Now this looks rather cool: TweakTown points the way to a device designed by SilverStone that merges the traditional, clunky HDD with the flashy, new SDD format. Called HDDBOOST, the device itself is mounted within a 3.5-inch drive bay which in turn houses an SSD. A separate HDD, mounted in its usual seat within the PC, is connected to the device by way of a second SATA port. This allows both drives to communicate together like some kind of hybrid storage setup.
SilverStone said that the HDDBOOST will mirror the front-end data of the HDD to the SDD. This allows the PC to read the more commonly used files from the faster drive. This setup also reduces the overall wear and tear on the SSD by throwing all the new writes onto the older HDD, essentially allowing the SSD to perform like a huge cache for the mechanical drive.
So what's the point of this? Good question. Tossing the HDD aside and using the SDD as the primary boot drive makes more sense: it's faster and somewhat more reliable. But what if consumers want an extra boost without having to disrupt the current system configuration? What if they don't want to re-install the OS and software, or restore the system from an external backup? This option seems less disruptive while providing a significant performance increase.
"Depending on the speed of the SSD added, the HDDBOOST can increase the performance of an existing host hard drive up to 70-percent," the company said. "This speed increase is very noticeable and significant for any PC users that have not experienced using SSD drives before."
SilverStone products are sold at TigerDirect.com, Fty's Electronics, Circuit City, Amazon, and more. Stonebridge Computing has the device listed for $51.98 right here.
