Samsung Electronics has begun shipping its first models of hybrid hard disk drive, which mix conventional magnetic storage with flash memory.
The drives are designed for use in notebooks and will work with the ReadyDrive feature in the new Windows Vista operating system. Under ReadyDrive, the flash memory acts as a temporary cache, so the disk needs to be accessed less freuently, requiring less power. Samsung claims its hybrid drive cuts power consumption 70 to 90 percent. Because data is quickly stored and retreived from the flash memory, ReadyDrive should also enable PCs to wake up faster from sleep mode.
Samsung's first three drives are 80GB, 120GB, and 160GB models, with either 128MB or 256MB of flash memory. That's the same flash capacity as prototypes Samsung unveiled at last May's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle. Last July, Samsung showed a prototype that included 4GB of flash memory.
Only Windows Vista supports ReadyDrive, so PCs running other operating systems won't benefit from the technology.
Intel is developing a competing system code-named Robson. It has the flash memory on the PC motherboard and will be included on Intel's new Santa Rosa laptop platform, due in the second quarter.
The report comes courtesy of Martyn Williams, correspondent for the IDG News Service.
