Features:

  • Store games and play them faster with an internal SSHD drive delivering SSD performance and HDD capacities
  • Perfect for PC gaming and laptop gaming, this hybrid hard drive helps load maps and boot levels faster with flash enhanced speeds
  • Choose from a variety of capacities for an optimized rig
  • Low power consumption means a more cost effective setup
  • Get long-term peace of mind with the included five-year limited warranty
Perhaps I should rate this lower, but...

When I got the drive in the mail from Amazon, it didn't work. I installed in my PS4, and I couldn't even reliably read the USB stick with the System Update on it (yes, the stick was formatted FAT32, and yes it was the 900MB system file installed in PS4->UPDATE). When I could read the USB stick after many attempts, the drive initialization would sit at 99% for up to an hour before I got an error that the drive could not be initialized. During this process, the drive would periodically emit beeping sounds. After a few web searches on these symptoms, I admitted to myself: I'd received a bad drive. The reason why this review is 5 stars is because of Amazon's response. When I reported that there was a problem with the drive, within two days I had a new drive in my hands. When I installed this one in my PS4, the initialization procedure went smoothly. The USB stick (no different from before) was accessed immediately, and the drive initialization just took a couple of minutes. The new drive with its 64MB cache and 8GB flash is definitely "zippier" than the drive that came with the PS4, a 500MB HGST with 16MB cache. Given the performance of the working drive, and Amazon's swift replacement of the bad drive, I'm giving this a 5-star rating.

Best HDD (hybrid) out right now. Beats my 4TB WD Black by a long shot.

I got the 2.5" 2TB for my laptop. Great HDD. I will be getting a 3.5" 2TB for my desktop to add onto my 4TB WD Black. I wish they made bigger ones. Like 6TB. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. As for performance: It's a hyrbid. I notice a big difference in transfer speed from a 3.0 extrernal and my m.2's. A couple GB does not even take 30 seconds. It's exactly what I need. I just wish they would lower SSD prices given how long the technology has been out and how much we can pack into a small space already. Prices refuse to drop. So instead of a 4TB SSD for $1200, I'd rather spend around $200 for a hybrid (in this case, $100 for a 2TB).

PS4 Pro

What more do i need to say. Bought it for use on my PS4 Pro and installed it in the Pro when i got it. Works great and you will notice things do load faster. Just remember you will need to download the current firmware for PS4 (pro & original use same firmware) and it needs to be full firmware download (the one thats over 900mb) to setup the PS4 operating system. Use a USB and make sure you download the file directly into the folder itself (PS4 > UPDATE > then the file). Dont forget to do a system to system transfer if you have a PS4 already that has games and things on it. It will take a couple hours (around 2 or 3 hours usually), but if you play MMOs (FFXIV, Star Trek, Warframe, Elder Scrolls and so on) it will take longer unless you delete the games off your system before doing the system transfer. Thats because MMOs have a ton of files from always being updated and its just easier to redownload them from PSN. You can also use that same process if your someone who likes to backup your files on an external drive.

Good PS4 Pro HD

I got this for my sons PS4 Pro and happy with the purchase. After the initialization period the drive has performed great. For those who are not familiar with the technology, its a learning hard drive. The more you open programs the faster they load. It keeps commonly loaded programs in the large cache and reads from that the next time its requested. Also happy with the additional 1TB it adds to what i call small, 1TB PS4... glad I have a 2TB PS4 Pro now :)

How To Unlock It's TRUE Potential

Those complaining about this drive having similar speed compared to a stock PS4 drive may want to READ how this drive is designed to work. There is a good review over at Eurogamer that you should check out. I will paraphrase from their excellent review but in short the drive comes with 8gb of NAND flash storage that only starts to work its magic when you load the same game several times in succession. The drive logically caches the data it sees in frequent use. The more you use the game the faster it loads, topping out speed wise around the 5th load. At this point the Firecuda SSHD is easily within striking distance of a standard SSD. For the money, this makes the Firecuda SSHD a GIGANTIC no brainer! Highly recommended, I'm loving mine!

Worth it

First hybrid drive I ever bought, researched, researched, and then researched more. Very impressed. Initial start up was a bit sluggish, but I cannot dock points off of initial starting. After the OS loaded up and I tried various documents and programs to load, I restarted. Slow to shut down, but really quick to start back up, much quicker the second time. I repeated the steps again, documents and programs loaded ever so slightly faster this time. So I restarted again, only this time, full power off. Shut down almost instantly. I pushed the power button and before the screen could turn back on, it was already loaded up waiting for me (because I'm used to taking 2 minutes for complete booting). I then decided to try opening up games I knew could work on this laptop that weren't able to on my older HDD. They worked amazing, no lag, and even loaded up within seconds, not minutes, and loading screens were only seconds and not minutes as well. If you have an older laptop that's slowing down and you need it to survive a little longer due to budget constraints, might I suggest this product to rekindle your fondness for your laptop. The old HDD is now an external hard drive.

Fresh install file is about 900mb

I got tired of having to delete games to play new games. And then realizing I deleted it so I have to redownload it to play it... and so forth. It's like juggling a inventory in a RPG. Anyhow, I have a CUH-1115A, it's a white Destiny bundle PS4 (fall into the 1st gen 1000-1100 series) pretty straightforward installation for the 2tb hdd. Now installation of software I ended up being super dumb. I kept downloading the update, not the installation version. Go to the official site, just search for it and it should be on the playstation website, scroll down to the bottom to fresh installation tab, scroll down to a second download link, this file should be around 900mb. This is the correct file for a clean install. PS4 / UPDATE / PS4UPDATE.PUP or whatever place on flash drive, follow the instructions. Hope that saves someone time on downloading the update file (300mb aprox) like 3-4 times XD

Great drive for PS4 and PS4 Pro IF you understand how it works and how to best utilize it for performance.

I installed this drive in my PS4 Pro, and have been very happy with the performance and storage space. However, there is some confusion out there regarding performance, and if you don't understand how the drive works, you'll be disappointed. When you install the drive and begin firing up your games, you may be upset to discover that it's not at all faster than the 500 GB or 1 TB drive that came with your PS4 to begin with. Really, it's not one bit faster. You can time them and they load games and levels with seconds of one another. After seeing this, you may ask why you bothered paying a premium for the drive. After all, there are reliable, cheaper 2.5" 2TB drives on the market? The answer lies in how the drive works and how it uses the onboard 8 GB of faster flash space. The drive has onboard intelligence the monitors your activity. As you do things like repeatedly launch your current favorite game, the drive takes note of this and begins storing that game's or games' data in flash. As a result, subsequent loads become faster and faster, usually maxing out around the 5th load. By then, you'll see times dramatically faster, usually on par with SSDs. If you're a typical PS4 user, mostly sticking with one or two favorites of the moment, this drive will be immensely beneficial in terms of performance once you give it a week or two to learn your habits (yes, you can shortcut this by opening, quitting completely, and then reopening your favorite game a few times in a row). Now, if you're not a typical user, and find you regularly jump around to lots of different game and activities, then this drive probably isn't for you. Its performance gains rely on your having data you access with frequency. If that's not your behavior, it'll never be able to pin down on flash what you're likely to reach for next, instead having to load from the slow 5400rpm platter each time. In that case, a true SSD is your only hope for a noticeable improvement in speed, but then you're likely sacrificing storage space for speed. Used as intended, this drive offer the potential for both.

Can't disable power-save, but 100MB/sec crazy fast for 2.5" Hybrid-HDD

By far... the fastest 2.5" HDD that I've ever used or seen that wasn't pure-SSD! I have two other Toshiba Hybrid SSD+HDD drives and this SMOKES THEM in every way! Only drawback: My HP Envy laptop running Windows 10 Pro cannot disable its power-save for reasons unknown to me, and believe me I tried a LOT of things on this HP laptop but... this drive powers down after approx 4 hours and nothing I set can stop it. However... it does spin-up VERY fast (about 1 sec), and can easily sustain 100MB/sec. Anyone who's ever used a hybrid 2.5" HDD before knows they usually only hit about 50-60MB/sec like my Toshiba hybrid SSD+HDD does. This is like a desktop-speed, a great laptop or PS4 or whatever 2.5" drive for the $$!! I love it. And I rarely say that.........

Great value for upgrading MacBook Pro

I purchased this drive in January to upgrade my mid-2012 Macbook Pro 13". I was considering going to an SSD drive, but didn't want to pay the premium price to get a high storage capacity. This hybrid drive was the perfect solution!! Installation was simple; I created an install-USB drive with the new operating system (macOS Sierra), swapped my old HD into an external enclosure, installed this drive in the computer (no special bracket needed like with the SSDs) and was up and running in just a couple hours after OS installation and copying over my files. This thing is FAST!! What a huge improvement of standard HDD. Boot times are easily around 30 seconds and apps launch incredibly fast. I have 16GB of RAM and this was the perfect compliment to that for a very responsive system.

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