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The evolution of hybrid drives, Seagate's new SSHD 500GB

Subject: Storage | April 19, 2013 - 07:20 PM |
Tagged: sshd, Seagate, Hybrid Drive, 500gb

We have seen many hybrid drives come and go, most of which only benefited desktop users who were accessing certain files often enough that they were cached on the flash memory.  Seagate has introduced a new iteration of the SSHD specifically for laptops, uniting 500GB of 5400 RPM platter based storage with 8GB of MLC NAND and a 64MB cache which [H]ard|OCP recently benchmarked.  They didn't forget desktop users as they released 1TB and 2TB models at 7200 RPM but it is the laptop version which is perhaps more interesting as not many models allow the installation of a second drive like desktops do.  The testing results were mixed, with several obvious benefits interspersed with odd performance changes after multiple runs, however the small price differential between a standard HDD and a SSHD might just convince you to pick up this new breed of hybrid drive.

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"Seagate has introduced the next generation of Solid State Hybrid Drives, commonly referred to as "SSHD." These drives use a small amount of MLC NAND to accelerate the performance of a 5400 RPM spinning disk. Today we test the mobile version against other available SSD caching solutions."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Samsung 840 Series gives SSD fans a little TLC

Subject: Storage | January 3, 2013 - 03:22 PM |
Tagged: tlc, Samsung 840, 500gb, ssd

As the lifespan of flash memory in SSDs has become a topic of concern for many users, it is nice to see that the Samsung 840 500GB has a lifespan of some 14 years assuming a daily write load of 10GB.  Since most users do not write 10GB to a drive day in and day out, that estimate is probably on the low end.  If that doesn't have you excited then consider the cost of the drive, at $350 it is much lower than the $1/GB mark most other SSDs are at.  There are some trade offs however, [H]ard|OCP saw comparatively slow extended write speeds though the read speeds were higher than the 256GB model.  When you consider this drive do keep in mind that it is still going to be faster than a platter drive even when it is working on a task that other SSDs might do slightly faster.

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"Samsung has released the first TLC NAND equipped SSDs into the market, creating the lowest price points we have witnessed for SSDs bringing large capacity SSDs within reach for average users. Today we test the 500GB TLC Samsung 840 Series SSD to test the performance in steady state of a large capacity TLC Solid State Drive."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Wireless storage on the go with Seagate's GoFlex Satellite

Subject: Storage | July 21, 2011 - 03:04 PM |
Tagged: mobile hdd, 500gb, usb 3.0 seagate, seagate GoFlex Satellite

There is nothing special about a generic 500GB USB 3.0 external hard drive anymore, you can get them from a wide variety of storage providers and neither the size nor the interface are particularly unique.  Seagate saw that as a challenge and met it with the GoFlex Satellite, which sports WiFi so that you don't need to attach it the device you want to access the data from and it has an internal battery so you don't need to plug it into a power source either.   Legit Reviews grabbed one to review and you can find the results right here.

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"The Seagate GoFlex Satellite is more than just a shell on a 2.5" 500GB notebook hard drive supporting USB 3.0 connectivity with an external power brick. This drive has its own battery supply and integrated 802.11n wireless access point all in the same form factor as other external drives in the GoFlex line. I was amazed by how easily and quickly I was able to use this product right out of the box. It was a simple operation to move content on to the GoFlex and stream it back off to any wireless device..."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

Source: Legit Reviews

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