Solid state drive wd green. WD Green SSD Review: Entry Level Application performance

The device is new, untested by time.
The second one I bought under the account, I have a SanDisk ssd disk at work, it works.
Disk Utility https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=279 It is the same as on SanDisk
The utility is very interesting, this is a big plus.

Citilink employees advised him to take it (if we talk about the price the solution is obviously the best).
The review says https://3dnews.ru/945938 that this solution is very cheap.
Plastic case. It will heat up.
without DRAM buffer, other controllers have a buffer in the form of memory.
the hardware filling of the WD Green SSD is simplified and reduced in price to the limit, as they write in the article (AMD disks are complete, without cuts). Trimming the controller is a minus. Let's see how it will work in operation.
After the first launch, the program showed 46 degrees.
By the way, someone unsubscribed under the article - You can safely hand over the "prize" - the worst SSD
Feedback - They are trying to "suck in" frank consumer goods in the spirit of "best" offers from Ali
Feedback - In general, everything is sad, as with Intel drives. Just one brand and nothing more.
According to tests, it is really the worst https://3dnews.ru/945938/page-2.html# Random write operations

These drives are the well-known SanDisk that WD bought.
Confusingly, SanDisk has changed a lot of controllers lately, and by the way there are Marvel fans, so SanDisk left them. By the way, the controller is the same as that of AMD.
As they write that even the plastic case is the same,
Proceeding from the tests, who needs speed, pay extra.
Disks while working there is no marriage, I will unsubscribe.

14 10

Good SSD
Of the pros:
1) Price / quality - excellent ratio.
2) The speed for a budget drive is excellent, as described.
3) Of. Warranty from WD, with service center in Moscow.

Cons:
1) Lack of 3.5-inch adapter, sometimes needed, included here, no.

Complain Did the review help? 0 0

Fulfills its functions, good performance, cheap.

no shortcomings were identified, no failures were found for several months.

I bought it for an old computer to play PUBG. SSD was able not only to solve problems with long downloads and non-loaded textures, but also pleasantly increased the performance of the entire system as a whole.

At the time of purchase, this SSD was one of the cheapest among 240+ GB, for this SSD there is good software: 'WD SSD Dashboard', which helps to monitor and control the operation of the SSD.

Complain Did the review help? 13 17

Everything stated is there. Not great, but decently nimble.

1) On the second day, the health indicator became 99%
2) Not for all PCs and laptops.
- Where Kingston starts without a tambourine, WD Green 240Gb simply does not become bootable. Transferring MBR and dancing with a tambourine does not help.
- On new PCs with UEFI - everything is fine and without problems, but the sediment remains.
3) Portrays itself as a HDD in programs that read S.M.A.R.T.

Undoubtedly, one of the most significant events in the IT industry in 2016 was the acquisition Western digital SanDisk, a major manufacturer of flash storage devices. This lucrative deal not only secured WD's presence in the solid state drive and memory card market, but also gave access to SanDisk's assets, including the Toshiba NAND chip maker, which is already actively preparing to ship multi-layer 3D NAND on an industrial scale. Thus, the prospects for the alliance between Western Digital and SanDisk look very promising and the first fruits of this alliance can be considered the release of SSD under the Western Digital brand. At the moment, the vendor presents the Green and Blue series of solid-state drives. "Green" SSDs are positioned as inexpensive, universal entry-level solutions, while devices of the "blue" series are intended for wealthier users with increased demands on the performance of the disk subsystem. Who knows, maybe in the future we will see drives from the Black line for enthusiasts or specialized modifications of Red for storage systems. Thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian representative office of Western Digital, Green PC SSD 240GB and Blue PC SSD 250GB storage devices got to our test laboratory, with a detailed review of which we will introduce you today.

The current lineup of WD SSDs has only five positions, the main characteristics of which are summarized in the following table.

It should be noted here that each model can have one of two designs: in a 2.5 ″ case or in M.2 2280 format. As for the assortment, there are only two modifications in the "green" line with a volume of 120 and 240 GB, while Blue drives are offered in three sizes: 250, 500 and 1000 GB. Traditionally, the higher the capacity, the higher the speed performance and resource, while the mean time between failures of 1.75 million hours is the same for all devices, and the warranty period does not differ either - 36 months from the date of purchase. Regardless of form factor, all SSDs are SATA 6Gb / s compatible.

We got the older of the two "green" SSDs for testing, namely the WDS240G1G0A, which arrived at the test lab in retail packaging in white and green colors. All details, including the model name, volume, production date and serial number of the device, are printed on a sticker on the back of the box.

As for the delivery set, it is virtually absent: inside the package there is nothing besides the drive itself, wrapped in an antistatic bag and packed in a plastic blister, so I propose to go straight to the design of the novelty. The SSD enclosure is entirely made of plastic, which ensures a low weight of the product - only 32 g. Dimensions are typical for a 2.5 "- 7x69.85x100.5 mm form factor. This is fine when using the drive in thin laptops, but when installed in a standard laptop bay, a bezel that increases the height to 9 mm would be useful.

Most of the back side of the WD Green PC SSD 240GB is occupied by the service information sticker. One of the ends of the SSD is dedicated to the SATA 6 Gb / s interface, combined with a power connector. By the way, the maximum power consumption of the drive in read and write mode does not exceed 2 and 2.5 W, respectively, while the average value is about 0.05 W.

Inside the case, the halves of which are connected without screws using a series of latches, there is a miniature printed circuit board that occupies hardly 1/3 of the total usable area. By the way, the SanDisk inscription on the PCB in turquoise color betrays the true origin of the solid-state drive. On the front surface there was a place for a pair of SanDisk 05498 064G microcircuits, which are based on 15-nm TLC NAND semiconductor crystals manufactured at a joint venture between Toshiba and WD (SanDisk).

On the reverse side of the PCB, there are two more of the same flash memory chips and a SiliconMotion SM2258XT microcontroller. Optimized for TLC NAND flash, this chip is designed to build low-cost, energy-efficient drives in both consumer and industrial grades. The SM2258XT provides four-channel connectivity for 16 TLC and 3D NAND storage devices with ONFI 3.0 and Toggle 2.0 interfaces, TRIM command and DEVSLP hardware power management are supported. To ensure data integrity, a special cyclic code with NANDXtend error correction is used, and the only thing that distinguishes this microcontroller from more advanced solutions is the lack of hardware encryption. However, the absence of the latter can be put up with, given the positioning of the device. The SSD is powered by the Z3311000 firmware - the latest version available at the time of testing.

Four TLC NAND chips with a capacity of 64 GB each give a total volume of 256 GB, of which 240 GB is available to the user, and the remaining space is used to equalize uneven cell wear. In addition, the WD Green PC SSD 240GB can handle a small portion of the total disk space in SLC mode, which significantly improves write speed, which is usually the "weak point" for TLC flash memory. Judging by the readings in the AIDA64 Disk Benchmark, the size of such a "SLC buffer" depends on the nature of the load: with continuous writing within the first 4-5 GB, the speed is about 450 MB / s, after which the average speed is set at 147 MB ​​/ s, which can be considered a very decent result for an SSD in the entry price range. When randomly writing 4K blocks, the drive allows you to write about a quarter of the volume at a stable speed of 130 MB / s, after which the average productivity rate drops to 107 MB / s, but there are dips up to 30 MB / s. However, in real conditions this kind of load is not often encountered, besides, the drive needs very little time to rebuild the data and prepare the "SLC buffer" for recording the next portion of data.

Thus, WD Green PC SSD 240GB is a typical representative of inexpensive SSD based on TLC NAND with all its operational features. In terms of reliability, the manufacturer has set the storage capacity at 80 TBW, which means that up to 1/3 of the storage capacity can be rewritten daily during the 3-year warranty period.

Despite the formal belonging to a higher class, the box of the "blue" series solid-state drive does not differ from the WD Green PC SSD 240GB in anything, except for the color gamut. The design of the package is also laconic: the most necessary information is indicated on the reverse side, and the delivery set is just as austere.

As for the design of the device itself, unlike the younger model, the upper case cover is made of aluminum alloy. At the same time, the 2.5 ″ form factor and the dimensions 7x69.85x100.5 remained the same, while the mass of the drive increased slightly - by only 5.4 g to 37.4 g.

The front surface of the SSD is occupied by a colorful sticker, and back cover entirely given under a sticker with service information. Under it are four Phillips-head screws securing the halves of the case, so disassembling the devices will most likely not work without losing the warranty. The WD Blue PC SSD 250GB is equipped with a SATA 6Gb / s interface, while reading it consumes 2.35W, while writing power consumption rises to 3.4W.

After opening the case, the structure of the beginner becomes visible. As in the case of the WD Green PC SSD 240GB product, all the components fit on a small PCB in the same azure color, which proudly flaunts the SanDisk lettering. The drive is based on a Marvell 88SS1074 microcontroller in contact with the metal top cover through the thermal interface gasket. The control chip has four channels for connecting flash memory MLC / TLC and 3D NAND with Toggle Mode 2.0 and ONFI 3.0 interfaces, and the maximum number of storage devices reaches eight pieces per channel. The controller supports DEVSLP low-level power management and AES-256 hardware encryption, while LDPC is responsible for data integrity and error correction. A 256 MB DDR3-1600 SDRAM chip is used to store the address translation table. In addition, on the front surface of the PCB there are two SanDisk 05478 064G chips of 64 GB each, inside of which there is a 15-nm TLC NAND manufactured by Toshiba.

On the back side of the PCB, two more TLC NAND chips with a capacity of 64 GB are installed, so the total amount of flash memory for the newcomer is 256 GB, and 250 GB is available to users. Despite the fact that less than 2.5% of the total capacity is allocated to equalize the wear of memory cells, the vendor claims an impressive resource for the Blue PC SSD 250GB - 100 TBW, which allows you to rewrite the contents of the drive at least 400 times!

As for compensating for the low write speed of TLC flash memory, then, as in the case of the WD Green PC SSD 240GB, some of the cells work in SLC mode. According to the results of the AIDA64 Disk Benchmark in linear operations, the first 5 GB of the drive is able to write at a maximum speed of 504 MB / s, after which the performance level drops to 197 MB / s, while when randomly writing 4K blocks, the performance remains relatively stable within the entire disk. space, which is strikingly different from the model of the "green" series. However, the SLC buffer operation algorithm may change with the release of control firmware updates, so the above only applies to firmware version X41000WD.

As subtotal it can be noted that, judging by the capabilities of the hardware, the WD Blue PC SSD 250GB will be able to take its rightful place among the drives of the same class. How justified these hopes are - we will find out very soon, after getting acquainted with the corporate software WD SSD Dashboard.

Software

One of the strong competitive advantages of Western Digital Solid State Drives is the powerful SSD Dashboard software that can be used to solve a variety of storage device maintenance and management tasks. Generally, this program is freely available, but of course all features are only available for systems equipped with WD products. In terms of the offered capabilities, SSD Dashboard is among the leaders among similar software, perhaps second only to Samsung Magician, which can still be considered the standard of functionality. The interface of the utility is laconic and pleasant, devoid of the clumsy, which many vendors from Asia sin. The upper part of the window displays the name of the drive model and firmware version, as well as indicators of the storage device status, while in the lower right corner there are buttons for calling the system functions "Disk Management", "System Properties" and "Device Manager". On the "Status" tab, the user can control the use and layout of disk space, get information about the quantitative indicator of the state of the device and its temperature, as well as the operating mode of the interface.

The "Execution" tab allows you to view performance indicators, for this you need to activate the built-in Windows "System Monitor". This tool allows you to accurately track the real performance when performing various tasks.

In addition to monitoring performance, the "Execution" tab allows you to manage the TRIM command, which is used to return the drive performance to its original state. Users can activate or force this command, as well as schedule its periodic execution using the OS function "System Scheduler".

The "Service" section, as the name suggests, is responsible for maintaining the drive. Here you can check for firmware updates on the support server or specify the path to a local file with firmware, create a bootable USB drive to perform the Secure Erase and Sanitize procedures. Both procedures are aimed at guaranteed destruction of data on the SSD, only in the first case the table with the markup is deleted, and in the second case the data is completely erased.

On the Service tab, users can run quick and advanced S.M.A.R.T tests. to determine the state of the drive, as well as view the current indicators of internal monitoring. It also displays comprehensive information about the storage device and brief information about the system configuration.

And, finally, the "Settings" menu is responsible for checking for updates of the application itself, choosing the interface language, and setting alerts for email or via SMS, for example, if there are new versions of firmware or problems with the SSD.

Thus, the WD SSD Dashboard software offers a complete set of tools for monitoring and maintaining solid state drives, eliminating the need for third-party utilities unless migrating data to a new drive.

Test stand

To evaluate the performance of WD Green PC SSD 240GB and Blue PC SSD 250GB solid state drives, we assembled a test bench with the following configuration:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K (3.5 GHz, 6 MB);
• cooler: Intel Box;
• motherboard: MSI Z87M Gaming (Intel Z87);
• RAM: GoodRAM GY1600D364L10 / 16GDC (2x8 GB, 1866 MHz, 10-10-10-28-1T);
• system drive: WD WD1500HLHX-01JJPV0 (150 GB, SATA 6 Gb / s);
• power supply unit: Chieftec CTG-750C (750 W);
• operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit.

To ensure the stability of the results in the UEFI Setup of the motherboard, the EIST and C1 State energy saving technologies, as well as Turbo Boost, were disabled. The paging file and built-in Windows Defender antivirus were disabled in the operating system settings. The tested drives were connected to the motherboard's SATA 6 Gb / s chipset port, after which a partition formatted in NTFS with the default cluster size was created on the entire disk space using standard Windows tools, after which the alignment relative to 4K was checked.

To assess the performance, the following set of software tools was used:

• AIDA64 5.80.4000 (Storage Benchmark);
• AS SSD Benchmark 1.9.5986.35387;
• CrystalDiskMark 5.2.0 x64;
• Futuremark PCMark 8 2.7.613 (Storage test).

New products from Western Digital will compete with solid-state drives GeIL Zenith R3 with a capacity of 240 GB and Kingston SSDNow UV400 with a capacity of 480 GB, moreover, the first will have to fight with WD Green PC SSD 240GB, while the Kingston product will compete with WD Blue PC SSD 250GB. The specifications of today's test participants are listed below:

Test results

Our testing today opens with the CrystalDiskMark 5.2.0 x64 program, which allows you to evaluate the speed of drives when working with different types data

In linear read operations, all drives demonstrate equally high results, lying at the upper limit of the bandwidth SATA interface 6 Gbps. As for working with 4K blocks, when forming a queue of requests, WD Green PC SSD turned out to be an outsider, obviously, the lack of SDRAM buffer memory affected. In random reading, the best results were obtained by the WD Blue PC SSD, which outperformed even the Kingston SSDNow UV400, and the third place was shared by GeIL and WD of the green series.

Since we selected 1 GiB of test data in the CrystalDiskMark settings, which fully fits into the "SLC buffers" of storage devices, the results in the write tests turned out to be very high. When forming the queue of commands, WD Green PC SSD again turned out to be outsiders, while its more advanced brother took the first place, and in linear operations the third place was shared by drives based on Silicon Motion controllers. As for recording 4K blocks, Kingston SSDNow UV400 was the best in processing the request queue, behind it with a minimum margin was the WD Blue PC SSD, and its younger brother again closed the four competitors. At the same time, in operations of randomly writing 4K blocks, the difference between the leader and the outsider did not exceed 5%, so here we can talk about an approximate parity.

Another synthetic benchmark optimized for testing solid state drives - AS SSD Benchmark 1.9.5986.35387, showed such results.

In the linear reading subtest, the last place was unexpectedly taken by the WD "blue" series drive, while in the other three disciplines it took the well-deserved first. When it comes to the WD Green PC SSD results, it has nothing to brag about, especially when measuring access times.

The situation is completely different in the subtests of the record, where the "green" WD model performed well, taking the third place in scenarios operating with 4K blocks, but again set an anti-record in assessing the access time. As for the WD Blue PC SSD, it looked much more confident, sharing the victory with the Kingston SSDNow UV400 in two disciplines, and showed an advantage in the random write subtest.

In addition to measuring throughput, AS SSD Benchmark measures the copying speed of various sets of files.

When copying large files, all drives, with the exception of the WD Green PC SSD, which managed to lag behind the rest of the participants by 10%, showed more or less the same performance, while when the folder with the installed software was moved, the pedestal went to the GeIL Zenith R3 drive, behind it was " green "Western Digital, and close the peloton SSD based on Marvell controllers. Kingston SSDNow UV400 turned out to be the fastest in the copying game folder subtest, followed by WD Green PC SSD and WD Blue PC SSD, the firmware of which requires optimization when working with a mixed load.

Our testing is completed by the performance evaluation in the Storage test from the complex Futuremark PCMark benchmark. First of all, we propose to look at the integral indicator of productivity and the average throughput provided by the competitors.

Despite the fact that the scatter in points between the leader and the outsider did not reach even 4%, the difference in performance turned out to be quite significant. Now, let's take a look at what made the WD Blue PC SSD a landslide victory, and what the WD Green PC SSD lacked to compete with its classmates.

As they say, comments are superfluous: in most disciplines "blue" WD showed an overwhelming superiority over rivals, but his younger brother is just as confidently settled down at the bottom of the tournament table. There is nothing to add here, programmers need to work on the WD Green PC SSD firmware to improve its performance.

conclusions

Considering that at this stage Western Digital has brought the well-known SanDisk SSDs to the market under their brand, the debut could not fail. This was especially successful in the case of the WD Blue PC SSD 250GB, which provides excellent performance in most disciplines, has a decent resource and at the same time offers a cost of 1 GB of disk space at $ 0.36. If you add to this excellent software support and a 3-year warranty from a renowned manufacturer, then you get a good candidate for purchasing as a main disk in a "charged" laptop or productive PC.

As for the younger model WD Green PC SSD 240GB, not everything is so simple with it. On the one hand, the drive provides performance that will be sufficient for the vast majority of users, especially in case of migration from a traditional HDD, a resource slightly less than that of a "blue" SSD, a resource, powerful software support and a 36-month warranty, but on the other hand, its cost looks unreasonably high. At a ratio of $ 0.34 per 1 GB, it is advisable to look towards the same WD Blue PC SSD 250GB, which is capable of providing much higher performance and even a slightly larger volume. In general, for the WD Green PC SSD 240GB to become a bestseller, you need to either significantly improve productivity by optimizing the firmware, or revise its retail price downward.

Following the acquisition of SanDisk's assets last year, Western Digital not only got its hands on a set of tools for developing and manufacturing flash memory and products based on it, but instantly became the second largest manufacturer of SSDs. But she does not intend to stop there: the purpose of the purchase was, first of all, so that, as a result, WD would have a stable launching pad for the development of its own SSD business, which would organically complement the HDD direction. Indeed, the company has vast experience in the production of magnetic storage systems, and with current trends in the gradual transition of the industry to solid-state drives, it now wants to achieve a similar scale in this related area. At the same time, she will have a very difficult path, because up to the volumes with which the leader of the solid-state drives market ships its SSDs, Samsung, she is still very, very far away. But this does not prevent Western Digital from expecting to noticeably increase its share in the coming years, in which it should be helped by the distribution channels of disk drives that have been built over the years.

That is why, by taking over SanDisk, Western Digital did not stop at just continuing to sell SSDs under the old trademarks inherited from SanDisk. At the same time, the manufacturer decided to develop its own range of consumer SSDs, which would be present on store shelves in parallel with SanDisk products. Moreover, when building a sales strategy, Western Digital chose an approach that was proven in the consumer HDD market, dividing products into three fundamentally different categories (in terms of price and performance), each of which received its own color designation.

So, the middle price segment should be covered by drives - we tested them earlier, and in a nutshell they can be described as SATA SSD on TLC memory with very good performance and reliability characteristics, but with a slightly overpriced. For the performance enthusiast, the WD Black series is intended. It was announced quite recently and has not yet managed to get either on sale or into the hands of employees of test laboratories. But, judging by the available data, high-speed NVMe drives with PCIe 3.0 x4 interface built on MLC memory will be sold under the black brand. In the budget sector, the honor of the Western Digital brand will be defended by Green SSD drives, to which this material is devoted.

But before we get into a direct look at the most affordable Western Digital drives, it must be emphasized that the company does not consider the Green SSD to be some kind of compromise solution with reduced performance. On the contrary, in this case we are talking about the fact that this is a universal drive for everyday tasks, which can become an excellent replacement for the HDD in a typical personal computer. And this is exactly what makes it interesting: an inexpensive, but quite modern SSD, built on advanced SanDisk technologies, has every chance of becoming a fairly popular offer in the Western Digital line.

Specifications

Western Digital did not strive to be particularly original in creating a family of consumer SSDs with SATA-interface, but simply adapted the proven and sought-after solutions from SanDisk to its needs. So, the WD Blue SSD we reviewed earlier turned out to be a close analogue of the SanDisk X400 with optimized firmware. The WD Green SSD model has similar relatives: no one hides it, and this is the SanDisk SSD Plus. However, in this case, the situation looks a little more confusing, and direct parallels are not entirely appropriate here.

The fact is that under the SanDisk brand SSD Plus in different time sold two fundamentally different solutions. At first, these were ultra-budget MLC-drives based on the SMI SM2246XT platform, which, in order to reduce the cost, was deprived of the usual DDR SDRAM-based buffer. Then, in the first half of last year, the design became cheaper again, and instead of MLC NAND, planar TLC memory came to SanDisk SSD Plus, which was already controlled by the SMI SM2256S controller. However, the WD Green SSD does not use SM2246XT or SM2256S, but another kind of inexpensive basic chip by Silicon Motion - SMI SM2258XT.

But overall, this change does not seem too dramatic. The array of flash memory, for example, in the WD Green SSD remains exactly the same as in the second version of the SanDisk SSD Plus: it has a four-channel architecture and is built on planar TLC memory, manufactured by SanDisk using a 15-nm process technology.

The new SM2258XT controller is similar to its predecessor. It is based on a single-core 32-bit RISC processor, dispenses with a DRAM buffer, uses pseudo-SLC caching technology when working with an array of memory, and also allows to implement "strong" LDPC ECC error correction technology, which extends the life of the memory several times with three-bit cells. In the previous chip, SM2256S, everything was almost the same, but there is one important nuance: the SM2258XT adds a direct write mode to TLC memory without the mediation of the SLC cache (Direct-to-TLC), which was not there before. This means that when storing large amounts of data at once, the SM2258XT is more efficient: when the SLC cache is full, the controller does not need to pause to release it, as a result, write operations can be performed at a higher speed and without unpleasant second "sticking".

This is why the WD Green SSD cannot be called a redesigned SanDisk SSD Plus. Yes, this is a similar, maximally reduced cost solution, but the Western Digital drive, in comparison with its prototype, has been optimized not only for the firmware, but also for the hardware platform. At the same time, all the strengths of SanDisk solutions have been preserved in full. And among them, first of all, it is necessary to mention the proprietary approach to SLC caching nCache 2.0. The bottom line is that the memory area operating in SLC mode has a tight location inside the NAND crystals, and this allows you to implement low-cost algorithms for the controller for transferring data from pseudo-SLC cells to TLC.

In addition, WD Green's SLC cache is relatively large. For the 240 GB version, this is a whopping 8 GB, which is about two and a half times more than the cache allocated in the higher-end WD Blue SSD drives. As a result, the specifications that were formulated for the WD Green SSD look very promising in terms of peak sequential operations, even though we are talking about a product in which everything has been reduced in price: the flash memory array, the controller, and DRAM. -buffer.

Since the WD Green SSD has received its own batch of unique optimizations, it claims a slightly higher performance than the SanDisk SSD Plus. However, it still remains an inexpensive and relatively slow model. To be convinced of this, just look at the characteristics of random read speeds - they are about half that of the average TLC SSD. And there is nothing strange about that. Since the WD Green SSD is a DRAM-free drive in the hardware platform, its performance on small-block operations simply cannot be high, and no improved SLC caching can fix this situation.

Another feature of the WD Green SSD is the extremely narrow model range. It includes only two representatives, and the older version has a capacity of only 240 GB. This limitation has purely marketing roots, so it is possible that later in the lineup there will be large representatives. However, while the message of Western Digital is that drives of a significant volume should also have high speed performance. But to save when choosing SSD on productivity in favor of more volume - not the most correct idea, according to the company.

At the same time, there are purely positive things in the specifications of "green" drives. For example, their declared resource is close to that of a WD Blue SSD and is very good by the standards of TLC SSDs from other manufacturers. They come with a three-year warranty, during which users are allowed to overwrite up to 30 percent of the SSD's full capacity daily. Moreover, given the presence of modern error correction technologies in the WD Green SSD and the use of high-quality memory manufactured by SanDisk, in practice, much higher endurance can be expected.

As a result, based on the characteristics, the WD Green SSD line consists of not very fast, but reliable small-capacity drives. It is quite logical that such offers should not be expensive, and the price could be another trump card. Moreover, there are quite objective prerequisites for this, because the hardware filling of the WD Green SSD is simplified and reduced in price to the limit. However, for some reason, Western Digital's junior solid-state drive turned out to be affordable, but not the cheapest SSD on the market. Obviously, the manufacturer wanted to put some kind of image markup into the Green SSD, but whether it has a right to exist is a big question.

Appearance and internal structure

For our tests, we got a sample of a 240GB WD Green SSD in a classic 2.5-inch design. As with the WD Blue SSD, its looks did not come as a surprise. The "green" drive was enclosed in a completely plastic black case, which is well known from SanDisk products. Its characteristic feature can be considered the absence of any screws in the design. The halves of the case are attached to each other exclusively with latches, and they are so tight that even the illusion of solidity is created.

The differences between WD Green SSD and SanDisk SSD Plus in appearance are reduced only to different stickers. The label on the front side makes the novelty recognizable. It received the expected white and green design, in line with the WD Blue SSD label. On the back of the SSD there is a second sticker with technical information.

Opening the WD Green SSD Case to Get to Know It in-depth internal device presented two surprises at once. Firstly, as it turned out, the inside of the case is almost completely empty. The desire to make SSDs as cheap as possible in production also affected the economy of the PCB, so the printed circuit board takes up a third of the internal space at most. Moreover, judging by the fact that the case has fasteners exclusively for such a small board, there are no other board sizes for WD Green SSD (and SanDisk SSD Plus too) in principle. Secondly, the PCB bears the SanDisk marking, which not only gives out the true origin of the WD Green SSD, but also shows the manufacturer's unwillingness to somehow hide it.

The composition of the components located on the PCB is quite expected. The array of flash memory in the WD Green SSD 240 GB is recruited with four chips labeled SanDisk 05497 064G. Such microcircuits contain four planar 128-gigabit TLC NAND crystals, produced at SanDisk factories using 15-nm technology, inside. The flash memory is controlled by the four-channel SM2258XT chip, which in this case not only does without a DRAM buffer, but also somewhat surprises with its modest size. However, excluding the heap interface really simplifies things a lot. Therefore, for example, the controller microcircuit does well without any heat sink and does not overheat inside a closed plastic box, even under the most intense loads.

In October 2015, the manufacturer hard drives Western Digital announced a $ 19 billion acquisition of SanDisk, the world's third-largest flash memory manufacturer. After that, it was only a matter of time before the introduction of WD-branded solid-state drives in the product portfolio. And now, a year later, the company showed first 2 lines of SATA SSDs - WD Green and WD Blue... And in Kiev, these products were officially presented in November 2016. Disk drives- something that we could not pass by (especially since among our readers there are probably those who have been planning to upgrade their laptop or desktop computer for a long time).

The main thing about new products

Both product families are based on TLC NAND memory chips and are available in two form factors: 2.5-inch with 7mm thickness and M.2 (22mm x 80mm), formerly known as Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF). Both lines use the SATA 6Gb / s interface. The WD Green series offers discs in capacities 120 and 240 GB are entry-level products. In turn, the WD Blue line is positioned as a high-performance solution and differs from WD Green for the better in almost all respects. WD Blue SSDs available in sizes 250, 500 and 1000 GB... The maximum sequential read and write performance is 545 and 525 MB / s. The declared write resource, depending on the size of the drive, is 100, 200 and 400 TB for write operations, respectively.

We tested an SSD WD Green 240GB... The form factor of the model is 2.5 '', thickness is 7 mm, weight does not exceed 20 g. The cost of such a disk in Ukraine is about UAH 2.2 thousand, but the product has just appeared in the retail network - and it is possible that soon over time, its price will decline (at least in dollar terms). How can WD Green be of interest to the consumer?

First, let's recall some important truths. Solid state drives contain no moving parts so they are not afraid of vibrations, shocks or falls. They can withstand relatively high temperatures (about 60 ° C and even slightly higher) for a long time. Note that for a conventional mechanical hard disk operating temperatures above 45 ° C are highly undesirable and will result in reduced service life.

In addition, solid state drives have lower power consumption compared to traditional hard drives. In particular, the WD Green series is one of the most economical in the industry, a laptop based on this model will be able to work longer without recharging.

Also, SSD drives are characterized by an order of magnitude higher performance. Moreover, in excellent performance the performance of the WD Green 240 GB was repeatedly verified by the editors in the course of testing. But first things first.

Checking in three ways

We used three test utilities to determine the performance of the WD Green 240GB model: HD Tune, CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD Benchmark... Test Platform - Desktop PC based on Intel Core i5-3570K (3.4 - 3.8 GHz), with Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V 8GB motherboard random access memory DDR3 on board. The drive was connected via the SATA3 interface.

HD Tune- one of the most popular and universal utilities for testing disks. Allows you not only to evaluate the speed of the drive (data transfer speed, access time, processor load level), but also to scan the disk for errors, view its temperature and other parameters. The program offers the following performance evaluation criteria:

• Transfer Rate (Minimum). Minimum data transfer rate during testing (MB / sec)
• Transfer Rate Maximum. Maximum data transfer rate during testing (MB / sec)
• Transfer Rate Average. Average performance of the hard drive, obtained during testing (MB / sec) - the higher the better.
• Access Time. File access time (ms) - the lower the better.
• Burst Rate. Maximum interface speed (MB / sec) - the higher the better.
• CPU Usage. Processor load indicator (%) - the lower the better.

Test results using HD Tune Pro utility. Average transfer rate is 430 MB / s, access speed is 93 microseconds

For comparison - the results of testing a conventional hard drive Hitachi 500 GB, 7200 rpm. The data transfer rate at the peak does not exceed 139 MB / s, and the access time reaches 11.4 milliseconds

CrystalDiskMark is also a very popular utility for checking and testing disk speed, supports both HDD and SSD drives. The program allows you to select the number of write and read cycles (the best option is 5), the file size for testing (the best choice is 1 GB). The Read column shows the speed of reading data from the disk, the Write column - the speed of writing to the disk.

The same test for a typical Hitachi 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive

Finally, the utility AS SSD Benchmark allows you to find out the speed of reading and writing data to an SSD drive in several modes. The Seq test determines how quickly a disk can write and read a 1 GB file. The 4K benchmarks measure read / write speed when accessing randomly selected 4K blocks. The "4K-64" mode is similar to the previous one, except that read and write operations are distributed over 64 chains. A test is also available in the Tools menu Copy-Benchmark which determines how fast the SSD is able to copy files, while the Compression-Benchmark measures how quickly the SSD compresses data.

Test results by AS SSD Benchmark. The numbers are quite comparable with the two tests above.

AS SSD Copy-Benchmark: 444 MB file copied in less than 3 seconds

Test results and experience of use

According to testing data, WD Green 240 GB in data transfer speed is about 4-6 times faster than traditional hard drives, and in terms of access speed - at least 2 orders of magnitude. But how much of a difference in performance is felt in real-world use? To find out, we decided to put the Windows 7 64-bit operating system on a test sample. So, installing Windows 7 on a "clean hard drive" took about 6 minutes instead of the usual 30-40 minutes. Start of an already installed operating system from the moment the message “ Start Windows»On the screen and until the hourglass disappears takes about 8-9 seconds. Of course, if simultaneously with the OS loading, various user applications are launched, such as Skype, Viber, antivirus software, a dictionary and other programs running in background, then the start of the system will take a little longer. But anyway, after switching to an SSD, the computer's performance increases dramatically, and this applies to both launching applications and performing any other operations associated with frequent access to the hard disk.

Full formatting of the WD Green 240GB (not clearing the table of contents, but full formatting) took about 28 minutes. At the same time, even during such an intense load, the WD Green temperature did not rise above 35 ° C; however, provided that the disk was in an open PC case and well blown with air. When installed inside a laptop, it can become much hotter due to other components, such as the processor.

GPT and MBR - what to choose

It's worth noting that WD Green drives come with with the GPT markup standard(GUIDE Partition Table). This is a new standard that replaces the classic MBR - Master Boot Record. GPT does not have the limitations inherent in MBR, for example: the latter supports no more than 4 main partitions, in addition, when using MBR, the partition information and disk boot information are stored in one place. If they are damaged or overwritten, there can be serious problems with data recovery. GPT keeps multiple copies of tables across the entire disk, therefore it works much faster and allows you to recover damaged information.

To install Windows on a GPT disk, the following conditions must be met: select a 64-bit system and boot in EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) mode, for which you must enable UEFI boot instead of CSM in BIOS Setup. But if the computer is old and the BIOS does not support EFI mode, then it is better to convert GPT to MBR. This can be done right during Windows installations by running the command "convert mbr" ( full list the required commands can be found on the web) in the Windows command line.

WD SSD Dashboard

The WD SSD Dashboard, available for download, provides a set of tools with which you can check available capacity, temperature, SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis And Reporting Technology) attributes at any time. predicting the time of failure) and other parameters of the solid-state drive. The performance monitoring function allows you to determine the data transfer rate and the frequency of access to the hard disk. WD SSD Dashboard is very easy to learn, thanks to the intuitive graphical interface.

Microsoft must be installed to install the WD SSD Dashboard Utility. NET Framework 4.5.2. and refresh the browser Internet Explorer up to version 9 or higher. Actually, the most important parameter that can be found using this panel is remaining drive life... The rest of the application, although it has a number of useful functions is hardly required for installation on a computer.

Is it worth paying for the upgrade?

Testing has shown that an SSD can indeed be a powerful accelerator for a system that is still based on mechanical drives. Replacing the far from the slowest Hitachi 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive with a 240 GB WD Green solid-state drive has dramatically increased the productivity of the computer. An SSD drive sped up operations such as loading the OS and launching applications many times over, the same can be said for copying files.

As mentioned above, the retail price of WD Green 240 GB is UAH 2,200, the 120 GB version will cost about UAH 900 cheaper. At the same time, if we are talking about a desktop, then you can limit yourself to a 128 GB drive to install the OS and basic applications on it, and store all archives on an old hard drive. In a laptop, the installation of the second "screw" is hardly possible, so it is advisable to choose the 240 GB version. But even UAH 2 200 - quite affordable price for an upgrade that will objectively significantly speed up the operation of the system.

WD Green SSD Line Specifications

Capacity: 240 GB, 120 GB
Interface: SATA 6Gb / s
Form Factor: 2.5 inches (7 mm); M2 22-80
Resource: 240 GB - 80 TB for write operations; 120 GB - 40 TB for write operations. Each WD Green SSD is backed by a 3-year limited warranty.

At the end of 2016, Western Digital Corp. (WDC) entered the SSD market with two product lines - WD Blue and WD Green. Last year's SSDs weren't a breakthrough, they just filled a gap in the lineup of a well-known storage manufacturer. Of course, WDC decided not to stop there, and continued to develop a new direction for itself.

We saw the result of its work in the spring of 2017, when the announcement of the update of the WD Blue line, which received a new memory with a vertical arrangement of cells (3D NAND), took place. At the same time, the controller remained unchanged - it is a four-channel Marvell 88SS1074 microcircuit. The drives will come in two different formats (2.5 inches and M.2 2280) and four sizes. The new type of memory allowed to increase the volume up to 2 TB even in the compact format M.2 2280. Let's evaluate the rest of their capabilities and speed potential.

Specification

Packaging and equipment

The drive comes in a small cardboard box in the WD Blue range. The front side is marked with a three-year warranty, as well as the amount of memory. The reverse side is reserved for a sticker with service information and a small description of the WDC lines.

The WD Blue model (WDS250G2B0B) is securely fixed in a plastic form designed to protect it from mechanical damage during transportation.

The appearance of the device and its features

The SSD is made on a blue printed circuit board in the M.2 2280 format. It has a one-sided layout. All microcircuits are covered with a sticker with the name of the manufacturer, the serial number of the device, as well as marks about the passage of various specifications. In turn, the reverse side of the board is completely devoid of any elements.

The controller is a four-channel Marvell 88SS1074 microcircuit, which supports the following technologies:

• NCQ (native command queuing) - hardware command queuing that optimizes drive performance;
• S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology) - a monitoring system that monitors the state of the drive, so you can predict the time of its failure;
• DEVSLP - allows you to completely power off the SATA interface, allowing you to save more energy than the used methods of partial power off or sleep (Slumber), which imply continued power to the physical layer;
• TRIM - allows you to directly delete data stored in flash memory and immediately free unused space (free blocks) so that it can be used by the system to write information.

As for the memory chips, the drive contains four chips labeled "SanDisk 05138 064G". The volume of each of them is 64 GB, which gives a total of 264 GB. At the same time, 14 GB are used for internal system algorithms.

The cache memory is based on a 2 Gb DDR3 Nanya NT5CC128M16IP-DI chip.

The SSD comes formatted with the NTFS file system. Its effective storage capacity is 249.9 GB or 232 GiB.

Testing

The following stand was used for testing:

When working with compressible data in the ATTO Disk Benchmark, high maximum results were recorded - 567 MB / s when reading and 525 MB / s when writing.

ATTO Disk Benchmark's 4KB read and write performance is decent, slightly outperforming last year's WD Blue SSD. Recall that the higher they are, the faster the OS and application applications will work.

As for CrystalDiskMark, we got almost identical results to those in ATTO Disk Benchmark: 564 and 536 MB / s for reading and writing, respectively. The manufacturer's declared figures are 550 and 525 MB / s.

AS SSD Benchmark, like CrystalDiskMark, evaluates performance with incompressible data. It showed 518 and 137 MB / s reading and writing. The read speed turned out to be higher than that of its predecessor, but the benchmark has obvious problems with the write speed estimate, which we have seen not for the first time.

In general, the speed indicators of WD Blue (WDS250G2B0B) cannot be called a record when compared to competitive 2.5 "drives. Nevertheless, the drive demonstrates a decent level of performance and low data access latency. It fits perfectly into a compact laptop or mini-PC, providing the user with fast and capacious storage.

Support for SLC caching technology is not officially announced for this model. However, in the HD Tune Pro 5.60 and AIDA64 tests for recording the entire available volume, we see that at first the speed reaches 280 - 350 MB / s, but after writing approximately 10 GB, it falls into the range of 200 - 215 MB / s. Recall that the speed of cheaper models after a drop can reach 60-80 MB / s, so WD Blue (WDS250G2B0B) looks decent against their background.

According to the readings of the built-in sensor, during idle time the storage temperature was about 56 ° C. The air temperature in the test laboratory did not exceed 25 ° C.

Softwaresecurity

The proprietary WD SSD Dashboard software boasts not only a pleasant design, but also excellent capabilities, which include the function of monitoring the status of the drive, updating the firmware version, diagnosing performance, remaining service life, temperature and other parameters. There is also the possibility of forced cleaning of the drive without subsequent data recovery and passing S.M.A.R.T. test in fast and normal modes.

conclusions

Let's summarize our review of a compact 250GB SSD. Firstly, it is made in the increasingly popular M.2 2280 format, so it is suitable for ultrabooks or mini-PCs, which simply do not provide space for a 2.5-inch model. But if desired, it can also be used in ordinary desktops or laptops equipped with the appropriate interface. Secondly, it uses 3D NAND chips, thanks to which it was possible to increase the total volume (up to 2 TB) and increase the reliability indicators. In particular, the resource of the test model is 100 TB.

The speed indicators are very ambiguous. On the one hand, in ATTO Disk Benchmark and CrystalDiskMark, we see more than 500 MB / s for reading and writing data, and on the other hand, in complex tests and other benchmarks, the device loses to selected competitors. But in general, the indicators are very decent, especially when it comes to the transition from HDD to SSD. I was also pleased with the relatively high data write speed under continuous load, which remained at the level of 200 - 215 MB / s, while for models with SLC caching technology, it drops to 60-80 MB / s.

Another important advantage of WD Blue (WDS250G2B0B) is the proprietary WD SSD Dashboard software with a pleasant interface and high functionality... As a result, the SSD will not be easy in the fight against competitors, but it has its own strengths, so it will definitely find its way to buyers.

Advantages:

• 3D NAND memory;
• real read and write speeds exceed the declared values;
• decent speed with continuous recording of information;
• support for a number of useful technologies;
• the ability to download useful proprietary software.

We express our gratitude to the companyWDC for the drive provided for testing.

We express our gratitude to the companiesASUS, Intel, KingstonandSea sonic for the equipment provided for the test bench.

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