SSHD: As good as they sound?

[Naahuel]

So I've been thinking of updating my old laptop (Lenovo Z470, Intel i3, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD) a bit. Maybe add another 4GB ram card and a larger HDD.

I've been reading about SSHD so I figured that instead of a larger drive, I should get a faster hard drive.

I came accross this offer (Argentinian site) for a Seagate SSHD (500GB, 8GB NAND memory). The price is actually really good (roughly 171 US dollars). E-bay has WAY cheaper stuff, of course, but there's some issues over here buying abroad (Lots of taxes plus some blockage).

The actual question is: Are they worth it? Anyone has one of these? It seems like a good choice for a large faster drive, but maybe they're crap

-edit-
Forgot to add the video:

[Kevman]

I installed one on my Uncle's laptop when its original kicked the bucket. He seems quite happy with it, but he's no expert and he's comparing it to how it ran with the original, dying hard drive.

I didn't use it much before I gave it back to him, but I was impressed- The thing booted like a rocket. They're not much more than normal laptop HDs, so why not?

That SSHD you're looking at is $71 in the US...

[Naahuel]

That SSHD you're looking at is $71 in the US...

I know  The bump in prices for imported stuff here is ridiculous...

I was also impressed with the video and some other tests I saw, but I wanted to hear from someone who actually has one. Maybe they have a short life or some really important negative thing?

[Tinkerer]

Yes, you want one. Put your OS on it and a couple programs you want running fast or basically anything that is replaceable. Put everything else on a normal hard drive.
They will either work for years or they will fail right away. I have heard from someone they have been able to retrieve data from a crashed SSD before but otherwise I have always heard you cant recover anything when they do go bad.

I have one in my computer. Started in 7 seconds flat when new. Security and all that has increased it to like 14 seconds.

[Monkeh]

Seagate's early hybrid drives were absolutely atrocious. Much like their normal HDDs.

I would not trust them as far as I could roll them (they're easily enough thrown.. I should know, I've thrown enough of their HDDs away).

[Naahuel]

Yes, you want one. Put your OS on it and a couple programs you want running fast or basically anything that is replaceable. Put everything else on a normal hard drive.
They will either work for years or they will fail right away. I have heard from someone they have been able to retrieve data from a crashed SSD before but otherwise I have always heard you cant recover anything when they do go bad.

I have one in my computer. Started in 7 seconds flat when new. Security and all that has increased it to like 14 seconds.

I think you're talking about SSD's, not SSHD's (hybrids). Right?

Your comment made me think of another thing, though. What happens with partitioned SSHD drives? Because from what I know, these drives have a small SSD (of some sort) and a regular HDD and using a special algorithm it figures out the stuff that are more used and it stores those in the SSD part. So they become faster or more efficient as you use them. Would this be affected if the drive is partitioned? Because I can't put two drives in this laptop

[alimirjamali]

Seagate's early hybrid drives were absolutely atrocious. Much like their normal HDDs.

I would not trust them as far as I could roll them (they're easily enough thrown.. I should know, I've thrown enough of their HDDs away).

I would second whatever Monkeh said. Here is a report and study regarding reliability of different HDD brands. Even worse, reliability of laptop HDDs is less than 3.5" drives (because you move laptops).

Invest on a real SSD. (or a small SSD + external HDD for non-frequently accessed data).

[Legit-Design]

The actual question is: Are they worth it? Anyone has one of these? It seems like a good choice for a large faster drive, but maybe they're crap

No.

Get a real SSD or just normal HDD, trying to save a penny makes you in for a pound, or even more. Will probably save lot of tears in the long run.

http://techreport.com/review/25889/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-500tb-update
SSD are tested and reliable, you just have to buy one that doesn't have nasty firmware bugs. I have Samsung 840 series on one computer, writing that much data in short time is just plain insane, and not going to happen in normal use. When you take it into account that they have been constantly writing on those drives 24/7 after that experiment begun. Even when it starts wearing out there is so much extra flash on it that it will not decrease the storage space. And I bought it just because it was cheap, when it times out I will probably get a new SSD so cheap I don't even care anymore.

[Kevman]

I think you're talking about SSD's, not SSHD's (hybrids). Right?

Your comment made me think of another thing, though. What happens with partitioned SSHD drives? Because from what I know, these drives have a small SSD (of some sort) and a regular HDD and using a special algorithm it figures out the stuff that are more used and it stores those in the SSD part. So they become faster or more efficient as you use them. Would this be affected if the drive is partitioned? Because I can't put two drives in this laptop

He is talking about SSDs, which are indeed amazing and I recommend them. But if you have lots of data, they are expensive. I have 1.25TB of SSD, but you don't want to know how much I spent on it. If an ordinary HD for you is $171, I don't want to even think about what it would cost you.

Partitioning is an abstract concept that the HD itself has no idea about. It only looks at which sectors you access most often and caches that, so partitioning doesn't matter.

Reliability, will be much the same as an ordinary HD because the spinning part is the part that's going to break, so I don't know how it can cause you tears.
You MUST backup your data if you want to keep it, HD, SSD or SSHD!

If Seagate worries you, Toshiba also makes SSHDs.

[Monkeh]

the spinning part is the part that's going to break, so I don't know how it can cause you tears.

Tell that to people who experienced Seagate's SSHD firmware. And their HDD firmware, for that matter.

[Tinkerer]

I was indeed talking about solid state drives, not the hybrids, oops, confusion.

Anyway, I run an SSD as my primary and a regular as my secondary. I see no reason to combine the two if you have the space and considering that people are saying hybrids arnt that great, seems like a larger risk to get one.
Plus, you have two different systems that could fail where as with one or the other, you have one.

[Naahuel]

A lot of information to process. Thanks everyone, these are the kind of responses I was expecting.

@alimirjamali: That's a great article. Very impressive and concise data. Awesome. I can't put two drives on this laptop, unfortunately. And I can't afford it either

@Legit-Design: Great information. That was my impression too, that I was going to try to save a bit of money and it wouldn't work out as I expected.
A 120GB SSD is about 132 US dollars. A 240GB is 229 US dollars. So yeah, crazy prices.

@Monkeh: Thanks for your comments. I hadn't heard about these SSHD firmware bugs.

[wraper]

As of putting second drive. Many laptops have msata or m.2 slot where you can put additional very tiny ssd (I did, cost me 100 eur for 240 GB).

[Galaxyrise]

http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_desktop_sshd_review

[Naahuel]

http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_desktop_sshd_review

Beautiful. Thanks

[Zero999]

Anyway, I run an SSD as my primary and a regular as my secondary. I see no reason to combine the two if you have the space and considering that people are saying hybrids arnt that great, seems like a larger risk to get one.

Yes, do this. Don't waste time with a hybrid drive. Get a small solid state drive and a larger mechanical drive.

[bingo600]

I have put a Segate 1TB 2.5" SSHD  in my lappy (may this year), and i'm quite happy with it.
Costs around 90$ in DK.

Normally i use Samsung or Toshiba , but i thought i'd try a sshd.

I'm running Linux Mint17 x64 , and it does show a nice improvement on ie. boot.
13 Sec from Grub (enter) to login prompt , when it was a fresh install.

Now after installing lots of daemons etc. it's 22 sec.
Still faster than my other's with Samsungs in.

I have had the same reluctance as others due to the Segate fw bugs. , but i have had no bad experience until now.

My last 1TB 2.5" (normal) i ordered was a Segate because it was 8$ cheaper than the Samsung , and they had same PartNo description. I knew Segate bought the Samsung hdd division , and my guess was correct ....
When my Segate came , it was a Samsung HDD i received 

/Bingo