Is there a big future for hybrid hard drives?

IHS iSuppli believes that hybrid hard drives could gain significant popularity.

The breakthrough could be 5mm thick drives like the ones made inside Western Digital - modern Ultrabooks are simply as much as 7mm. Of course, size is not everything, as users are increasingly recognizing the potential in SSDs. Super-thin hybrid hard drives often leave traditional HDDs standing up thanks to their built-in NAND flash memory, making them look like an ideal combination overall.

 

 

According to an analysis by IHS iSuppli, 1,2 million HHD (hybrid hard drives) could be shipped this year, but in four years that number could reach 25 million. The growth potential is therefore significant.

Seagate Technology and Samsung Electronics have been dealing with hybrid hard drives for 5-6 years, but the models at the time offered less than 160 GB of capacity, 5400 rpm and limited flash memory usage. Not surprisingly, users weren’t in a hurry after the products.

Nowadays, the best-known HHD is the Seagate Momentus XT, which, however, doesn’t meet Intel’s requirements, so it can’t get a place in Ultrabooks. It is over 7 millimeters thick and uses only an 8GB SLC NAND flash chip, although a minimum of 24GB would be required. Western Digital, on the other hand, will soon come up with a drive that offers 5 GB of storage capacity at 500 millimeters and a 32 GB NAND flash memory chip. According to IHS iSuppli, we will meet such Ultrabooks next year.

Source: techpowerup.com