Hybrid Hard Drive William Sullivan HTM /09/2007

Hybrid drives were first released in early 2007 (Samsung) At the moment hybrid drives are only compatible with the Windows Vista operating system. Information System Hardware Hybrid Disk Drive SoftwareDataProceduresPeople

Hybrid Hard Drive A new large-buffer computer hard disk drive. A new large-buffer computer hard disk drive. Employs a large buffer (up to 1 GB) of non-volatile flash memory to cache data during normal use. Employs a large buffer (up to 1 GB) of non-volatile flash memory to cache data during normal use. The hard disk drive is used only in two situations: The hard disk drive is used only in two situations: 1) to empty the buffer when it is near capacity 2) to retrieve data not already stored in the buffer.

Benefits Decreased power consumption Decreased power consumption Decreased heat generation Decreased heat generation Decreased noise levels Decreased noise levels Improved reliability Improved reliability Improved performance Improved performance

Drawbacks Increased seek time for non cached data. Increased seek time for non cached data. * if hard drive has spun down and needs to spin up Increased cost Increased cost * flash memory chips are still pretty expensive Increased frequency of spin up and spin down Increased frequency of spin up and spin down * may cause more wear on the hard disk

The Future? Solid State Drives- a data storage device that uses solid state memory to store persistent data. Solid State Drives- a data storage device that uses solid state memory to store persistent data. Could replace hard disk drives

Pros Pros: Faster startup Faster startup Reduced read and write latency (seek) times Reduced read and write latency (seek) times Faster boot and application launch times Faster boot and application launch times Few to no mechanical parts Few to no mechanical partsCons: Flash memory is expensive Flash memory is expensive Low recoverability Low recoverability

Hard disk drive-left, Solid state drive-right