Seagate is still nursing the hybrid harddrive concept, even though solid state drives are coming strong. The company has revealed plans for a new harddrive series using mechanical technology mixed with SLC NAND Flash for the best of both worlds. Seagate Momentus XT is the name of the series that ships in capacities of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, along with 4GB integrated SLC NAND Flash.
This will enable the drive to save frequently used data on the NAND Flash memory and with 4GB buffer it should perform better than the first generation sporting just 256MB flash storage.
The 2.5″ Momentus XT ships with 32MB cache and operates at 7,200 RPM. Performance expectations are a bit vague, but the flash memory buffer should speed up the drive during regular use and start-ups. Seagate claims 150% boost in system performance.
The new harddrives is already listed for between $100-$150 depending on capacity.
