HybridHardDrive
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Seagate ships its first desktop hybrid drive, third-gen laptop models
Seagate has had some skin in the hybrid hard drive game for some time, but always in 2.5-inch wide versions -- great for your laptop, not so much the cavernous spaces of a gaming tower. Its just-shipping Desktop SSHD fills that gap in a nearly literal sense. Along with slotting neatly into a 3.5-inch bay, the larger SSHD carries both 2TB of spinning storage and 8GB of flash to speed up disk-intensive tasks without throwing away capacity (or money) on a pure solid-state drive. It should be as much as four times faster than conventional desktop drives, Seagate claims. Whether or not that's true, the firm isn't neglecting its portable-owning friends: it's shipping a new 1TB, regular-height Laptop SSHD and a 500GB, 7mm (0.28-inch) Laptop Thin SSHD, either of which is up to 40 percent faster than its predecessor. Seagate hasn't mentioned pricing for any of the drives at this stage, although it's safe to presume they'll undercut SSDs with equivalent space.
Toshiba refreshes the Qosmio X875 gaming laptop with a 1TB hybrid drive
For the most part, the 2013 Toshiba Qosmio X875 gaming laptop is just like the 2012 version. The company just announced an updated version, but the only main difference is that it will now be offered with a 1TB 7,200RPM hybrid hard drive, which uses 8GB of flash memory to help speed up boot-ups and application load times. All told, Toshiba is promising a 3.6x increase in read / write speeds over last year's model, and that programs will launch up to 30 percent faster. Other than that, this really is the same notebook. Same "Black Widow" design and even the same specs: up to 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage (including a 1TB hybrid hard drive option), a 3GB NVIDIA GTX 670M GPU and an optional 3D display powered by NVIDIA's 3D Vision 2 technology. If you're interested, you can get it with the hybrid drive on February 3rd, starting at $1,480. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early
Those 7mm-thick hard drives you've seen in some Ultrabooks are already looking a tad on the chunky side. Western Digital has started producing sample versions of a hybrid hard drive (you're not yet looking at it here) that measures just 5mm (0.2in) tall, even as it crams in both flash and a 500GB main disk. If you think the slimmer drive is just the ticket for a best-of-all-worlds laptop that's both fast and capacious, you're not alone: Acer and ASUS have mentioned their collaboration in the same breath, which may be a strong clue as to where future Aspires and Zenbooks are going. The remaining question is when they arrive. Sampling isn't the same as mass production, which could leave us with months to go before the 5mm drive lands in future extra-skinny PCs.
Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook listed at US retailer for $900, 'coming soon'
Looks like that 13.3-inch Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook we saw honeymooning with a 'friend' in Korea is almost ready to head over to the States. JR.com has listed it as "coming soon" for $899.99 along with a spec sheet that details the same 500GB/16GB hybrid drive we saw previously, along with a Core i5-2467M serving up CPU horsepower and graphics, 4GB of DDR3, 1366 x 768 LED backlit display, a single USB 3.0 port and WiDi. The weight and dimensions seem slightly chunkier than last reported though, with thickness reaching a maximum of 0.69-inches and a weight of 3.24 pounds -- still, it's a lot more shapely than the 1TB 14-incher it left behind. [Thanks, Deron]
Seagate Momentus XT hybrid hard drive review
Earlier this year, Seagate promised to flip the 2.5-inch HDD industry upside-down, but it wouldn't do so by using an SSD in sheep's clothing. Rather, it'd be doling out a new breed of hard drive, one that actually has a pinch of pure, unadulterated NAND inside for picking up the pace in certain scenarios. The idea of a hybrid hard drive isn't totally new, but the Momentus XT is one of the first hybrid HDDs to actually make it out of the lab and into the hands of consumers. The most intriguing aspect of the drive is the price -- at around $130, it's just under half as pricey as Seagate's conventional 500GB Momentus 7200.4. That uptick in price isn't nothing, but it's still far less than what you'd pay for a 2.5-inch SSD with half the capacity. We've already shown you the benchmarks, so we figured we'd slap this bad boy in our main rig for a few weeks to see if we actually noticed any real-world performance increases to justify the cost. Head on past the break for our two pennies. %Gallery-99124%
Ask Engadget: best non-SSD laptop hard drive?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Jason, who needs a laptop drive upgrade that doesn't involve the words "solid state." Or "really expensive." If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "I am in the market for a 2.5-inch notebook drive for my new Core i7 MacBook Pro. The biggest concern for me is performance, with storage after that, and impact on battery life last. Every SSD I have seen is over my budget. I am wondering which hard drive will be the best non-solid state drive to fit in a MBP. Some people mentioned Seagate's Momentus XT, which is a hybrid drive -- are they any good? Thanks!" One thing Jason left out was his capacity requirements and actual budget, but we'll go ahead and assume he wants something larger than 40GB and cheaper than the average SSD. Any blazing HDDs out there for the taking? Go on, it's not like giving up your secret will make everyone reading this go buy up the remaining inventory. No promises on that, though.
Seagate pairs 7200RPM HDD with 4GB of NAND in 2.5-inch Momentus XT hybrid drive
Just as we surmised, Seagate is taking the wraps off its new hybrid drive, with OEM shipments of the Momentus XT starting today. Hailed as the fastest 2.5-inch laptop drive on the planet, this here device marries a 7200RPM hard drive (250/320/500GB) with 4GB of SLC NAND flash memory and 32MB of cache, and the company's Adaptive Memory technology allows it to store frequently used information on the latter for ultra-speedy access. It can boot up to 100 percent faster than a conventional 5400RPM hard drive, and thankfully for us all, it utilizes a standard 9.5mm-high form factor that the vast majority of laptops use. Seagate also affirms that the drive "operates independently of the operating system and the motherboard chipset," but we're going to hold tight until we see the first real benchmarks (it'll soon be an option in ASUS' ROG G73Jh gaming laptop) before getting all hyped up. In related news, the outfit also announced the world's highest capacity 7200RPM drive at 750GB, with the Momentus 750GB boasting SATA 3Gbps support, an NCQ interface, 16MB of cache and "silent acoustics." No price is mentioned, but you can bet a hefty premium will placed on something this capacious. The full presser, another image and a specs sheet awaits you beyond the break. Update: The reviews are already pouring in, and at just $155 for the 500 gigger, it's receiving a fair amount of praise.
Seagate's 'game-changing' storage tech coming to ASUS ROG G73Jh laptop
Well, well -- what's this? Wouldn't you like to know. What it is, fine people, is the "device that becomes you, so you become faster." Seriously, that's the teaser line that Seagate's feeding the press this fine morning, inviting us to join the company as it reveals the next "game-changing" device meant to boost system performance by a staggering 150 percent. Judging by the image above and the fact that ASUS' ROG G73Jh gaming laptop will be first to house it, we're guessing it's a breed of SSD this world has never seen. We're told that the mystery product will be 20 percent quicker than a 600GB 10,000rpm SATA drive, 80 percent faster than a conventional 7200rpm HDD and able to boot "within six seconds of an SSD drive." It'll also be able to "learn about its user to dynamically decrease disk time, boot time, and application load time," and if you're lucky, it may just cleanse that work coat of yours, whip up a nutritious breakfast and convert your clunker into a hovercraft. We'll be finding out a lot more come May 26th -- till then, try not to gnaw your nails past the cuticle. Update: Sounds like Seagate may finally be ready to launch that "pie in the sky" mutant hybrid SSD technology that we first caught wind of back in 2008. Dare we say, the Momentus XT Hybrid? Thanks, Sneakz and Khattab! [Thanks, Michael]
SilverStone HDDBoost gets reviewed, okayed for purchase by most Earthlings
SilverStone's HDDBoost is an interesting, if not completely unique, offering. It's a relatively inexpensive (around $45) option for boosting performance in older machines, but it still requires the purchase of a decidedly not inexpensive SSD. For those with one already on hand (not to mention a traditional HDD), it allows you to have a RAID-type setup that provides peace of mind and a performance boost when it comes time to boot or load an application. Critics over at HardwareCanucks found that this little doohickey actually provided a noticeable increase in speed when coming from an older HDD-based setup, but those already using a WD Black Edition or Raptor probably "won't see much of a difference in terms of load times." They also point out that users should certainly use second-generation SSDs if picking one up, and if you've been searching for the next big breath of life to send to your aging desktop, you owe it to yourself to peek the full writeup.
Raidon announces HyBrid Disk SSD / hard drive combo
Not interested in piecing together your own hybrid SSD hard drive with something like SilverStone's HDDBOOST kit? Then you might want to consider waiting for Raidon's upcoming HyBrid Disk drive, which promises all the same benefits with none of the hassle (apart from actually installing it in your computer, that is). Complete details on this one are still a bit light, but you will apparently be able to remove the SSD and use it on its own if you like, and then have its contents automatically backed up when you put it back in its enclosure. No word on pricing just yet either, but Raidon says the drives will first be available in an internal, 3.5-inch version in April, with an external version following later in the year.
SilverStone HDDBOOST lets you build your own hybrid SSD hard drive
We've already seen Lenovo and others pair an SDD up with a standard hard drive for maximum speed, but SilverStone now has a fairly novel solution to let you build your own hybrid storage device. Dubbed the HDDBOOST, the device itself is just a simple chassis that lets you plug in any SDD drive and any standard hard drive and connect the whole rig to your computer -- you can even apparently daisy chain multiple hard drives and have them all take advantage of the SSD boost. Of course, those drives will be recognized as one by your computer, and the initial setup appears to be minimal, with only a simple mirror backup required to copy all your priority data to the SDD -- which the company says could result in up to a 70% increase in speed. No word on an official release over here, but this one should be available in Europe later this month for €33 (or about $45). [Thanks, Alex]
LG's R400 hybrid hard drive laptop outed
Samsung's not the only mega Korean manufacturer with a little bit of hybrid hard drive action to show off this week. Apparently LG is getting into the game as well, as it's stuffed one of those flash-cached, speed-booting, battery-saving and performance-enhancing drives into the new R400, which should be launching at the end of this month. Along with the snappy 120GB drive, the R400 (not to be confused with Toshiba's flagship 12-incher) includes a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 graphics card, 14.1-inch LCD, 1.73GHz T5300 Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM and Bluetooth. The Inquirer mentions a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam, but we're not spotting the camera in the pic above. The best news is that all of this appears to be going for the perfectly reasonable price of $1,199 Canadian -- about 37 cents in real people money! There's obviously some shadiness here, and we're looking forward to LG's official announcement to confirm the specs and maybe jack up the price a grand or so, but for now we sure are liking to looks of this here R400.[Via The Inquirer]
Samsung's Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD) released to OEMs
Samsung and Microsoft have been touting the wonders of the hybrid hard drive since 2005 -- in other words "forever" on a technology timeline. Now, finally, Samsung is pushing their ReadyDrive-friendly HHD out the door to OEMs starting today. The MH80 series of 2.5-inch drives build in 128/256MB of NAND flash to augment the traditional 80/120/160GB of traditional hard disk capacity. Samsung claims that their new HHDs offer 5x the reliability of conventional hard disks while shaving up to 50% off Windows Vista boot times and cutting power consumption by 70-90% to deliver about 30-minutes more laptop run-time off battery. Sweet. No prices given, but look for 'em to hit higher-end laptops as relatively costly (no prices given) options any day now. With any luck, the higher cost will be offset by more bang-for-the-buck.
Hybrid hard drive due for this month?
We first heard about Samsung's and Microsoft's hybrid hard drive (HHD) over a year ago at last WinHEC 2005, and according to the Korea Times it would appear that after a year of waiting for the drive (and the operating system intended to run it -- Vista), it will be launched at this year's WinHEC. The world has yet to see what adding a 128MB buffer solid state storage area to a hard drive will offer in terms of performance and battery life when used in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows ReadyDrive (i.e. sleep / hibernation quick boot and suspend support), but we're all waiting with bated breath because anything to start moving us away from this whole spinning hard drive thing is fine by us, thanks.[The Inq]
