Hybrid hard drive or regular HD with SSD Cache?

[jaydee]

If I were looking to buy or recommend a laptop PC to someone, without the option of installing an aftermarket SSD, which of the following options do you think would be the better route?

1) 1TB 5400RPM Hybrid Hard Drive
2) 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive + 24GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache

I really don't have anymore information, but I am suspecting the hybrid drive is the Seagate 3rd Gen 1TB drive with 8GB of MLC NAND.

What is the advantage of one over the other?

 

[Cerb]

SSD cache all the way. The hybrid drive can only track block-level access, so very common small blocks that can fit in the NAND go there. It also has a small cache. It also can't make the decision of what to cache or not based on file access patterns, like SRT can. If you look at reviews for the hybrid HDDs, you'll notice they only speed up decently after several runs of the same test, while SRT does not need that kind of help.

 

[MrX8503]

I bet SRT is smarter and it'll have way more available flash. I would go with that option.

 

[beginner99]

If I were looking to buy or recommend a laptop PC to someone, without the option of installing an aftermarket SSD, which of the following options do you think would be the better route?

1) 1TB 5400RPM Hybrid Hard Drive
2) 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive + 24GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache

I really don't have anymore information, but I am suspecting the hybrid drive is the Seagate 3rd Gen 1TB drive with 8GB of MLC NAND.

What is the advantage of one over the other?

Or get the model that supports mSata but a cheaper version without it and install a real mSata ssd andbut the OS on it. Downside is that in general if they omit the cache the also use a crappier display and so forth...