Hybrid HD vs SSD

Have Win 7 Home Prem 64 bit
with a 320GB Seagatge 'standard' hard drive.

I was thinking about getting a SSD drive and local Best Buy sales person mentioned the Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB Solid State Hybrid Drive.

I have tried to Google for more info, but not finding much in the way of actual users with their comments.

The Hybrid is $150 at Best Buy though Amazon has them for $100.
The SSD at Micro center for a 128GB is $220 to $240. I would be fine with a 128. I currently have 54GB used on my 320GB as I have a 2nd internal HD for back ups, photos, etc.
Also seems both the Hybrid and SSD come 2.5" but I am sure I can find a bracket to fit the 3.5 slot.

Any thoughts ?
Thx

This "Hybrid", is it a cross (or blend) between a SATA & SSD HDD's. Like mabye for those who really wants a SSD, but can't afford it?

I haven't seen a single forum post anywhere concerning this type of drive, nor that many articles or mention of it. There are second generation SSD's now, and they are proven.

These "hybrids", I would be cautious of, unless & until they become mainstream, and at least know of someone who has ran one for a while, with no negative issues to report.

Just my opinion.

Cat

I have no experience with the hybrid drives but I do know a few details.

BYTECC Bracket-25350 Dual 2.5" HDD/SSD Bracket for 3.5" Drive Bay or Enclosure
Hybrid drive

yeah, my concern is that there are still moving parts.
I think I'll stick to the SSD.

Thanks for explaining, c_c! That's more than I knew about them, and about all that I need to know.

Until I can afford a SSD, I'll stick with the SATA drives, many 1TB/32MB cache/7200rpm drives can be had for $59.99 & up. I was about to snatch up a Hitachi 1TB w/the same specs as the two that I have for that price, w/free shipping, but my notebook is acting up again (serious drive & possible other issues).

When I purchase a new notebook, one of those SSD's are among the upgrades that I make on it, probably a 128GB one. Being a notebook, the 2.5" size shouldn't be that much of a factor, but I'll double check before purchase.

sethm1, you're doing the right thing, in my opinion. $100 for 500GB of that type of product is too high, not to mention the gamble you're taking on a drive that few even uses. I'm sure that there's users of the product, but they're seldom mentioned, not even as a suggestion for anyone to use.

On the other hand, SSD's are gaining ground. And the reality is, 128GB is a lot of drive for your system (that 100MB one), "C", & recovery partitions. Movies and large amounts of data can be easily stored on external drives, and accessed as you need them. Those drives are cheap, some 2TB ones are around the $100 mark, you can add a case for as little as $15 or so.

Cat

I was thinking about a 80GB SSD, but thinking a 128 would be safer.
of the 320GB drive I have, 54 is used. 80 is just too close to 54 and then what happens if I reach the limit.

The Hybrid might be good if my drive was 5200 rpm, but it's a 7200 rpm.
And what if (on the Hybrid) the 4 GB flash dies, then it would be like my Seagate drive. All in all, a nice concept, but more I read, it may have its flaws.

This is also a nice concept.

Silverstone HDDBoost
Basically merging a SSD and a Platter drive into a Hyrbid drive configuration.

That does appear to be a neat idea. It would probably work well with desktops.

Reading the article though, makes the SSD's look as though they're fragile, something that upon reading, may cause one to second guess purchasing one. I guess that's why they don't carry a 5 year warranty, while some SATA drives do.

But it would be good to have a regular HDD to have that speed, too. It looks like a good upgrade for a desktop.

Cat

Some guy named Bing Google can help with that!

I've had a couple builds with hybrid drives and unfortunately, only had a couple days to play with them - but I like them. Don't expect anything the first time you use them. The on-board "intelligent" SSD/HD controller takes awhile to learn your habits, but after a few sessions, performance will be noticeably faster on most tasks.

However, the best compromise, for PCs anyway, would be a small ~64Gb boot/OS disk and a large traditional or hybrid second drive.

I just came back from Microcenter.
Happened to see a 128GB SSD by Corsair Extreme Series.
Though a refurb, it was marked at $140. For $20 more bought the 2 yr warr.
For a total of $172 with tax beats the price of a new one. Microcenter employee says if they sell enough (refurb), they will get more.
With not moving parts, what can go wrong?


Anyone installed a Silverstone HDD Boost?
Wonder if it would fit my desktop. My tower has the easy pull out bays and seems the Silverstone wont fit.