hybrid drive vs ssd cache accelerator

Hello I don't know what im doing im looking at hybrid drive750gb 7200 rpm vs small ssd32 gb with 1tb hard drive 5400 rpm which is better performance and how hard is it to later upgrade to a full ssd say 240gb or 480 gb im tired of lack luster laptops that lag along take forever to load

 

For the most part, I have the (somewhat biased) opinion that hybrid drives and cache drives are mostly a gimmick for regular users. The idea behind them (at least the hybrid drives) is that the cache will speed up the programs that you use the most, *in predictable patterns*. Say, once you boot up your laptop, you always open up a Word document, followed by Firefox, and whatever else; the SSD cache will learn your habits and try to optimize performance towards that. However, if you're like me and have a "random" pattern when using a computer, this SSD cache will be next to useless.

In my opinion, I think you should just buy an SSD outright and use it as either your boot/program drive or your sole drive. For the 240GB-256GB range, I recommend you look at either the Crucial M4 or the Samsung 830 SSD, and 300GB+ is still pretty expensive, but even there I'd still look towards Crucial or Samsung.

 

I agree w/ pvt jarhead on the SSD, but think you should really consider 160GB to 256GB SSD. 32GB will be too small if you use it to boot Windows 7.

However, if that size SSD doesn't fit your pocket book, the Momentus XT is a great alternative. The 2nd Gen version (750GB) of the Hybrid drive has two sections of the SSD which caches the most often read files. The first portion will store your OS boot files. Over time the drive will cache the boot files, and boot times will be slightly slower than an SSD.

In regards to normal usage, the most often read files end up in the cache. So, starting Word or Firefox a large number of time will cause those apps to start extremely fast. The "predictability" of usage is irrelevant. All that really matters is the number of reads of a given set of LBAs on the disk. If you also have a large number of libraries read over and over again, the drive learns, and eventually accessing them becomes very fast as well.

 

I bought a hybrid drive when it came out to test it For most part, your statement is true as I also have a rather "random" pattern. The only thing that works well I'd say is the OS startup time Still, not sure if it's really worth it for me!

Edit: Would love for this to drop in price, and I think it'll be worth it. At least for me, as I don't really use my other SSD for more than OS + a few more commonly used programs