Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSHD 2 5 1TB SATA 6Gb s Flash Accelerated 8GB Fast Hard Drive ST1000LX015

I just installed this SSHDD in my ACER laptop. Boot times went from 4-5 minutes to less than 45 seconds. Now that is fast. Seek times are much faster than my laptop's original 500GB HDD also. I did have to purchase a Sabrient external drive housing ($10) <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_5> and read up on how to Clone a laptop HDD, but it wasn't that hard to learn and took a little over an hour from learning to completing the task. You'll need to download DiskWizzard (free) from the Seagate.com website. Unzip and run the program on your laptop. I also copied the unzipped program to the external SSHDD although I am not sure that this is necessary. Follow the instructions and make a bootable recovery disk. Leave the bootable disk in the drive drawer. Reboot into the Bios and set the Bios to boot from the disk drive, SAVE the changes and turn OFF the computer. Take the original HDD out of the laptop and insert it into the external drive housing. Install the SSHD into the computer where the old drive had been. Flip the laptop over, plug the external drive into a 3.0 USB port (or a 2.0 if you have no Blue ports) and then restart the computer. After a few moments, the screen will show the DiskWizzard Utility. Set the program to Clone the external HDD (The computer's original HDD) to the new "C" drive. Set it on "Automatic". Set it to Shut-Down the computer when finished. It will take a little while to copy all the data from the old drive to the new one. Once all this is completed just unplug the external drive and restart the computer. Shazam! if all is well at this point, restart into Bios and set it to boot from the "C" dive once again. Restart the computer several times to make sure all is as it should be then turn OFF the computer. Wait 30 seconds or so and turn it back ON. This will re-set the SSHDD to "remember" what it needs to know to boot the computer like a rocket. You are done. Now I am above average in computer skills but this is the first time I have Cloned a laptop HDD so basically, the process was all new to me so I had to watch a few YouTube videos and read some posts before attempting this Clone. Still, it was not that difficult, however, if this seems too advanced for you, you could always take your laptop to your favorite computer guy and have him (or her) do it for you. It shouldn't be too expensive (probably around $50) and the speed increase will be well worth the expense. One other note: I had increased my RAM to 8Gb from 4 just a week or two before doing this Clone knowing that I was going to install this SSHDD so what I have now is more like I bought a new $1000 computer than the old sluggish laptop I had before. I spent $35 on a 4GB RAM stick and $60 on the SSHDD and $10 on the external drive bay. So I basically bought a new high-speed 1TB computer with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB SSHDD for a $110. What a deal! Read more

This is a great hybrid drive particularly for labtops, consoles, or devices with limited space (i.e. 1 slot). It has small cache to work with (8gb nand). 8gb is adequate to run 90% of operation. It has an algorithm to determine file usage and sends frequently accessed ones to the 8 gb cache (that's the fast acting portion on the drive). At first you may notice it being slow but as you continue doing your routine on your device it will get faster over time. So great value that will give pseudo-like SSD speeds while providing plenty of space to work with. I installed this 1TB Firecuda on my non-gaming labtop (it has onboard GFX card -- very weak or irrelevant for gaming performance). I am actually not sure why I would need 1 TB here to be honest but I am happy to have that drive space. Just in case (that's my hoarding voice speaking). Also, I installed the 2TB version on both PS4 and Xbox One S (the latter of which was very difficult to implement as if deliberate on the part of Microsoft -- nonetheless successful). I am very happy with all three. I did notice the XBox One S boots up relatively slower as compared to PS4 so not sure why. But given the number of games I have and my refusal to attach an external HDD in the living room this 2 TB Firecuda was a must. It's in a category of its own as I don't see any alternatives except SSD.. but the pricing is so outrageous at this point in time that I strongly recommend the 2TB Firecuda for gaming consoles. You can get 500gb SSD but as games can be 50-100Gb each you would have to be complacent with a smaller library to work with. Personally, I just like to leave anything I downloaded on the drive and not delete anything so I prefer the 2TB space even at the expense of speed. Between Firecuda vs 2.5" 7200 rpm drives.. for devices with small space heating does become an issue for longevity. The hybrid drive addresses the heating by using the 5400 rpm (less heat) than the 7200 rpm (more heat, shorter lifespan). So that's also a tipping point for me in choosing between this and a 7200 rpm drive. But between Firecuda and SSD.. I would choose SSD if only at the right price. SSD just isn't quite at the right value for me yet so the next best device is the firecuda. In short, if you don't care about money at all and just want pure performance you have to go for pure SSD. If you wanted to update an old labtop or grant larger space on a gaming console (including PS4 or Xbox One S).. the Firecuda 1TB or 2TB provides the best bang for your buck with no equals in terms of price/performance ratio. Read more

Only a few weeks into use, if this thing dies prematurely, I'll go back and change the review, so if you're reading this as is, it's still performing as expected. I used this to replace a dying laptop hard drive (5400RPM hdd) on a (2014? Model) laptop, 4th Gen I7 processor, 8GB ram. So, not the fastest system in the world, but decent hardware. Very significant improvement in speed switching from HDD to SSHD. Windows boot/shutdown time reduced about 50%. (I don't game, so can't provide feedback there). I'm sure I'd get more speed increase with a pure SSD, but getting this much storage on an SSD would have been much higher price for a somewhat older system that might not take full advantage of the SSD's full capability, so it's a decent compromise. If I could rate seagate's free software, I'd give it negative stars. They offer some proprietary version of Acronis free on the seagate website that only works on your computer if you have a seagate drive installed. I downloaded the software after buying a USB to SATA adapter for this disk in hopes of cloning the old hard drive before making the physical swap. The seagate software refused to run because it didn't recognnize that I had a seagate drive attached to the computer (I'm assuming it "saw" the USB adapter rather than the hard drive attached to it). I found a workaround using other software, but what a pain in the neck. If the manufacturer advertises free software to help you clone your old HDD before switching, they must have to assume that some fraction of their customers will be using a usb adapter to do so. Read more