Samsung ships hybrid hard disks

The MH80 Series combine traditional hard disk with Flash memory

Samsung is shipping hybrid drives that combine a traditional hard disk with Flash memory, a feature that enables Windows Vista laptops to boot up and resume from suspend mode faster as well as boost battery life.

The MH80 Series hybrid disks are 2.5in drives available in 80GB, 120GB and 160GB capacities with either 128MB or 256MB of Flash memory. The Flash memory serves as a cache for data fetched from the hard disk with a feature of Windows Vista called ReadyDrive. This can cut power consumption by 70 to 90 percent, according to Samsung, and can extend a laptop’s battery life by 30 minutes.

“The MH80 hybrid hard drive provides the ideal solution for two major issues that notebook PC users continually face: faster boot and resume performance, and extended battery life,” said Tae Jik Lee, vice president of sales and marketing at Samsung’s Storage Division. The new drives function as a standard hard disk with older versions of Windows.