Toolkit

Story: Samsung hybrid hard drive extends laptop battery life

Posted by: Roger Badger (Tuesday 16 May 2006, 11:55 AM)

It’s nice to see a more balanced article on the application of flash within “serious” storage solutions.

The Flash vs. HDD hype has been cringe worthy (care of Samsung)… predictions of flash replacing HDDs have been laughable (Samsung again). Industry forecasts predict $-per-GB, circa 2009, for Flash being in the region of $4.00 (Source: IDC) and HDDs rolling in at $0.20 – Form Factor non-specific (Derived: TrendFOCUS data). By 2009 the average HDD capacity shipped is forecast to be somewhere between 200-300GB (Source: TrendFOCUS). Therefore, 200GB Flash Drive = $800 vs. 200GB HDD = $40. I know what I’ll be buying.

However, anything that cuts PC boot time is a winner. Power savings are a plus; for the portable user. Also quieter drives sound good (sic). So it’s great to see a realistic spin on the flash/HDD debate. I might not buy a Samsung HDD (I wonder if their flash solution will make their drives “less prone to break down”; if you buy junk what do you expect), but hybrid drives are definitely the way forward.