Is this cross between a hard drive and an SSD right for you?
These drives blend conventionalplatter-based hard driveswith the newersolid-state drivetechnologies.
Seagate introduced this term to label what was previously called hybrid hard drives.
Benefits of an SSHD
Seagate’s tagline for their SSHD lineup is “SSD Performance.
An SSHD combines a conventional hard drive with a small-capacity solid-state drive.
It’s an affordable option for those who want both speed and plenty of storage.
A Closer Look
An SSHD is essentially a conventional hard drive with an added SSD cache.
As such, it offers capacities similar to magnetic hard drives, with both laptop and desktop variants available.
The prices range from about 10% to 20% more than a conventional drive.
The SSHD is cheaper than a full solid-state drive.
The performance of any storage medium is a function of its most common use cases.
Specs must be evaluated in light of how the hardware is employed.
SSHD performance depends on the amount of solid-state memory in the cache.
SSHD drives may have 8 GB of this solid-state cache.
If files aren’t used repeatedly, the solid-state cache benefit is limited.
SSHDs show an improvement over magnetic drives but not as significant as a pure-SSD solution.
Beyond that, improvements prove much more variable.
Who Should Consider an SSHD?
The primary market for a solid-state hybrid drive is laptop computers.
The limited space on these systems generally prevents more than a single drive from being installed.
While SSDs offer excellent performance, their higher cost and smaller capacity may not be ideal for everyone.
SSHDs provide a balanced solution, offering improved performance without sacrificing too much storage space.
As SSD prices have continued to fall, the market for SSHDs has shrunk dramatically.
On the other hand, a magnetic hard drive offers lots of space but doesn’t perform as well.
An SSHD can offer an easy and affordable way to improve performance moderately without sacrificing storage capacity.
However, mini desktop PCs with limited space may still benefit from SSHDs, similar to laptops.
