Hybrid Drives - Worth waiting for?

[J2468]

I know that in the next couple of months hybrid drives (hdd with flash memory) will start to hit the market.
My question is will they be worth the wait when they arrive?

The reason is i want to build a new pc but it could easily wait a few months.

 

[ara]

even if you get a hybrid hard drive, your going to have to wait quite a while still in order to get any use out of it (until vista comes out). How long you can wait depends greatly on how badly you need a new drive, if you still have storage space you wouldn't need one immediatly and shouldn't be a problem waiting, if you need storage space now, i don't think it would be too bad to get a drive now.

Ara

 

[lizzardking]

I agree, you also need to ask yourself if your even going to bother upgrading to Vista?
The majority of people are not, or at least until the first SP comes out.
But like Ara said, if you need space now, then get a HDD now.

Cheers

 

[itneal2277]

Windows XP may offer Hybrid HDD suport in SP3 so even if you don't plan to upgrade to Vista it may be worth the purchase.

 

[Codesmith]

No matter what part you are purchasing there is always some new technology just around the corner.

Just buy what you need when you need it.

Also you are usually better off spending half as much and upgrading twice as often.

 

[MatTheMurdera]

I know that in the next couple of months hybrid drives (hdd with flash memory) will start to hit the market.
My question is will they be worth the wait when they arrive?

The reason is i want to build a new pc but it could easily wait a few months.

You dont have to wait, you can get something that will achieve the same effect. The thing about HHDs is that they are a cache desinged for windows Vista. Vista is desinged to take advantage of any flash memory, which means that there are other ways of geting performance from flash cashe. There are in fact 4 (!) ways to use it, a hybrid hard drive, a USB flash drive, Intel's robson and seperate internal flash drives. The thing with hybrid drives is that the cashe is tied down to the HD and vise versa, with robson its the motherboard (maybe, it may be socketed). The USB flash drives are the most versitial and cheapest, as you can use them as accual data storage rather than cashe if you wanted (however its limited by the USB port speed which may or may not be an issuse).

I myself will be geting an internal 4GB sony flash drive, as it can simply be put in when Vista comes around and i dont have to worry about it (that and i can Upgrade by adding another or replacing it). So anyway IMO they will be worth it for several reasons, lower power consumption overall, Much faster boot ups and faster general desktop performance. But those may not be what you would consider worth waiting for, you can figure it out later anyway, because it wont matter until Vista comes out. Hope I helped.