The computer industry shipped more than 653 million computing systems in 2010 and more than 98% of them had a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) inside. This perennial storage workhorse continues its great 30-year run and provides the basis to go beyond just raw capacity and achieve the highest performance possible from today’s advanced microprocessors.

To take full advantage of higher computer processing power, some users have attempted to upgrade to solid state drives (SSD) that deliver significantly faster performance. But even consumer-grade SSDs can cost an order of magnitude more than comparable-capacity HDDs; high-performance, enterprise–class SSDs are even pricier. Too often this requires the user to compromise on capacity, which should be affordable, and performance—again—falls short.

Hybrid drives close the gap

The emergence of solid state hybrid drive (SSHD) technology provides a way for users to get more performance from their machines, run richer applications, and make stronger contributions to the organization. SSHDs combine a small, fast and affordable amount of NAND flash memory with a traditional hard drive.

NAND flash memory is a proven storage technology that’s been extensively used in digital camera memory cards, USB thumb drives and MP3 players. It also became popular for higher-capacity SSD laptop computer storage to use NAND flash; however, the inability of flash and SSD to handle heavy write-erase cycles keeps their per-gigabyte storage costs high.

The secret to getting the best of both worlds is to use solid state only for what it does best—deliver blazing speed—and partner it with the complementary strengths of conventional hard disk drives (low cost, high capacity, proven reliability) to provide needed capacity. And that’s a software issue.

Self-learning algorithms make it all work together

Software solutions featuring self–learning algorithms are designed to deliver an SSD-like response from your favorite applications and files. They dynamically monitor data usage and then intelligently determine what data should be copied to the hybrid drive’s solid state memory. This enables SSD-like performance when accessing a user’s most frequently needed files, while reducing the workload (and increasing the reliability) of the solid state storage.

Adaptive Memory™ technology from Seagate selectively tackles data that is frequently read and time–consuming to fetch. Seagate SSHD drives can then copy this data into the flash, maintain it and keep the flash current to provide the instant-response experience you’ve been searching for.

Adaptive Memory technology makes such efficient use of the drive’s solid state memory that only 4GB to 8GB of flash capacity is actually needed. This reduces costs so much that it’s now practical to employ enterprise-class SLC NAND flash memory, the fastest and most reliable type of flash memory on the market.

Enabling key performance metrics on the laptop

Adaptive Memory technology meets two important user demands for laptop performance: fast boot time and data integrity.

Adaptive Memory technology gives laptop and PC users the instant response they need to get moving fast. It helps boot a laptop up to three times faster than a traditional 5400-RPM drive and nearly as fast as an SSD solution. Flash–assisted storage technology (FAST Factor™) —also developed by Seagate—helps users start their laptops in seconds, not in minutes.²

Adaptive memory technology also provides seamless integration between hardware, firmware and high–speed NAND flash while maintaining data under all configurations in any system, using any operating system and with any driver. Business users employ their laptops to continuously add, revise and edit documents, presentations and other business–critical files. Every such action entails another write–erase cycle for the laptop’s storage device. SSDs have less room (fewer cells) than HDDs to which data can be written and rewritten and this increases the potential workload (and wear) on any given SSD device. The best way to overcome this limitation is to use solid state for what it does best and partner it with the complementary strengths of hard drives.

In addition, for fast application loads and overall SSD–like speed of response from your system, FAST Factor flash management keeps you moving while keeping your data intact. Bottom line: You get up and running faster with the applications you use most often. Seagate SSHDs, with Adaptive Memory technology, maximize performance, reliability and simplicity on laptop PCs to cost–effectively increase productivity.

The future outlook for SSHD

SSHDs can be 3× as fast as traditional hard drives. In fact, they can be as fast as an SSD in real–world performance. Further, SSHDs provide affordable storage upgrades so you no longer have to compromise on either speed or capacity.

That kind of performance has turned a few heads with industry leaders, users and analysts. IDC has started tracking SSHD as a separate storage capacity. It forecasts that SSHD penetration in the notebook computer market will reach 33% by 2016 and deliver a combined annual growth rate of 162.4% between 2011 and 2016.1 SSHD is a storage technology whose time has come.

Learn more about the innovation and products in Seagate's Solid State Hybrid Technology page.

Footnotes

¹ IDC, “Worldwide Hard Disk Drive 2012-2016 Forecast: The Industry Hits the Reset Button,” IDC #233547, Volume 1, March 2012.
² Performance may vary depending on user’s hardware configuration and operating system. Testing performed on a Momentus® XT 750GB SSHD.

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• ssd,
• internal hard drives,
• seagate solid state hybrid drives,
• hybrid hard drives,
• seagate adaptive memory technology,
• hybrid drives in laptops