LG and Hitachi Come Up with SSD/ODD Combo

Even though hardware makers usually try to set clear differences between the various types of products, especially those that play a similar role, it is inevitable that hybrid solutions will arise, even if only for the sake of experimentation. The storage market can be seen as one with a very high potential for such combinations, given that, in addition to magnetic storage and platter-spinning devices, it also includes flash memory and optical solutions.

There are already a number of hybrid concepts, such as Raidon's HDD/SSD combo and, more importantly, the recently unveiled Seagate Momentus XT, very well received by reviewers. LG and Hitachi, on the other hand, seem intent on showing that hard disks and solid state drives aren't the only ones that can combine their resources, and the HyDrive seeks to prove this.

Essentially, the HyDrive is an optical disk drive with 32GB or 64GB of built-in flash storage. This is not just any hybrid, though. Since a new type of electronic needs to be especially adept at what it does if it hopes to avoid falling into obscurity right away, the developer did all they could to make it as fast and reliable as possible. They also implemented advanced error correcting capabilities, which seem to be very good at reading data from severely scratched (or, in this case, completely unrecognizable) disks.

End-users even remotely interested in the idea of an SSD/ODD combo will find video demonstrations of the HyDrive on MysteryDrive. Though still in concept stage, the unit is shown capable of facilitating multitasking, fixing errors while playing video of damaged disks and even reducing the time it takes to boot the system. There is, of course, no way of knowing how long it will take for this hybrid to enter mass production. More details should surface at Computex, so this mystery shouldn't persist for much longer.