Seagate FireCuda 2TB Solid State Hybrid Drive Performance SSHD – 3.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s Flash Accelerated for Gaming PC Desktop (ST2000DX002)

Bought this to replace a failing WD2003FZEX 2TB Black drive. Figured I'd try something a little different this time, and the benchmarks and reviews swayed me to this drive. I use it as a dedicated Game Installs drive and also do a lot of work with large amounts of small files. Modding and compiling my own projects with some particularly throughput heavy workflows.All the benchmarks I've run put this drive nearly in line with the(now failing) WD Black drive for raw performance. Never quite there but always at its heels. Of course the WD Black was more consistent and had higher overall throughput. But in practical usage, the Seagate FireCuda has been surprising. Level loads are much faster. Warping around in MMOs is so quick I can't read the loading screens. Initial loading of my 94GB Skyrim build is noticeably faster, and moving throughout Skyrim's world is more consistent. Streaming assets load more smoothly, and the loadscreens between areas are much shorter. Especially if you've been playing the game for a few hours. I wouldn't say there was a difference if it wasn't immediately noticeable. Raw performance might not be quite up to par with Barracuda Pros and WD Blacks, but practical usage definitely shows a different animal.Further, the FireCuda is MUCH MUCH quieter than the 2TB Black drive, has a roughly similar spinup time, and much better seek times. Accessing huge amounts of small texture files is at least as good in a worse case scenario, and much snappier than the Black drive when the FireCuda is in its stride. I imagine over the next few months it will build a thorough map of my usage patterns, and be a very consistent drive for me.This is my first Seagate for personal use in over a decade, and I must say I am impressed. Especially because it's a Hybrid drive. Long term longevity will be my real tell, but so far it does exactly what it says on the box. In my own real world usage this is every bit the drive the 2TB Black ever was, and CHEAPER. Great drive, at a GREAT price.

I purchased this to use as an exclusive gaming drive for my HP Omen and it's been nothing short of fantastic running my games. I was getting pretty close to the storage limit on the 512 GB SSD that came with the computer, but I really liked the fast access speed and how smooth the games ran on it and didn't want to totally give that up by transferring everything over to the 3TB 7200RPM standard HDD. I needed something faster than a standard HDD, but not as ridiculously expensive as a SSD. FireCuda to the rescue!I transferred my Steam and Origin games over to the FireCuda yesterday (a very simple process) and the difference between running them on the SSD and the hybrid SSHD were negligible. Fallout 4, GTA V, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4 all run perfectly on the FireCuda. For the 20 minutes I spent on each of those games after transferring them over, I didn't have any problems with stuttering and load times were close enough to the SSD's performance, that it didn't really bother me.For the price, I couldn't be happier. It's nice to have my SSD cleaned up so it's free to run Windows 10 with space to spare so that I can run some information-intensive software like Adobe Premiere, where I can crunch videos on the SSD and transfer to the HDD when they're finished. The FireCuda is EASILY worth the hundred bucks they charge.

Guys, let's face it...2TB solid state drives are insanely expensive (over 500 USD). Even a 1TB SSD is around 250 USD (and this is for a low end model, WD Blue, 850 EVO, etc.). Why would you purchase a solid state drive for 250 USD today when in 2 years it's going to be half the price?! If you need lots of storage space for games, video, etc. but still want your OS and commonly used programs/games to load quickly... solid state hybrid drives are the way to go. My computer, which did have an enterprise grade 1TB HDD (128MB cache, 7200RPM), would take almost exactly 60 seconds to reboot. After installing this drive and using the computer for only 24 hours I have reached LESS than 30 seconds for the average reboot times.Most modern computer games are reaching WELL over 25GBs in size so paying over 500 USD for a 2TB SSD just doesn't fit most people's budgets. However, the SSHD option gives you both solid performance AND higher storage capacities. Honestly, I was a little skeptical at first with this technology but I am firm believer now after purchasing both the 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch models. I have to replace my drive every 2 years or so due to how much I use my computer. I don't want to pay 250 USD or more every 2 years for just 1TB of storage. For the average user, the option of the SSHD is ideal. I definitely prefer to buy a single 2TB SSHD and then have a normal, 2TB enterprise grade HDD for my backups.I see the point of having your OS and other smaller programs on a primary SSD then loading large sized games onto another drive however, an SSHD will give you the best of both worlds (with slightly decreased performance compared to the SSD of course) and you don't have to have two separate storage devices which simplifies things. Not to mention, I can get two of the 2TB SSHDs for just slightly more money than a 250GB SSD and a 2TB normal HDD. It's a pretty simple decision for me...if I can get these SSHDs for less than $100 USD I'm going to go with this option for now. When SSDs reach 150USD for the 1TB models I may give them another look. I don't see modern PC games getting smaller though over the course of the next couple of years though so... I think SSHDs are going to be a great option for many years to come!