Seagate unveils SSD-beating hard disk

Posted on 24 May 2010 at 16:51

Seagate has unveiled its latest internal laptop hard disk, the Momentus XT, which the company claims is as fast as a solid state disk (SSD).

SSDs can be significantly faster than standard hard disks, but they also tend to be considerably more expensive while providing substantially less storage space. A 256GB SSD, for example, can cost around £500 or even more while a 750GB hard disk can cost just £90.

Seagate's latest laptop hard disk, the Momentus XT, aims to provide the best of both worlds by pairing a 2.5in 7,200rpm disk with 4GB of flash memory. Seagate's Adaptive Memory technology then copies the most frequently accessed data from the hard disk to the flash memory, speeding up subsequent access times. Seagate claims that the XT will closely match the performance of an SSD, although the company hasn't stated which SSD it was comparing the XT to in its testing.

We're somewhat sceptical of Seagate's claims, as the last attempt at combining a hard disk with flash storage, Intel's Turbo Memory technology, failed to live up to its overhyped claims. We'll bring you our definitive verdict and benchmark results as soon as we get a Momentus XT into our Labs.

The Seagate Momentus XT will be available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB versions. Lamba-Tek has all three models available for pre-order – the 250GB model will cost around £83 inc VAT although it seems a little pointless when the 320GB costs only a little more at £89 and the 500GB version will set you back £106 inc VAT.

Author: Alan Lu

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