Any Visible Difference Between Sshd And Regular Hd?

I bought a drive on eBay (i know, i know). It is supposed to be SSHD. But the model number looks off. It is MQ01ABF032 but it should have an "H" at the end.

I fired it up but as expected there is nothing that says it is an SSHD.
I looked for the NAND but I suspect that is under the cover.
Any other way of verifying this is an SSHD?

 

It's a SATA internal hard drive. It's not described anywhere as a SSHD. Its physical dimensions make it appropriate for a laptop type device.
If the seller on eBay described it as a 'SSHD' they were not being truthful.
https://www.cnet.com/products/toshiba-mq01abf032-hard-drive-320-gb-sata-6gb-s/specs/
https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/us/product/storage-products/client-hdd/mq01abfxxx.html

There is a difference between a SSHD and a conventional HDD but it's not great. A SSHD does use some SSD technology but it isn't SSD.

 

If it is an SSHD, the SSD portion is only about 8 GB in size and acts as a buffer. You might not see the SSD portion in disk management.

I have seen SSHDs from Western Digital with 120 GB SSDs on Amazon.

 

It is not likely you or even a drive expert (unless, maybe, you were a drive expert working for that drive maker) would be able to tell the difference by looking at the drives unless you knew exactly what device to look for on that specific controller board. Note controller boards vary between brands and even between models within the same brand.

I note the flash (NAND) memory device (the SSD component) used as the buffer on SSHDs is an IC (integrated circuit - "chip") and so is the RAM memory device an IC. So unless the specific memory IC was actually labeled with text that made sense, you could not tell.

Based especially on Max's 2nd link, you definitely did NOT get a SSHD, but a rather a conventional hard drive. Got a link to the eBay page?

 

They function as a single drive and show up in disk management as such.

 

I missed the first comment or I would have said something too.

Just Playin is right. It is important to note these "hybrid" drives are NOT some mix of SSD and HD. They are 100% hard drive. The only difference is the type of memory device used for the hard drive's buffer (a type of cache to speed the drive's access). Standard hard drives use a RAM memory device for the buffer. This is basically the same type memory device as used on the RAM "sticks" for your system RAM used in your computer.

A hybrid drive uses NAND flash memory devices for the buffer, the same type memory device to make solid state drives. Hybrid drives (or SSHD) are nice because the NAND flash memory devices used for the drive's buffer are faster and denser (more transistor gates in the same space) than traditional buffer memory devices.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

This is all that I have on the original listing (As you can see, I got this a long time ago.):

ORDER DATE Sep 05, 2015

Toshiba 320GB Internal 5400RPM 2.5" MQ01ABF032H SSHD Solid State Hybrid Drive
1 item sold by mckstud2

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/131591504190-0-0/s-l140/p.jpg
Toshiba 320GB Internal 5400RPM 2.5" MQ01ABF032H SSHD Solid State Hybrid Drive
( 131591504190 )

Contacted the seller but no joy. So, I got ripped off for about $10.

I finally found a good use for an SSHD. Installing it in a Macbook 2009. Friend just uses it for the Web and uploading his iPhone photos. So, a fast boot from NAND and enough storage space on the platters.

Looking to get one, but they do not seem very popular. Not many stores carry them.

 

It definitely is not an SSHD. It's a bit late now though as it is well over a year since you purchased it, but you can send a message to eBay customer support to tell them you were sold an item that was clearly wrongly described and send the same message to the seller. As a verified purchaser you should be able to make a comment on that seller's page.
As for the $10 loss no idea what that means - if you only paid $10 for it that's a bargain SSHD or not.
But it is a lesson for the future - research the item a private seller is offering before you actually buy it!

 

Or more accurately, verify your purchase before you shelf it for two years!

 

You mean verify what it is before you even buy it.

 

Quick test.. SSDs don't vibrate. A spinning drive you can feel.

 

The test is to read the manufacturer product description FIRST.
In my current location, I have a laptop - this one with a SSD and an SSHD second drive - and a desktop with an SSD and HD second drive. I wouldn't for the life of me make a judgement based on the sounds or 'feel' in either. I doubt most users could or would.

 

Totally irrelevant!

This discussion has NOTHING to do with solid state drives (SSDs). This thread is about a hybrid drive or solid state hard drive (SSHD), which of course, has a spinning motor and an actuator - just like every other hard drive. Feeling for vibration would serve no purpose.

 

From the eBay listing, I knew it was supposed to be a SSHD. But he shipped something else!

 

No don't rely on some printed words by a private seller. Google the actual BRAND/MODEL NUMBER like I did and find out what its manufacturer calls it.
There is no SSHD made by Toshiba with that model number. That seller merely 'typed' in his sell profile that it was SSHD. It was not an SSHD.
When you are buying from a private individual hosted on something like eBay you need to carry out careful investigation of your own. Compared to the Amazon market place, eBay is second-rate. Amazon impose much greater and stringent conditions on its market place sellers than eBay does.

 

I've been a member of ebay since 2002 and a member of Amazon since 2006. I've had both good and bad transactions on BOTH. But, regardless, the OP should do the research.

 

My experience of the difference between 'private sellers' on eBay and Amazon is that Amazon sellers have always been better in responding to issues than eBay ones. I've had two experiences with eBay sellers being totally unhelpful about items and I was forced to get eBay themselves to intervene and it took weeks. I had only one bad experience on Amazon with a marketplace seller who was a complete jerk. One call to Amazon and they refunded me immediately and told me not to worry about returning the item as they would collect it the next day and deal with the seller. Notwithstanding issues around corporate tax and Amazon, their customer service is literally second to none. eBay come way down the list of good service.