14 DAY TRIAL // Solid State Hybrid Drives are storage devices that combine magnetic platter-based storage with solid-state chips. I-O Data decided it was high time it joined the party, so it cobbled together the HDN-H1.0.
The newcomer is essentially a hard disk drive unit (HDD) with a capacity of 1 TB, a platter rotary speed of 5,400 RPM (rotations per minute) and 8 GB of NAND Flash memory.
Said NAND stores frequently used files for quick access, thus allowing for rapid boot times and quick application launch.
Of course, the performance would not be possible without the SATA 6.0 Gbps technology (SATA III as it were).
On that note, I-O Data did something unusual and included a SATA to USB 3.0 cable in the product bundle.
That way, you can use the drive as an external/portable unit, in absence of one that is made specifically for such purposes.
It's useful for, say, when you need to go to someone else's home to get some files but don't want to use an intermediary, like a flash drive. Or maybe you just don't have one available.
So you can take out your HDD and connect it to your acquaintance's storage unit and voila! You have all the files already on your system drive as soon as you put it back in your case or laptop.
All in all, the new drive from I-O Data is actually a bit more versatile than all other SSHDs, even if it pales in comparison to the one that Western Digital launched the other day.
Then again, the drive in question isn't so much an SSHD as a dual drive, a merger between a full-capacity SSD (120 GB) and an HDD (1 TB). The name Digital Black2 doesn't really do it justice, but we digress.
The I-O Data HDN-H1.0 will start shipping around the middle of December 2013, for the price of 21,000 Yen / $207 / €152.
