Should I get a hybrid HDD?

superjose · 30 Aug 2011

Hi guys. I have an aging Core 2 Laptop. Dell XPS M1530 to be precise. It has a Core 2 Duo @ 2.4, 8600m GT, and a 320 GB 7.2k RPM HDD. Yesterday a friend was talking to me about Hybrid Hard Drives, and that it represented more than 80% to the gain of a normal HDD.

So, since I don't have any money to upgrade right now my laptop, I need to know if it is worth buying a HHDD, I ask this because I really can't afford for an SSD right now, since it is waaaaay too expensive vs the space.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

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logicearth · 30 Aug 2011

There are not many actual hybrid hard drives out there, least not ones the were supposedly going to be the next big thing. I myself have one, however, its only used as a read cache maintained by the drive itself. It doesn't give you an 80% gain, never would, but when it comes to reading often used files it does speed things up.

I have a Seagate Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid HDD, comes with 4 GB of flash memory for a read cache. Often used items on the drive are called from the fast cache and not the drive. Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive | Seagate Pretty cheap too, 500 GB for $150.

superjose · 30 Aug 2011

So do you think is it worth the upgrade? Thanks

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Konceptz804 · 01 Sep 2011

Upgrade your computer first.

NoN · 01 Sep 2011

superjose said:

So do you think is it worth the upgrade? Thanks

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Your Hard Drive 7.2Rpm is faster than mine based at 5.4Rpm...I think you should take notice of some optimization in Windows 7 to increase the write cache and speed-up the drive, since you have also a battery on laptop to back-up power failures:

OPTIMIZE 7

Write-Caching

superjose · 01 Sep 2011

Thanks guys for the reply. I'd better upgrade it as Konceptz804 says... Seems I'll spent a couple of years more with my C2Duo Laptop

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Thanks NoN for the tips, I'll try them later

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logicearth · 01 Sep 2011

When buying a hard drive, get one with as much cache as you possibly can. It can make a huge difference. On the drive I posted above it comes with 32 MB of onboard cache, Seagate has another set that has 64 MB, however, without the 4 GB flash read-cache.

pparks1 · 01 Sep 2011

I have a core 2 duo based Dell Latitude E6400. It's totally unnecessary to have to "upgrade" this machine. I put an SSD into this box and it restarts in 39 seconds. If you cannot afford an SSD, or cannot live witin the smaller space constraints, by all means, give the hybrid drive a try. friend of mine has a hybrid in 1 pc, and an ssd in the other. As expected the SSD is faster, but the hybrid is certainly better than the purely mechanical drive and provides a lot more storage.