Enterprise HDDs to take on Hybrid HDDs in the Future

It is no surprise that the notebook computer market is booming and that this very fact has behooved HDD manufactures to consider yet smaller form factors for the notebook computer drives. The result is an ultra-thin 5-mm high, 50 GB notebook computer HDD by Western Digital. These drives are thinner than the 7-mm high HDDs available from manufacturers till date. They can be used in the notebook computers as a pure HDD or a hybrid HDD. This development will pave the way for adding more batteries to a computer allowing for a greater battery backup.

Hybrid HDDs have the advantages of both HDDs and SSDs. They are inclined to give you an SSD performance and take care of the cost per byte factor (a benefit of using HDDs). These drives can help fulfill performance needs even with systems having normal consumer usage patterns. Hybrid drives are certainly a good alternative to using a separate SSD with a separate HDD. However, these drives are lacking some of the key features that may be incorporated in their later versions. The ability to perform write caching and storing the OS on a fast flash memory cache are some goals that the HDD manufacturers are seeking currently.

The reports disclosed by IDC showed a 14% drop in PC sales for CQ1 2013. Surprisingly, Western Digital claimed only a 4% increase in desktop HDDs and a 1% drop in notebook computer drives. The two other HDD manufacturers are yet to reveal any data on shipments in CQ1 2013. Western Digital reported a 1.5% increase in HDD shipments as compared to the last quarter of 2012.

A high percent rise was seen in the shipment of enterprise HDDs (according the Western Digital reports). Enterprise HDDs are the primary assets of a data center. They form a major part of storage when it comes to managing data for Cloud applications (such as cloud backup and content access). The need for enterprise HDDs is further raised by the growing smart phone and tablet market. The rise in the number of smart phones and tablets will considerably increase the demand for SATA HDDs as compared to hybrid HDDs. This could be a major change that you can expect in the HDD market in the foreseeable future.