving the end-user the power to decide what data goes to the SSD and what doesn't. WD calls the Black2 a dual-drive, which is a logical name for the drive because it's fundamentally two drives in one.

 

I like this and the price is not that bad. I think I may have to keep an eye out for one . One thing...too bad it's only a 5400 RPM. It would be better if it was a 7200 RPM.

Model : WD1001X06XDTL
Performance : SATA 6.0Gb/s
2.5" - 1TB HDD + 120GB SSD

WD Black is the fusion of a fully accessible solid-state drive for your operating system and a generous capacity hard drive for personal data and large files. It is the must-have upgrade solution for your single drive PC, fueled by the power of two and inspired by you. WD Black dual drive is a revolutionary storage device that is specifically designed for the modern enthusiast whether you are a creative pro, gamer or PC builder.
- Fully accessible SSD for the operating system, generous capacity hard drive for personal data and large files
- Lower cost-per-gigabyte advantage over the solid-state competition
- Dual drives extend the life of MLC NAND and maintain optimum SSD performance
- You control where your data resides with no need for large cloud storage or expensive third party storage plans
- Built for laptops, all-in-one PC's, gaming PC's, mobile workstations, small form factor PC's, high-performance laptops
Manufacturer Warranty
Limited Warranty period (parts): 5 years
Limited Warranty period (labor): 5 years

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...42&cm_re=WD1001X06XDTL-_-22-236-642-_-Product

 

Sweet.

 

That's a really good price for that much drive.

 

WD Black² Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD Kit WD1001X06XDTL
Check out newegg . They have these on sale now with promo code ESCARKK28 for $109.99 with free shipping...extra $30.00 off the sale price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-Index-_-AllLaptopHardDrives-_-22236642-S1A3A

 

I just bought a pair of 3TB NAS drives frpm Best Buy on ebay for $99 each,just in case you guys need some big drives. And they were WD Red series.

 

good idea ... 109 bucks is a good price ... however ...
after reading the reviews i am not overly impressed by the failure rate/problems that this drive has .
also , the spinning section is not recognized if the WD software is not installed ... this requires the use of a flash drive and a linux boot disk .
so , if one is not hip with using a 'nix system and doing a little "work" , one might want to shy away from this product .

installing this drive requires two USB ports (one is exclusively for power in addition to the first) .
the provided cable is on the short side , so if you don't have two USB ports that are close together , you need to find/provide a second USB/power source .

annnd a little recon shows a problem with 'nix :
"I did exactly the above procedure and use the WDblack2 with Linux. Works without a problem. Yet there is a little issue. When mounting the disc, it is spinning for a short time only and quickly goes to sleep (spinning down).
If you want to watch a movie it is spinning up, delivers the data and quickly spins down again. As soon as the mediaplayer wants to refill its buffer for the next movie section the disc has to spin up again. While it's spinning up the mediaplayer has to wait for the data. That behaviour is causing irritating regular delays."
this was extracted from here :
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storag...ll-Review-120GB-SSD-1TB-HDD-single-25-package

 

Hi there MercTech!

Yes, you can use the Black Dual drive in your notebook since it's 2.5 inch drive. I personally have one in my laptop and I find it very good with a solid performance, and the biggest benefit is that I don't have to remove my CD-ROM in order to have a SSD and a HDD in it.

However, in order to unlock the HDD partition you have to download a specific software since only the SSD portion of the drive is displayed during initial setup to ensure that the operating system is put on the correctly sized partition. Once the software is installed, the remaining 1 TB will be visible.

You can find more about the drive and the steps how to initialize the drive here:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=MX7JzR

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

 

Just curious....
Why not install that software in the firmware of the drive? Seems to me the separate software could cause a variety of problems later on down the road.

A hacked version with a virus would be a huge security issue...A corrupt version could mean data loss or inaccessibility. A reformat of the SSD means you are locked out of your data drive until you can download and install the HDD "key"...

Someone convince me that I am wrong???

 

I think you have a good point there Shawn.

 

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while..

 

I don't think that there's a need of any hack software since a user can minimize (or even avoid that risk) by using the software that is on the provided USB flash drive which comes with the drive, or by downloading the software directly from the WD website and not from some 3rd party site.

As for the reformatting, even when you make a fresh installation of the OS with two drive (SSD+HDD) I think it's better to unplug the HDD in order to avoid confusion, so the locked hard drive partition is not a big problem in my opinion.

 

If one drive fails in the dual drive, can any of the drive still be used?

 

When the SSD partition reaches its write life and becomes read-only, the operating system will no longer boot and data cannot be saved to the SSD. However, even in this read-only state, the drive can be connected as a secondary device in order to access the data on it. In the case of the Dual Drive, connecting the drive as a secondary device will allow access to both the SSD and HDD to retrieve data.

 

@Mighty Miro,
You're missing my point....Hacked software is not NEEDED, but neither is any virus code..People create them just because they are sick, twisted people.
They create false websites and the phony/hacked drivers are installed unwittingly by the average Joe trying to get his WalMart special back up and running...
Why?..Average "Joe" does a Google search for the unlock software or driver and downloads the first hit....Why? because his 10 year old kid took the flash drive to try and record Sponge Bob on it...Why? Because he's too lazy to spend 2 hours trying to find the flash drive 2 years after he bought the drive....
Trust me it will happen...
We get newbies on this forum every other day asking for Toughbook drivers.........Umm.... they are on the Official Panasonic Toughbook site....Who would think that?...

The extra software key adds another download,,another step,,It complicates things..Usually at a time when my Windows install got corrupted (by a virus)and I need that critical XL spreadsheet that's on the HDD side..I probably spent a hour reinstalling my OS and am already in a bit of a panic...
Another step is not what I would want.. Not when with an "unlocked" data drive I can put the data drive in a USB dock and get my data in under a minute instead of having to mess around with downloading and installing an unlock "key"...

Unlock the HDD in firmware and I will be in line to buy one...

I'm STILL not convinced.....
.

 

the 64 K$ question :
is there any reason whatsoever that the drivers cannot be handled in the firmware so that extraneous methods do not have to be employed ?
in other words ; plug-n-play (basically) .

if the drivers can be handled in the firmware , then why was it decided to use extraneous methods ?

 

Larry,
That is my question also...You just ask it directly...I was taking the scenic route to get there..

 

heh ...
that's me , subtle as a tank .

just ask a couple of the guys i sponsor .

 

Ok this never got answered that I can see. Kind of like an answer myself. Just to know type of thing.

 

When you install the drive physically, only this small SSD portion will show up in BIOS or be accessible.
You need to install your OS, then install the magic software key from WD that will unlock the second drive portion.
Then you partition/format it and it becomes available..
I don't think your data on the second drive will be accessible if the SSD portion ever crashes or if you pull the drive and swap it into another machine..

For whatever reason WD thought it was better like that rather than put the firmware right on the drive and simplify things.
IF the software/key was on the drives firmware, both drives would show in BIOS and be available as soon as you plugged them in.

I'll pass on the drive.....I can get a usb stick or usb drive that is accessible in seconds without having to jump through software/firmware keys to unlock the drive...

 

I wonder if one could use the same software used to unlock password protected hdd's or even something as simple and easy access as G-parted to open that non-ssd hdd? For all it seems to me as if the soft ware key might just be a simple lack of formatting of the other hdd. And that they slave it to the ssd. Or someething along the lines of what ATT and other dvr sellers use to make a hdd only work with their machines attached. I imagine that WD would use that type of technique than invent another way. If I had one to play with I'd sure love to take a look.

 

Maybe you can download the "key" software and disassemble it....Software is not my scene....
The software for that drive is here.. I'll have to read the installer guide.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=2301&sid=218&lang=en

 

MEH. Too much like work. I'll let the youngsters figure that out. Not like I'm going to invest in one anytime soon. Heck I only have 1 ssd and it's only a 32gb unit.

 

From the install guide...You can't even resize the SSD partition without having to move ALL data from the HDD portion. You also need to reduce the size of the SSD partition so it fits on just the SSD.. WHAT! I am thinking that means some of the SSD information is dependent on the HDD. I would be afraid to re install an operating system without backing up everything on both drives. Reinstalling windows might erase everything on the HDD side... YUCK...
It's not really 2 drives in my opinion.

This procedure is useful for resetting the size of the primary operating system partitions without losing any data.
1. You must delete enough data from the SSD partition to ensure that it is less than 100 GB. This allows the re-installation process to reduce the size of the partition to fit on just the SSD portion of the dual drive.
2. If there is a partition on the HDD portion of the drive you will need to move the data to another location and delete the partition.
3. Run the WD Black² installation software.
4. ClickReinstall WD Black² Dual Drive.
5. Click Proceed to continue.
6. The installation complete screen appears.

 

Mighty-Miro,

That was polite.

Thanks.

J'd.....btw I don't Like anything, I prefer to comment (or not)

 

Ah......mikey......I wouldn't touch the drive with a ten foot pole, politeness notwithstanding. No offense WD. Too much to worry/think about.

BTW mikey was not the real actor in this ....he just sat there and ate;. D

 

i agree ...
this drive is waaaay to complicated and *fussy* .
totally female .
yep , this one aint makin' getting on my letter to santa .

/me wonders what they were smoking when they designed this thing