Samsung's Hybrid Hard Disk in the fo' realz

It might not look like much, but that's no ordinary disk drive up there. That's the latest pic of Samsung's Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD) which like those from Seagate and others, are still expected to launch in January in leverage of Vista's SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive technologies. Yeah, nothing more to say about HHDs than we have already, just a new picture to prep ya for double-quick boot speeds, greater reliability, and 20-30 minutes longer battery life. Mmm flash memory... is there anything you can't do?

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 20th 2006 9:27AM]

The cosmic ballet...continues.

[john russell @ Oct 20th 2006 9:29AM]

Flash memory still can't watch our children. Maybe someday.

[Chris @ Oct 20th 2006 9:39AM]

I love how the picture is of the TOP of the drive (Complete with clear cover) when the real innovation and news is on the BOTTTOM of the drive on the circuit board... *sigh*

[theChad @ Oct 20th 2006 9:52AM]

I don't care much for the flash mem, they should leave the clear top on for production.

[g3n3tiX @ Oct 20th 2006 10:10AM]

and it's NOT SATA... why not ?

[Brett @ Oct 20th 2006 10:43AM]

Most likely because the installed base of PATA dwarfs SATA. Granted if they are trying to innovate, seems like they should display the produce with the latest interface.

[Chris @ Oct 20th 2006 11:25AM]

someday, flash mem will watch our kids, make our coffee and pleasure us when we're lonely its just a matter of time :) For now im happy with Vista + HHD

[Maikeru @ Oct 20th 2006 11:57AM]

That's not all, it may also stop war, promote peace, and end world hunger in a flash...

[Zeke @ Oct 20th 2006 12:14PM]

(slightly OT)
I've seen a lot of display units like the one in this image with clear covers... Are those ever sold? Do they function? Usually it's just a marketing gimmick, but it would totally be cool to watch the HD do its stuff...

[g3n3tiX @ Oct 20th 2006 12:45PM]

one HD has a window : the RAPTORX has a glass part in which you see the head move. At 10000rpm, it's a blur !

[Y0ssar1an @ Oct 20th 2006 2:21PM]

What's the reliability of these things? I thought flash had a limited number of write cycles and was unsuitable for swap-type applications?

[Eh @ Oct 20th 2006 2:53PM]

"Mmm flash memory... is there anything you can't do?"

I can't be sold at a low price.

[tekdroid @ Oct 20th 2006 7:32PM]

claims of higher reliability are marketing hogwash. Spinning up & down a drive as opposed to having it spinning most of the time: nobody has any proof that that's more reliable. Flash *does* have limited rewrites (some claim up to a million) but you can easily see several hundred thousand being used up within a year.

Would be interesting to see how these drives would work in non-Vista OSs. Is the flash ignored? I prefer regular volatile ram and HDs that don't spin down, myself. Nothing revolutionary here; just using two different technologies for what they are (supposedly) best at in the one device. Personally, I doubt increased reliability. Iincreased battery life in notebooks - perhaps. Not increased reliability.

[Per Arneng @ Oct 22nd 2006 12:16PM]

Is the problem with flash deterioration over time. I know compact flash hade a limited number of write cycles possible. Is this limitation in theese hard drives.