WD 5 mm Hybrid Hard Drives Set for Mass Production by Late 2012

btarunr · Sep 20, 2012

As hard drives stared at oblivion in the Ultrabook segment, with Intel planning to slim the specification down even further, leaving room for nothing but bare SSDs, WD pulled a rabbit out of its hat with the revolutionary 5 mm-thick hybrid HDD. Following its September 10 announcement, 5 mm-thick hybrid HDDs have reportedly sparked great interest in notebook vendors, which prompted WD to pull its mass-production schedule from Q1 2013 to end of 2012.

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Fairlady-z · Sep 20, 2012

Wow thats really neat how thin they are. I wonder how they preform compared to traditional 2.5 laptop drives.

Disparia · Sep 20, 2012

Nice... if for nothing else, a few chuckles that WD gets to wave a 5mm MHD in Intel's face. However, I couldn't see myself buying an ultrabook without an SSD.

RejZoR · Sep 20, 2012

This is good if you need capacity but for portable devices SSD is really the way to go. So you can thrash laptop around and not worry a bit. Ins fact i now worry that shocks aren't affecting the cooling fan, but at least i don't have to worry about data loss due to bump shock.

Velvet Wafer · Sep 20, 2012

these should be awesome for desktop modders and enthusiasts too....i thank think of a LOT of places where you could put one or two of these, and use them as a datadrive,osdrive, whatever you want to do with them..i mean...even in a HTPC case i bet there is enough place to fit a lot of them

PopcornMachine · Sep 20, 2012

It all depends on how they perform and the cost.

Looking forward to finding out.

chodaboy19 · Sep 20, 2012

They just won't die... LOL

Sasqui · Sep 20, 2012

There are already a few Hybrid drives out there and these will probably be on par.

Pros:
Faster than traditional HDD's
Way cheaper than a pure SSD

Cons:
Not shock proof
Not as fast as an SSD

Of course the distiguishing feature from WD is the form factor

RejZoR · Sep 20, 2012

Velvet Wafer said:
these should be awesome for desktop modders and enthusiasts too....i thank think of a LOT of places where you could put one or two of these, and use them as a datadrive,osdrive, whatever you want to do with them..i mean...even in a HTPC case i bet there is enough place to fit a lot of them

Indeed. This one is so thin i could stick two behind motherboard and call it a day, meaning i could use even smaller case and use the HDD space for other stuff. Not to mention even smaller and thinner nettops.

xaira · Sep 20, 2012

now they wont have to use the msata slot for the cache drive because the cache is right on the disk, i really dont see what all this fuss is, ultrabooks are supposed to be the smallest lightest and most powerful, so to me the ultrabook spec should be locked down to msata ssds

Atom_Anti · Sep 20, 2012

I'd like better a 7mm 1TB drive

.

Drmark · Sep 21, 2012

So when are they going to pop the 5tb drives? I am about to begin buying 8 4tb's, would love to see them drop in price and just go to the 5's instead.

Prima.Vera · Sep 21, 2012

Drmark said:
So when are they going to pop the 5tb drives? I am about to begin buying 8 4tb's, would love to see them drop in price and just go to the 5's instead.

Why buy 8, buy 11 or 23

Drmark · Sep 21, 2012

I have a Synology 8 bay server. I am running out of space with the 8 2tb drives I put in it. I figure 8 4tb drive, buy the 5 bay extender and load 5 2tb drives in it. Then will have a lot more space to grow into.

de.das.dude · Sep 21, 2012

Just think of the Epic modding potential!

Disparia · Sep 21, 2012

Couple notes there weren't in the OP/source:

Blue is not hybrid, just a 5mm drive.

Black will have models with 8GB flash, up to 32GB.

de.das.dude said:
Just think of the Epic modding potential!

Hmm.. I'm having trouble with that. Why you don't you put some ideas out there for us Mr. Engineer?

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WD 5 mm Hybrid Hard Drives Set for Mass Production by Late 2012

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Fairlady-z

Disparia

RejZoR

Velvet Wafer

PopcornMachine

chodaboy19

Sasqui

RejZoR

xaira

Atom_Anti

New Member

Drmark

Prima.Vera

Drmark

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

Disparia

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