8 gb ssd hdd

Hi,
I am looking at laptops that seem to have a 1 terabyte HDD with 8GB of SSD--some sort of hybrid. It looks like they are trying to make that big HDD faster even though it is only 5400 rpm. But don't SSD drives wear out? I would be using it for work, 6-8 hours a day of research and news gathering, so LOTS of websites, lots of copy/paste etc. I'm not sure how a hybrid works. What happens when the SSD wears out? Does it just slow down to the 5400 speed or do I need a new drive? Can I still defrag the HDD part of the drive?

Thanks very much. I am still on XP so I really need this laptop and I can't afford a mistake! Your advice is appreciated

 

I could be wrong, but hybrid drives are decent when using files that are frequently accessed. In that case they are faster, but, when you play a game that you haven't touched in a month, then it is slow. So, it is similar to some enterprise SAN solutions, where, the data will migrate between what is accessed a lot (ssd) to not often (slower hdd).

 

Thanks, but the question wasn't really about speed. I am more concerned with whether or not my job will wear out the SSD portion of my new drive too fast, and what will happen if it does. I'm not really sure how they work, but I do know that SSD doesn't write over deleted information. If the SSD is assisting the HDD for faster access, then it is constantly writing. If I'm doing a lot ofweb visits, cut and paste, etc, then Could I wear out my SSD very quickly? If the ssd fails, will the hdd portion still work, ie, will it just become the slow 5200 rpm HDD that is there, or will it be inaccessible because the SSD failed? I know you can't defrag an SSD, but what about a hybrid?

 

Chances are the HDD portion will die out before the flash memory used for the SSD portion will. SSDs and hybrids these days have 3-5 year warranties. That means the manufacturer fully expects that drive to survive usage 24/7 for at least as long as the warranty.

 

@Vollander,

What type of connection does the hybrid drive use PATA or SATA? The reason I ask is because you stated you're still on XP. If you don't have the AHCI driver for XP, a SATA drive won't work unless it's going to be used as an external USB connected drive.

 

Thanks for answering Mdonah (and Theefool) but I'm buying a new laptop with Windows 8.1-- I just mentioned XP to show how pathetically behind the times I currently am! Thanks for the response too, Adrynalyne. Do you know what happens when the SSD portion dies? Does the drive slow down or just become unusable?

 

From what I've read online, doing many writes to a drive with an ssd could at a point cause an issue. But those cases are running multiple tests with performance tools. For day to day I doubt you will have an issue. So, if this was for running a SQL database, with lots of transactions, yes a SSD would be nice. But, for the typical user, a Hybrid drive is okay. For performance, it sits between a HDD and a SSD.

Now for reliable data, read: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/momentus-xt-750gb-review,3223.html

 

Thanks for answering. I think I'll go ahead and give it a try.