Hybrid hard drive. Speed ​​up your computer using SSHD. PCMark8 - everything is calm in Baghdad

Solid-state drives (from the English solid-state drive, abbreviated as SSD) have come to replace traditional information storage - hard disk drives (HDD). SSDs do not use magnetic disks that rotate (as in HDDs), but stationary flash memory chips, similar to USB flash drives. However, despite having numerous advantages, solid state drives have not yet been able to completely replace hard drives even in laptops, let alone desktop PCs. The main disadvantage of SSDs remains their high price: a gigabyte of their capacity costs significantly more than that of an HDD. Therefore, we will tell you in which cases it is better to choose an SSD, HDD or a hybrid solution.

Benefits of SSD

The main advantages of solid-state drives over hard drives are:

• high performance;
• resistance to physical impact.

For example, the sequential reading and writing speed of a 2.5-inch laptop HDD is 100 MB/s, and a 3.5-inch desktop HDD is 150 MB/s. The speed of random read-write (files are scattered over the entire surface of the disk) in an HDD can be ten times lower than the sequential one.

Another thing is SSD: even when connected to a motherboard with an outdated SATA interface II linear data reading speed will be less than 250 MB/sec. And once you upgrade to SATA III, performance will increase to 400-500 MB/sec. In turn, the linear write speed of an SSD, depending on the model, can be either equal to the reading performance or be half as low (but still higher compared to the HDD). And thanks to minimal delays in accessing data (SSDs, unlike HDDs, do not need to move the read head across the disk surface), the random read-write speed is also significantly higher.

Without moving elements (electric motor, read heads), solid-state drives are not afraid of exposure to strong vibration and shock. This allows, for example, to work on a laptop while driving a car on a bumpy dirt road. However, it’s not worth crash testing the SSD, so that you don’t have to mourn the information that was stored on it later. Less afraid of SSD and overheating: acceptable working temperature up to 70°C, while HDDs are limited to 60°C.

Advantages of HDD

Good old hard drives also have their advantages, namely the ability to rewrite data multiple times and a favorable price-to-capacity ratio. With very active use of SSDs (server PCs), memory blocks can be “worn to holes.” Depending on the type of flash memory - TLC, MLC or SLC (second mass storage) - blocks can be rewritten thousands to hundreds of thousands of times. Worn out blocks are automatically blocked, causing the SSD to lose capacity over time.

Traditional hard drives allow you to rewrite data a much larger number of times – the number goes into the millions. Therefore, it is not so much the magnetic disks that fail in HDDs (although bad sectors also sometimes appear on them), but rather the mechanical elements. However, on home and office PCs, data is not overwritten as often as on servers. Unless the registry of the Windows operating system reads and writes data continuously (it is not surprising that bad sectors on the surface of the HDD most often appear precisely at the location of the registry).

But when it comes to price, arguing with victory hard drives becomes impossible. IN this moment for $100 you can buy a 120 GB SSD, a 2.5-inch 1 terabyte HDD or a 3.5-inch 2 terabyte HDD. The difference in volume between an SSD and a HDD for the same price is tenfold, which is why it is worth paying attention to hybrid solutions.

Advantages of hybrids

Hybrid is a PC disk subsystem that combines the advantages of SSD and HDD - high performance and large capacity at a reasonable price. There can be three options for a hybrid disk subsystem: an SSD with enough capacity to install the operating system and programs (60-120 GB) plus a large HDD for storing photos, videos, music and games; large HDD plus a separate small SSD (20-32 GB) for caching frequently used programs; and finally a hybrid one (HDD plus a small SSD in a single case).

The first version of the hybrid disk subsystem is, of course, the best, but also the most expensive - it will cost a good $200 (HDD+SSD). Those who want to save money should choose the second option - a small SSD for caching costs only $50. However, for SSD operation-Caching is required on a motherboard that supports it Intel technologies Smart Response ( Intel chipsets Z68, H77, Z77, H87, Z87, H97 and Z97). Hybrid drives (SSHD) are best suited for laptops, where you have to sacrifice a DVD drive to install separate SSD and HDD.

SSD form factors

Not all solid-state drives are made in the popular 2.5-inch format (additional mounting is required for installation in a 3.5-inch slot). In addition to the 2.5-inch models, there are 1.8-inch models with a SATA connection. They are used, however, in so-called embedded systems, for example on-board computers premium cars. For thin laptops (ultrabooks), extremely compact SSDs of mSATA and M. 2 form factors have been created. And for computer enthusiasts who are willing to pay any money for the most powerful components in the world, solid state devices are offered in the form of PCI-Express 3.0 expansion cards (linear reading speed -recording reaches an impressive 1000-1500 MB/s).

Let's migrate to SSD!

Installing an SSD speeds up your PC much more than, say, upgrading your processor, even if it has all eight cores. Reducing the loading time of the operating system, falling asleep and waking up the PC, launching programs (even a web browser and text editor) is hard to miss. And you can transfer Windows from HDD to SSD along with all installed and configured programs with literally two mouse clicks using free utility EaseUS Partition Master Free. Or just contact ours for help.

Two-in-one devices have always attracted buyers because combining technologies in one device often improves the performance of the devices. Naturally, the price for the set will be decent. Take, for example, a video dual device, a laptop-tablet or an MFP. Manufacturers of hard drives also decided to resort to crossing the two technologies, introducing inexpensive SSHD drives to the market. The article focuses on the hybrid hard drive, the pros and cons of the device, as well as reviews from happy owners.

A holy place is never empty

Expensive technology of very fast SSD drives and affordable but very slow magnetic HDDs, have created a huge gap in the hard storage media market, both in the price and speed categories. There was an urgent need for a golden mean that could satisfy the user not only with its characteristics, but also at an affordable price. This is how a symbiosis appeared - SSHD disks. Nothing depends on the user in the operation of the device. Everything works automatically. In fact, for the owner the process of operation of the hybrid drive will be invisible in terms of installation and installation. No drivers need to be installed, the controller is detected and managed Computer BIOS. You can only see the result - a significant increase in performance, which is noticeable when loading the system and launching resource-intensive applications, including games.

How it works

The principle of operation is quite simple and is somewhat reminiscent of the operation of a central processor. Magnetic hard drives have long used caching technology, where frequently used information is read from a magnetic disk and written to the memory of the built-in chip on the hard drive. The chip size is disproportionately small (8-128 MB), but this is quite enough for the system to operate. Naturally, the chip is able to communicate with the processor at enormous speed. The technology used by hybrid hard drives involves the presence of another chip created using SSD technology, but with a larger capacity. As a result, the processor turns to the hard drive for information.

1. If the information is in the level 1 cache, it is provided instantly.
2. If the information is not in the 1st level, the access is transferred to the 2nd level cache. Since the second level uses an SSD, information is also quickly provided to the processor.
3. Information is read from the surface of the magnetic disk, which slows down the operation of the entire system.

Feasibility of installation

At first glance, it may seem that the main consumers in the market for these drives are owners of personal computers. After all, for a laptop, devices without rotating components are preferable for safety and shock resistance reasons. However, judging by numerous reviews from owners, hybrid hard drives are purchased specifically for laptops. Portable devices require volume first and then performance. And if for personal computer While it is not problematic to install several storage devices of different form factors, the laptop has a serious limitation. Besides SSD installation impractical due to limited volume and high price.

Reasons to buy a new drive

For most laptop owners, the main problem in their work is the failure of the hard drive with the loss of important information for the user. As an alternative solution, the seller offers three options.

1. Install the same HDD drive, for example a 500 GB hard drive, but with increased shock resistance of 1000 G. In this case, the purchase costs will be minimal, as will the performance.
2. Install an SSD, losing capacity, spending a lot of money, but gaining in performance.
3. Install a hybrid SSHD drive, getting high performance, affordable cost, and large capacity.

Naturally, thanks to this approach of sellers, judging by the numerous reviews from happy customers, hybrid drives have conquered the portable device market.

Two hard drives in a laptop?

It is not necessary to install a hybrid hard drive for a laptop instead of a standard device. Due to the presence of a mass of various adapters on the market, it is possible to install an additional hard drive in the system. There are many options. Starting from the USB and eSATA interface, ending with the wiring of unused SATA ports on motherboard portable device. And only one option deserves special attention from users. We are talking about a device called Second HDD Caddy, which resembles a pocket for connecting hard drives to a running personal computer.

Due to its size and interfaces, this pocket should be installed instead of the standard one. optical device DVD. Naturally, it can only be installed in laptops where this drive is preinstalled. As a result, the user receives a second hard drive, which, in addition to a huge amount of storage capacity, provides excellent performance at an affordable price.

Priorities for PC

A hybrid hard drive for a computer will be more useful for game lovers. After all, most synthetic tests are office computers shows that weak link are the processor or video adapter, but not the magnetic disk. And only in gaming systems, when there is a powerful video card, a strong CPU and fast RAM, the hard drive becomes the culprit of all problems.

Installing an SSD can solve performance problems, but the high price and small amount of memory do not suit half of potential buyers. Judging by numerous reviews, the hybrid device is also used under the system. 8 GB Level 2 cache allows you to accommodate working system Windows with all its services and drivers, including the page file. This offload will not only allow games to run faster on the processor and memory, but will also significantly speed up the work of applications related to video encoding and working with flash.

How to see performance

Hybrid hard drives are the only drives that allow you to see first-hand system performance, as well as measure and compare the results before and after improvements. It sounds fantastic, but it's a fact. Everything is very simple. After mounting and installing the operating system, the controller on the drive needs time to capture frequently used files, which it will place in the second-level cache. Sometimes you have to perform 5-7 system reboots for the drive to start working properly. desired mode, providing high performance. If the SSHD disk was purchased as an additional drive, for games, for example, then you need to launch the game, play, exit, and restart the computer. The result of the controller's operation will be noticed immediately when the operating system or favorite game loads several times faster.

What's on the market for PC

When choosing, the user may encounter a choice problem required device. We are talking about the assortment - it is too small for the huge market of computer components. Market leaders Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba introduced the world to devices with SSHD technology. But only Seagate provided the buyer with a choice; the rest were limited to a couple of models. Judging by numerous expert reviews, all developed countries have long replaced magnetic drives with SSDs. And only in third world countries, where not every buyer can afford a device at a high price, are such hybrid miracle devices sold. The manufacturer Seagate offers customers SSHD drives in all sorts of variations, ranging from memory capacity and cache sizes of the 1st and 2nd levels, ending with spindle speed.

Decent model

Hard drives with a capacity of several terabytes will not surprise anyone today. In pursuit of volumes, the user loses sight of many other factors.

1. Speed ​​of chaotic reading from disk. The larger the volume, the more difficult it is for the read head to find information. Even though this parameter is measured in milliseconds, the result is quite noticeable in a synthetic test.
2. Rationality of purchase. Reading reviews from many buyers, we can conclude that there is no point in purchasing a drive larger than 1 TB. Having spent a large amount for excess space, the user is not able to fill it with data.

Apparently, the manufacturer Seagate also came to the same conclusions, focusing on a 500 GB SSHD hard drive with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm. It is the ST500LM000 model that participates in all synthetic tests to compare performance with other hard drives; judging by the results, it has few competitors in terms of operating speed.

To take or not to take?

In any case, the rhetorical question will concern the buyer when choosing a hard drive. After all, SSHD technology is not the best hard drive for PC and laptop owners. The goal of producing a hybrid drive, first of all, was to saturate the market with devices that combine large capacity and fast NAND memory at a low price. You need to stop here and make decisions based on the needs of use.

1. A high-capacity drive that was always full to capacity failed - an SSHD drive will be an excellent replacement. With a difference of 300-500 rubles, the buyer will receive increased productivity.
2. You need an ultra-fast computer for games, and the information on the hard drive rarely exceeded 100 GB - you can’t find a better SSD. It may be more expensive, but it's worth it.
3. There is a need for additional storage media for documents and multimedia - a regular, cheapest HDD drive will be the best purchase.

Finally

By summarizing the information, it is possible to draw conclusions, thanks to which any user will make his own decision, as experts from popular computer publications. And judging by numerous reviews, these findings are quite interesting.

• For users who have gaming computer with high-performance components, buying one or two SSD drives won’t hurt your pocket, because for them the FPS (frames per second) in the game is more expensive than any banknotes.
• In search of an inexpensive magnetic drive, very often the buyer resorts to buying it on the secondary market. In our country this is a fairly common option.
• Only a handful of people who are looking for compromises, eager to get maximum performance and know how to count their money will look at hybrid hard drives.

The person does not know what a hybrid hard drive is. The fashion for combining several fundamentally different technologies in a single device is not new.

For example, cars that selectively use a traditional internal combustion engine or electric drive for propulsion have become quite common. This solution allows you to get by with “little blood” while gradually transferring technology to a new alternative. Hybrid hard drives are fully compliant this rule. Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Retired... or more alive than anyone else alive?

Currently, in the field of computing, the main device for long-term storage information is a hard drive or hard drive (English HDD - hard drive disk). Its design and operating principle are quite simple: several non-conductive disks are housed in a small metal case. electricity material. On all sides, the surface of each of them is covered with a sprayed magnetic layer. The disks are strung on a common spindle axis, rotated by an electric motor at a constant speed (in some models it can change stepwise, depending on the intensity of use). A special mechanism moves the frame with the write/read heads over each side.

When writing, areas of the surface are magnetized, and when reading, reverse process- a current is induced by the magnetic field and converted by the controller into a data stream. Over the decades, the technology has been tested, and “childhood diseases” have been eliminated.

A dark horse

However, with the creation of solid-state memory, alternative solutions appeared on the market in which there are no rotating parts, and recording is carried out by changing the position of the floating gate in the transistor. Such drives are called SSDs (from English. Many believe that they are based on solid-state memory cells, the performance of which is significantly HDD operation, will gradually replace classic hard drives. It is too early to talk about a global transition (despite the fact that there are hybrid HDDs). And that's why:

The cost of one gigabyte of disk space for an SSD is several times higher than this parameter for an HDD (the coefficient can be obtained by dividing the price by the capacity);

With reliability, not everything is so simple. Each solid-state drive is characterized by an acceptable number of write/read cycles;

The technology is too new, it is constantly being improved, so a device purchased yesterday may be hopelessly outdated today (take, for example, the support of the TRIM team).

Hybrid hard drive

Realizing that at present it is premature to talk about a complete change in technology, manufacturers have proposed a compromise option that combines HDD and SDD. The design of such a device is based on magnetic disks (a hard drive with its low cost and... not very impressive performance). The peculiarity is that the hybrid hard drive also contains chips and an SSD controller. Of course, we can’t talk about hundreds of gigabytes; usually the volume is limited to ten. That is, the main volume is made up of magnetic disks (for example, 750 GB), the capacity of the SSD is 8 GB, and, of course, the cache (32-64 MB). During operation, hybrid copies the most needed data into fast solid-state memory, then works with it. In other words, the SSD in this solution is a second-level cache.

It is impossible to choose a capacious, fast and, most importantly, reliable hard drive for a laptop from the huge number of different hdds and ssds that are now on the market without understanding what parameters you should pay attention to when choosing. It's like playing in a casino or lottery - there is a chance, but it tends to be close to zero.

When selecting a laptop or netbook, everyone relies on the basic parameters of the device’s performance and reliability, such as: manufacturer, processor clock speed and/or model, volume (very rarely - type) random access memory, display diagonal, video card power (built-in or discrete). As for the hard drive, the choice is made only by its capacity (the larger the better), but this is not always the case.

A laptop hard drive has more critical parameters for reliable operation than its desktop counterparts. If, for example, spindle speed, hdd and power consumption in regular computers is not critical for the reliability of its normal functioning, then when working on a laptop, these parameters directly affect the reliability of the disk subsystem and the safety of your data.

Now let’s look at what is best for us to install in a laptop from commercially available drives for its long and uninterrupted operation.

Before entering the market SSD drives, the bottleneck in the performance of any computer was precisely their disk subsystem. Even the best and fastest (including server hdds) with rpm speeds of 10,000 and 15,000 are currently several times slower than the average ssd drive in terms of parameters. Next, we'll look at the pros and cons of using hard drives and solid-state drives in a laptop.

HDD

This is a traditional type of hard drive. It is based on mechanics and consists of a magnetic head that reads and writes information to magnetic disks. The number of these disks affects the volume of the hard drive and its overall dimensions.

pros

• The main and probably the only advantage is the best price-volume ratio.

Minuses

• low write and read speeds (90% of modern laptops have disks with a speed of 5400 rpm, which affects performance);
• extraneous noise due to the operation of mechanics;
• higher energy consumption;
• heating of the disk during operation;
• vulnerable to shock loads (if you drop the hdd, it will most likely be inoperable, it is especially dangerous if this happens while it is working). This disadvantage no ssd;

SSD

This is a modern type of information storage device. SSD ( Solid State Drive) is a solid state drive. Its design and internal organization fundamentally different from the previous generation of hard drives. It has no mechanical parts at all, as it is based on microcircuits and controllers. In principle, this is the same flash drive, only larger in size, data storage capacity and significantly increased operating speed. SSD is completely electronic device and call him hard drive not entirely correct. Compared to the previous generation storage device (HDD), it has a number of advantages:

pros

• the speed of reading and writing data is on average 4 times higher (it all depends on the type of memory and controller used). There are already models that are at least 10 times faster than HDD;
• the absence of mechanics significantly increases reliability;
• delays and downtime when working with data are practically absent (data access speed in solid-state drives is about 1ms, and in standard hard drives 9-12ms);
• does not emit vibrations and does not make any extraneous noise;
• very low heat generation, which has a positive effect on the operation of the disk and does not require additional cooling;
• low power consumption, which is good news, as the battery life of the laptop will increase;
• has significantly less weight compared to HDD;
• your information will not be damaged if the drive or laptop with it falls, which can easily happen with a portable device.

Minuses

• What is a plus for an hdd is a minus for an ssd drive. This is the price per gigabyte of data stored. Of course, this ratio is gradually improving and as technology develops, I think this drawback will become obsolete;
• if used and/or configured incorrectly, the service life of an ssd is shorter than that of a hard drive (this depends on the operation of the operating system, the type and manufacturer of the memory used in the ssd);
• in the event of a disk failure and loss of access to data on the solid-state drive, it is more difficult to restore the data, and it will also be more expensive.

SSHD

It would be unfair to ignore this type of drive. This is a so-called hybrid hard drive. In short, the main data is recorded on ordinary magnetic disks, but they are received and processed in large buffer fast flash memory (up to 32GB in some models). More details about this type drives, read the article.

Selection criteria and parameters of internal drives for laptops

SSD drives: how to choose the best option

You can significantly strengthen your laptop by replacing mechanical drives with solid-state drives.

The cheapest 60 or 120 GB SSD, having the same form factor as an HDD, is much better than even a top-end device with a spindle speed of 10,000 rpm and a 32 GB cache.

So far, a high-capacity SSD drive for a laptop (500 GB, 1 TB) is expensive, and if you need to store a lot of information, then choosing a regular laptop hard drive will be preferable. If you need both speed and a lot free memory, then you can turn off the CD-DVD drive, and instead . For example, a combination of a fast SSD for the operating system and an HDD for information may be optimal. Usually it is used for laptops, except in cases where only one device can be connected to the laptop.

Which disks to choose

Typically the form factor determines the purchase:

• size (2.5 or 1.8 inches);
• interface (connector or data transfer standard SATA 1, 2, 3);
• drive type (mechanical HDD, solid-state SSD, or hybrid SSHD systems).

If it is almost impossible to change such indicators of a laptop SSD as size or connector (except using adapters), then data transfer standards are not so critical, for example, any new SATA drive 3 works well on an old laptop.

When thinking about which SSD to choose, remember that there are the following cell standards: . The cheapest and short-lived TLC memory. If you need reliability and not too high a price, take a reliable drive with MLC memory; the fastest is SLC, but it is too expensive and is usually used for servers.

You can choose the best option for yourself only by clearly finding out for what purposes the device will be used and what the expected budget is. For example, if you need office work, then it is better to take an SSD, even a cheap one, for torrents - an HDD or a hybrid device. It should be remembered that solid-state drives have a limited number of cell rewrite cycles.

SSD Variations

In order for the laptop to please the owner with the speed and comfort of work, it is advisable to determine its characteristics before purchasing. In recent years, the internal form factor has played a role in mobile devices great importance. Thus, many smart gadgets use permanent memory, similar to solid-state drive chips, and some devices, such as tablets or netbooks, ultra-cheap laptops can be equipped with removable eMMC drives. They have their own connector and in terms of performance occupy an intermediate state between HDD and SSD. Their memory capacity is small, about 32-64 GB, although there are also samples with 128 and 256 GB.

An inexpensive laptop should have at least 64 GB of memory, even if it is eMMC-type, otherwise you will have to constantly struggle with lack of space (Windows OS alone will require at least 20 GB).

Buy a laptop with a sufficient amount of RAM, since its constant lack of memory greatly affects, due to their constant loading, the data that, if there was sufficient RAM, would be loaded from it. This is the main reason why the laptop slows down very much. Better choose a model with less powerful processor and a large amount of memory.

More accurate data on the main characteristics of the hard drive installed in the selected laptop model can be found on the manufacturer’s website, which is not a panacea, since manufacturers can easily replace a drive from one company with another in a later release of a given laptop model.

Conclusions and videos on choosing the right hard drive for a laptop

What we came to after all of the above:

1. The most the best option upgrade disk system There will be a solution to use the laptop as the main (system) ssd drive. Regular hard drive magnetic disks, which we will remove from the laptop, can be used in two ways: 1. Installing it instead DVD drive. How to do this and what you need for this is described in a separate article, the link to which is above. 2. Make it an external drive connected via USB. To do this you will need to purchase a special box.
2. If the above option is not suitable, then we simply replace the hdd with an ssd, but here are the requirements for solid state drive in terms of volume and reliability they should be stricter, since you will not have the opportunity to save important data to another medium, although a flash drive can help out. It all depends on their volume.

I think that with this article I have closed for many the question of how to choose the right hard drive for a laptop. I myself have a Sony laptop from 2013 with 4GB of RAM, after upgrading according to option 1 it simply turned into a completely different device. Everything works quickly and is practically no different from a desktop PC, which also uses an SSD for the system (Samsyng 840 EVO 120Gb). By the way, I bought it on Aliexpress, like a more modern model (850 EVO) for a laptop. Everything arrived without problems or complaints. It's been on PC for almost 3 years now. The flight is normal. There is not enough statistics on the laptop yet, but so far everything is OK. If you want to make a turtle fighter out of your laptop, here is a link to the manufacturer.