Seagate FireCuda 2TB 2.5″ (ST2000LX001) SSHD Review

Price/Where To Buy

US: $109 – [easyazon_link identifier=”B01M1NHCZT” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]Seagate FireCuda 2TB 2.5″ SSHD[/easyazon_link] PH: Php6900 (est.)

[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B01M1NHCZT” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]

For nearly every release of Seagate’s SSHD, we’ve covered them from the initial release of the Momentus XT Hybrid, all the way to debut of the desktop SSHD model to the 32GB NAND 2.5″ SSHD model for desktop. With NAND costs dropping and technology allowing denser chips to be employed, Seagate is once again refreshing their SSHD line-up and promoting them under the newly christened gaming sub-brand from Seagate dubbed the FireCuda line-up of storage solutions designed for gamers.

SSHD or solid-state hybrid drive employs a technology wherein the traditional hard drive is equipped with NAND Flash SSD storage which is used as a cache by the drive. In Seagate’s FireCude line-up, the new FireCuda ST2000LX001 is supported by 8GB of NAND flash storage which is quite diminutive compared to the desktop variants. While the NAND or SSD portion of the drive isn’t directly accessible to the user, Seagate does the hard work using the Adaptive Memory technology which automatically figures out which files are accessed the most so they’re automatically stored to the NAND storage for quicker access.

For today’s review we take a look at the Seagate FireCuda 2TB 2.5″ SSHD and its raw performance as well as its viability as a PS4 upgrade. Read on!

Features

• Fastest 2.5-Inch PC compute and gaming Hard Drive on the market, all within a thin 7mm z-height
• Enormous 500GB, 1TB and 2TB options. The 2TB capacity can store up to 80x 25GB games
• Flash-accelerated technology delivers up to 5x faster load times for nonstop performance, play and productivity compared to standard HDDs
• Adaptive Memory technology efficiently identifies frequently accessed data to allow for quicker operations
• Multi-tier caching technology (mtc) boosts performance, helping applications and files load faster

Closer Look

The Seagate FireCuda continues the legacy of the previous SSHDs that have launched prior to this model. It carries over the same naming scheme as the older laptop SSHD from Seagate but has been made part of the FireCuda high-performance product stack. Our sample is a retail model but did not ship with a retail box. Seagate packages their FireCuda products in a full-color cardboard packaging on retail shelves.

The Seagate FireCuda 2.5″ SSHD follows the 2.5″ drive form factor with a 7mm thickness. This makes it ideal for notebooks, HTPCs and consoles that uses the 2.5″ drive slot. The drive does not come with a spacer for 9.5mm slots.

For our PS4 test, we’ll be using a PS4 Pro which allows access to the internal drive for easy upgrades. Do note that there are procedures before you replace your drive so do keep that in mind. We’ll create our own PS4 hard drive replacement guide and link it back here for those that are unfamiliar.

Performance Testing

Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard:  ASUS Maximus VI GENE
Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-2133 32GB
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 2TB 2.5″ SSHD
PSU: BitFenix Fury 650G

Potential Performance

ATTO Disk Benchmark benchmarks a drive’s read and write speeds with increasing file sizes and graphs them.

Potential Write

We test potential write speed using HD Tune to write sequentially on the entire disk, graphing the results as it goes.

Crystal DiskMark

Crystal Disk Mark is storage benchmarking software was developed by “hiyohiyo” of Japan, and is available for free. Crystal Disk Mark measures sequential, and random read/write speeds of storage devices.

Playstation 4 Storage Testing

Boot-up testing is counted at the start of the system beep (unheard in the video) while restart is on the exact frame of the restart press. Countdown stops at the final thumbnail load frame. For game loads, the counter begins on the frame of the keypress and ends (for this specific title) at the main menu screen on the initial appearance of the menu. For game loads, the counter starts at key press on Yes confirmation on load and ends at the initial frame of the game. All videos were captured on a separate system using a capture card. Note that the SSHD has been “trained” prior to test, meaning it was used normally for a week or so, so that the Adaptive Memory kicks in and caches the games we have therefore showing maximum performance results.

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User Experience & Conclusion

We’ve noted many times that its nearly impossible to benchmark SSHD performance using synthetic benchmarks because of how the NAND system works. Given the figures we see in the benchmarks, it goes in line with most 5400RPM drives and while not impressive by itself, the NAND advantage of the Seagate FireCuda does perform best when used to load frequently used data. On a PC, this might be the OS files and/or app data on your frequently used applications and the same applies on the PS4 as well. Your most frequently loaded title will be cached in the NAND portion of the FireCuda allowing increased read performance thus improved loading times. 

Reading more from our PS4 testing data, we can see that  the Seagate FireCuda SSHD does close the gap against the SSD. The main advantage here that the FireCuda has is the price and with Seagate retailing the 2TB SSHD 2.5″ at around $110 versus the $100 of the 240GB SSD we have, that’s some significant value right there especially if you consider the capacity difference of 240GB vs 2TB which is a lot.

Ultimately, if you’re on the PC front we’ve always mentioned that SSHDs are the best compromise between capacity, price and performance. If you’re tied to only one storage solution for your system and want the most capacity you can get, Seagate FireCuda SSHDs are an excellent choice. For the PS4 though, the choice is much more clearer. PS4 games consume a lot of space and with only 1TB options available at most by default from Sony, you can save by buying a 500GB model and upgrading to a 2TB Seagate FireCuda 2.5″ later on for maximum performance.

Price/Where To Buy

US: $109 – [easyazon_link identifier=”B01M1NHCZT” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]Seagate FireCuda 2TB 2.5″ SSHD[/easyazon_link] PH: Php6900 (est.)

[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B01M1NHCZT” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]

All in all, the Seagate FireCuda 2.5″ HDD delivers yet another excellent balance of price, capacity and performance and makes needing to go on a multi-drive route a non-issue. The Seagate FireCuda 2.5″ SSHD is the most convenient upgrade you can have right now if you want the best value for your storage needs.

Seagate backs the FireCuda 2.5″ with a 5-year warranty. We give it our B2G Silver Award!