5mm-thick hybrid hard drive from A*STAR
Hard drive technology has come a long way in the age of computers. Before hard drives were bigger than a shoe box, now hard drives can fit in the palm of your hand. As our computers have become faster and smaller, so have all the components that drive it. The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore just released its next generation 5mm hybrid hard drive dubbed the A-Drive. This bad boy combines both standard platters and flash memory in one unit. This isn’t a totally new idea, but it is a new way of doing things. A*START spent 20 years in R&D developing its own proprietary parts and has managed to pack a 1TB HDD and 32GB of SSD in one 2.5″ form factor. With its new motor driving the platters, the A-Drive is whisper quite as well as efficient.
A*START hopes these drives will power your next ultrabook or will act as replacements in data centers that have no more room to expand. This new drive is almost 30% smaller than its previous 7mm drive. With a smaller drive and more efficient components, A*START says data centers hope to cut power consumption by 50%. For consumers like you and me, these drives are slightly cheaper than its SSD counter parts.
I personally can’t wait to find one of these at a local Fry’s so I can slap it in my PlayStation 3, or maybe update one of my laptops.
