SSD or Hybrid SSHD - buying a new hard drive

I am looking to buy a new hard drive for my desktop computer ( PC ), I already bought a SSD for my laptop and the speeds was amazing compared to the old hard drives I used to buy, and not only that it seemed to cure the heat issue that my old DELL laptop would produce

However now I would like to buy a SSD for my PC and get all the speed benefits for my desktop, well at least for the operating system and programs

The only issue is I cannot find any 3.5 form SSD drives or they are in the £200+ bracket and I would rather not pay that for a SSD desktop drive.

So I found these Hybrid SSHD drives they say transfer speeds are the same at 6gbs, which I guess are a mix of SSD and a normal HD (caching and distributing from the SSD side and storage from the HD end)?

Here is a seagate 1TB hybrid SSHD from amazon for £57

Seagate ST1000DX001 3.5 inch 1TB Hybrid Internal Solid State Drive: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

1) What are the potential differences and problems if any?

2) Can you buy a 2.5 Form converter to 3.5 desktop and put a laptop size drive in - would there be problems here?

Someone must be an expert lol

Thanks for any clarity on this Desktop SSD vs SSHD conundrum lol:silly:.

Mick

I have a 2.5 ssd in my desktop and works perfect although I have been looking at the Hybrid drives as feel they are far better value for money,
and my 128gb ssd just isn't big enough for everything!

I have solid state drives in both my desktop and laptop and even used them in solo2 boxes
There is no comparison in speed between Hd and SSD..my desktop and laptop boot time is about 8 seconds ready to use.
everything seems quicker and smother...they have come down alot in price and well worth the investment..you wont look back once you install a SSD.

Do you need a converter guys?

Do you mean a caddy from 2.5" to 3.5".?
I did not need for laptop as same size of 2.5" but i did for desktop but is only a couple of quid..some SSD come with a 2.5 to 3.5"caddy..

AJT said:

I have solid state drives in both my desktop and laptop and even used them in solo2 boxes
There is no comparison in speed between Hd and SSD..my desktop and laptop boot time is about 8 seconds ready to use.
everything seems quicker and smother...they have come down alot in price and well worth the investment..you wont look back once you install a SSD.

Click to expand...

Agree with AJT, replaced hard drive in Macbook Pro and Dell laptop, best thing I ever did with SSD.
If you're on a serious budget though I'd consider hybrid. Both types plug directly into your existing power and SATA cable.

rapha said:

Agree with AJT, replaced hard drive in Macbook Pro and Dell laptop, best thing I ever did with SSD.
If you're on a serious budget though I'd consider hybrid. Both types plug directly into your existing power and SATA cable.

Click to expand...

Presumably with a hybrid you put the o/s on the SS part & use the disk for storage, is that correct?

What i done was used a small 60gb ssd for the os and then added 2 1tb hdd for storage and programs.

Mick said:

Do you need a converter guys?

Click to expand...

As mentioned yes. If you don't get an SSD with "desktop kit", you can buy one for as little as £1 :New Metal Mounting Adapter 2.5'' SSD HDD To 3.5" For PC SSD Holder Bracket Dock | eBay

or, as much as £10: AKASA AK-MX010V2 2.5" SSD/HDD to 3.5" PC Hard Drive Bay Mounting Adapter alumini | eBay

The £10 one takes 2x 2.5" drives and has a thermal pad for the bottom drive (aimed at use with 2.5" mechanical drives, and is not necessary for SSDs).

trevortron said:

Presumably with a hybrid you put the o/s on the SS part & use the disk for storage, is that correct?

Click to expand...

No, the SSHD appears as a single drive to the OS. A 2 disk JBOD array is perhaps the closest parallel.

It'll either use the flash storage as a large cache, or analyse the data that's used most often and put that on the SSD section. The actual operation will depend on the drive.

little_pob said:

As mentioned yes. If you don't get an SSD with "desktop kit", you can buy one for as little as £1 :New Metal Mounting Adapter 2.5'' SSD HDD To 3.5" For PC SSD Holder Bracket Dock | eBay

or, as much as £10: AKASA AK-MX010V2 2.5" SSD/HDD to 3.5" PC Hard Drive Bay Mounting Adapter alumini | eBay

The £10 one takes 2x 2.5" drives and has a thermal pad for the bottom drive (aimed at use with 2.5" mechanical drives, and is not necessary for SSDs).

No, the SSHD appears as a single drive to the OS. A 2 disk JBOD array is perhaps the closest parallel.

It'll either use the flash storage as a large cache, or analyse the data that's used most often and put that on the SSD section. The actual operation will depend on the drive.

Click to expand...

Quite clever then, potentially. That does answer my next question which was how you 'tell it' where to put the o/s. I guess it just knows!

(Just an aside, does JBOD really stand for 'Just a Bunch Of Disks'?)

Sometimes the PC has mounting holes on the bottom of the 3.5" bay for a 2.5" drive @Mick.

I was originally worried about the longevity of SSDs but after we ordered one at work and put it into a machine that was constantly hammering it I overcame that .

Got OS and programs on SSD and backup images on large conventional drive. I can't hear it and the PC is very quiet.

Small SSD for your OS and HDD for your data. You can buy larger capacity SSD but Christ does the price shoot up!

You can get a 120GB Kingston solid state drive for £44.. Well worth the money.

trevortron said:

Quite clever then, potentially. That does answer my next question which was how you 'tell it' where to put the o/s. I guess it just knows!

(Just an aside, does JBOD really stand for 'Just a Bunch Of Disks'?)

Click to expand...

yes it does.

Is a way of presenting multiple, potentially different sized disks as one big disk to the operating system. There is no redundancy, no speed advantage like RAID.

Would a 32gb ssd be ok for just the OS (win 8)? I'd use a usb hdd to store music and stuff on

seanicca said:

Would a 32gb ssd be ok for just the OS (win 8)? I'd use a usb hdd to store music and stuff on

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Hi Mate i think so as i use a 60gb ssd for windows and just use 3x1tbhdd for storage

roachieuk said:

Hi Mate i think so as i use a 60gb ssd for windows and just use 3x1tbhdd for storage

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Would it be the same for a laptop? I'd be swapping a 500gb hdd for the ssd with fresh install

seanicca said:

Would a 32gb ssd be ok for just the OS (win 8)? I'd use a usb hdd to store music and stuff on

Click to expand...

30 is pretty tight. You can get 60GB ones for not much more and 120GB if you can stretch to it would be even better.

Ok I'll have a look round for a bigger one.

oneman said:

30 is pretty tight. You can get 60GB ones for not much more and 120GB if you can stretch to it would be even better.

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This is what i was thinking as i use a 60gb and it uses around 28gb for the os and updates.