Seagate intros Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive for laptops

SCOTTS VALLEY, USA: Seagate has announced channel and OEM shipments of the Momentus XT drive, the world’s fastest 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive, combining SSD-like performance with the massive capacity and much lower cost of HDDs.

The Momentus XT drive also features Adaptive Memory – a groundbreaking new technology from Seagate that learns and optimizes the drive’s performance to each user by moving frequently used information into the flash memory for faster access. The Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive boots up to 100 percent faster than traditional 5400RPM drives, the mainstream spin speed for laptop PCs, and sets new benchmarks for real-world system performance for laptops and gaming systems.

Today’s high-performance SSDs for mobile computing cost as much as 10 times more than hard disk drives of the same capacity, with the price of a 250GB SSD outstripping even the cost of many laptop PCs. As a result, most consumers and system builders are unwilling or unable to pay the high price for the greater speed and quiet operations of SSDs. Additionally, SSDs offer fewer capacity options than hard disk drives.

The Momentus XT drive is a best-of-both-worlds solution that combines a 7200RPM spin speed, 4GB of solid state memory and Seagate’s Adaptive Memory technology to deliver unprecedented hard drive performance. The unique Adaptive Memory technology works by identifying patterns in how often certain digital data is used, and then moving the most frequently used information to the embedded solid state memory for faster access – effectively tailoring hard drive performance to each user and their applications.

“For notebook PC users looking forward to faster PC performance without sacrificing storage capacity or affordability, now there’s an option,” according to John Rydning, IDC’s research director for hard disk drives. “Seagate’s new Momentus® XT drive is the first storage device for notebook PCs that raises the bar for affordable capacity and performance.”

“We see the Momentus XT drive as a game changer, a product heralding a new generation of hard drives that combine SSD and HDD capabilities so that laptop users don’t have to make trade-offs on speed, cost or capacity,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management. “The feedback we’ve received from customers, industry experts and early reviews has been overwhelmingly positive, and Seagate will continue to drive innovation that provides more value and a better computing experience to consumers.”

In addition to the Momentus XT drive, Seagate is delivering the world’s highest capacity 7200RPM drive at 750GB. This new Momentus 750GB drive is a traditional hard disk drive designed for mainstream to high-performance computing and external backup enclosures.

The Momentus 750GB drive also features a SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ interface, 16MB cache with silent acoustics and low power consumption. The Momentus 750GB drive delivers high capacity with high performance and further enhances the feature-rich options already available in the Seagate Momentus family of 2.5-inch notebook drives.