Hdd and ssd hybrid?

[computernewb]

hi Im planning on buying a laptop and it comes with a 500gb hard drive with a 4 gb ssd. what is this? Is this better than a plain 750gb hard drive? 4gb doesnt seem like much. cant even put windows on it. which one should i get?

thanks!

 

[dingo07]

The 4GB is an mSATA cache

 

[nukemaster]

Hybrid drives like those Seagate makes take the most used 4 gigs of stuff that is accessed lots. It can make a performance difference when starting the system and some programs, but is not like having a SSD.

It is not bad, but if you need the space, the 750 is a better option.

Another thing you can do is if the laptop has a DVD drive, you can in many cases get a hard drive holder(Or SSD ) to place in that spot then put the DVD external(if you do not use it much).

EDIT, yeah if it is an M-SATA cache, you can upgrade it

 

[computernewb]

The 4GB is an mSATA cache

what does that mean? is it not a real ssd? also what is it used for. its only 4 gbs.

 

[dingo07]

Theres a website called Wikipedia... Ever hear about it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#mSATA

 

[computernewb]

Hybrid drives like those Seagate makes take the most used 4 gigs of stuff that is accessed lots. It can make a performance difference when starting the system and some programs, but is not like having a SSD.

It is not bad, but if you need the space, the 750 is a better option.

Another thing you can do is if the laptop has a DVD drive, you can in many cases get a hard drive holder(Or SSD ) to place in that spot then put the DVD external(if you do not use it much).

EDIT, yeah if it is an M-SATA cache, you can upgrade it

so i dont get to choose what goes into the 4 gbs?

 

[dingo07]

Those drives were designed for use before SSDs were mainstream.

The question is if you'll actually use most of the 500GB then stay with it, if not and say 240 will be enough then replace it with an SSD. THe performance doesn't compare.

 

[nukemaster]

so i dont get to choose what goes into the 4 gbs?

Can you post a link to the laptop you are looking at. This will let us see exactly what it is.

M-SATA is a real SSD, but in a very small form factor(normally lower capacity as well).

Most of those combo ideas are setup with intel SRT(Smart Response Technology). This much like the Seagate idea does not give you control, but goes by your usage patterns. The Intel option has the advantage of working with any SSD upto 64 gigs in size(you can use bigger, but only 64GB can be allocated to this cache. With Intel's setup using a normal SSD, you can choose to switch it off and use the SSD as a drive as well. Seagates option only allows 4 and on the newer drives 8 gigs. As its a part of the drive, you have no upgrade path for it).

While it may seem like a bad idea, some people just can not live within the small space on a SSD. That said, i think 240(256 non SF) to 480(512 non SF) is about the sweet spot(prices come down every day) right now(lets you install lots of games and programs). Add this to a regular hard drive for file storage. This is not always an option on laptops.

 

[djscribbles]

The 4GB is far too small to be a real drive (if it were actually a real drive, it would be an unforgivably terrible design at least).

The way it works is some software on the computer (or a piece of software in the BIOS) tracks what files you access most often, and stores them in the 4GB of flash so that it doesn't need to find them on the HDD.

They are not as effective as a real SSD, and you can't control what goes on them. 4GB is small for an SSD cache even, usually you see 16GB of flash cache space. It will likely be faster than the plain 750GB drive (depending on the RPMs of the two, but I assume they are equal).

I would take the cache over the larger drive, unless your computer has an mSata port (which they would fill with a tiny cache drive), in which case go for the bigger drive and add your own mSata card; or if you really need the extra 250GB, but to me more space just prolongs the inevitable 'clean-up'.

 

[proxy711]

A 500gb drive and a 4gb SSD cache. I'm 99% sure that's a first gen Seagate's Momentus XT. Which is pretty much the fastest laptop HDD you can buy. I have one in my laptop and it works great.

Anandtech loved the drive. http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd/4

as you can see in some cases it beats the 600gb VelociRaptor. Quotes from the Anandtech review "While the Momentus XT isn't quite as fast as an SSD, it's a significant improvement over the mechanical drives found in notebooks today." "If you're not going to buy an SSD for your notebook, then definitely go for the Momentus XT."

So yes the 500gb with 4gb cache wins over the 750gb HDD.

FYI the 4gb SSD can't be written to it automatically puts frequently used data on the SSD for quicker access to that data.

 

[computernewb]

here is the laptop im looking at

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP3260

 

[nukemaster]

Yup that does indeed look like a Seagate drive. In fact no one else has done this as an all in one idea like them.

http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/laptop-hard-drives/momentus-xt-hybrid/

If you can live in the 500 gig space, it should perform tasks you do often faster, but you will not be in control of what it does, but this makes it work on ANY os and all that good stuff.

 

[computernewb]

alright thanks guys. im going to go with the 4gb hybrid

 

[spacerconrad]

I'm also thinking that the hybrid setup, once it learns your needs, will probably be reading from the SSD portion more than writing, so it shouldn't be eating up write cycles as if you were using a pure SSD in a normal capacity.

 

[nukemaster]

I'm also thinking that the hybrid setup, once it learns your needs, will probably be reading from the SSD portion more than writing, so it shouldn't be eating up write cycles as if you were using a pure SSD in a normal capacity.

The Seagate hybrid drives use SLC nand that stuff will last for a VERY long time even if you wrote lots to it . Buy yeah, it will be mostly about reading. If you can get the newer ones they have 8gigabytes of flash now.