Way back in 2005, Microsoft and Samsung introduced a new kind of hard disk drive that could record data even while idling. The new hard drive, called Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD), contained 1GB flash memory chip, which functioned as a data cache.

Typically, the disks in the traditional hard drives rotate at a very high speed so as to allow the head to read/write data quickly. In the case of HHD, the disks rarely spin because all the incoming data was stored on the chip.

The hard drive wakes up in two conditions; first, when the flash memory chip is full, and second, when the user wants to retrieve information stored in it. Once, the work is done, the hard drive goes back into the idle state.

Some outstanding benefits of hybrid hard drive that Samsung and Microsoft enlisted are as follows:

• It is believed that hard drive motors and LCD screens are the largest consumers of computer power. As the disks of HHD spin infrequently, therefore power consumption is drastically reduced. When used in laptop, HHD automatically increases the battery life.
• Spinning disks produce lots of heat due to friction. In hybrid hard drives, the disks rotate occasionally. Hence, less heat is generated and noise is almost absent.
• Continuous disk rotation is the primary cause of hard drive failure. Reduced disk rotation in HHD increases its reliability.
• Hybrid hard drive also has the ability to accelerate the boot-up time.

With so many advantages, HHD seemed to be the best storage media, at that point of time. However, the reality is that hybrid hard drives have failed on all fronts.

According to Dr. Richard New, Director of Research, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, “Hybrid hard drives have been unsuccessful in delivering the performance that customers expected.” Hard disk executives at Diskcon, 2007 state,”The benefits of HHD are quite disappointing, and that’s the reason why they are not readily available in stores.”

“To rectify the performance problem, the manufacturers should replace 1GB flash memory chip with 4GB chip,” suggests Dr. New. “This would reduce power consumption as well as improve boot-up time.

However, the price would go up,” continues Dr. Richard New. Joel Hagberg, Vice President of Marketing, Fujitsu Computing Products of America opines, “A small increase in flash memory will not improve the boot-up time significantly. If 4GB flash memory chip is used, then boot-up time may drop from 28 seconds to 21 seconds. I don’t think anybody would like to pay more for this kind improvement.”

Western Digital conducted a series of test to determine whether hybrid hard drives are actually required or not. They found that computers that use Windows Vista operating system don’t require HHD. Vista offers sleep function, and Vista-based PCs take only 4 seconds to come out of the sleep state. “Western Digital tested 7 variants of Windows Vista, and each time, Vista PCs came out of their sleep state in 4 seconds. If the sleep function of Vista works properly, then hybrid hard drives are not needed,” states Richard Rutledge, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Western Digital.