World's fastest laptop drive

Seagate has revealed a hybrid solid state/hard drive which is claimed to be "the world’s fastest 2.5 inch laptop PC hard drive." The Momentus XT offers users the price and capacity benefits of a hard disk drive and the speed advantages of solid state memory in one laptop-sized drive.

Lightning speed, drive longevity and resistance to shock damage are amongst the numerous benefits of installing solid state drives (SSD) in computers and laptops. The major drawback, at the moment at least, is price. SSDs are frighteningly expensive.

A less costly compromise comes in the shape of the hybrid setup, where a hard disk drive (HDD) is supplemented by solid state memory. Seagate has announced just such a solution in its "best-of-both-worlds" Momentus XT hybrid drive. It squeezes a 500GB/320GB/250GB 7200RPM HDD with 32MB cache and a 4GB SLC NAND solid state memory module into a 2.5 inch form factor suitable for installation in laptops.