Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsBigger, faster, and a perfect fit. All at a very fair price, What more could you ask for?
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2015
This is for the 32 GB SSD Cache Model
Update: June 24, 2016
I bought a replacement drive. I originally intended for it to go into my Windows 7 laptop, but when my Haswell computer's Win 7 installation got corrupted. I decided to replace the original HDD with this Hybrid drive (32 GB SSD Cache). So far, so good. The computer seems to boot to Windows faster, and the updates seem to go faster, too, but I don't have any numbers to prove it. Also, it seems to have cut almost a day off the time needed to bring Windows 7 up to date, from the original 4 year old installation disk.
I was surprised, though, when I ran a User Experience Index test. The HDD on my 8 year old computer has a 5.9 rating. The previous HDD also had a 5.9 rating, and I was expecting better than 5.9 rating for this disk, but it also has a 5.9 rating. Still, the cache will help load frequently loaded applications, including Windows, faster. (I could tell a speed up even with an 8GB SSD cache).
I also have a 32GB SSD Express Cache in the system, and that also makes a big difference. Finally, it seems to burn less power than the original WD Blue 1 TB HDD (maybe 8 watts).
End update
As far as I can tell, the drive failed within a few days of use. I heard it ticking, then the computer blue screened. I tried it again, but overnight, and when I woke up, it had blue screened again. Also, my Asus P9X79 Pro MB no longer recognizes any HDDs attached to it. The MB is out of warranty, so I'm upgrading to a Haswell CPU and MB.
I contacted CTI about the drive, and they authorized return shipment within a few hours. So that's a plus.
The Asus MB had a built in cache controller, which needed a SSD and a HDD, plus you needed to run a utility to use it, and you needed to enable the Marvel Controller. I like this drive better. The cache is built into the drive, and 32 GB SSD cache seems to be adequate for my HP Pavilion computer, so 32 GB should be good, here, too.
This is for the 8 GB SSD Cache model
Wow. Its fast. This replaced a 250GB HDD in a Dell E6520 Win XP laptop. The previous HDD failed, and this seemed like it might speed things up. Not only did it speed things up, it turbo charged the computer.
The new disk got the original disk's image, but it seems to have already been corrupted, so I can't get far into WinXP before it crashes, but until it does, it runs a lot faster. I can't wait to see how fast it loads Visual Studio and InstallShield. Those are the two slowest loading programs I have.
