Apple Fusion Drive or Seagate SSHD? Is there a difference?

Seagate has been touting Hybrid technology for a few years now. Since the launch of Momentus XT back in May of 2010, Seagate is quickly approaching 2,000,000 solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) sold. SSHDs offer capacities of a hard disk drive, with speeds similar to an SSD, at a price that’s slightly more than a traditional hard drive.

Apple has officially endorsed solid state hybrid technology with the announcement of their Fusion Drive. Apple’s website so eloquently refers to their hybrid technology as, “…Fusion Drive is a breakthrough concept that combines the high storage capacity of a traditional hard drive with the high performance of flash storage. With Fusion Drive in your iMac, disk-intensive tasks — from booting up to launching apps to importing photos — are faster and more efficient. That’s because frequently used items are kept at the ready on speedy flash storage, while infrequently accessed items go to the hard drive. The file transfers take place in the background, so you won’t even notice. As the system learns how you work, Fusion Drive makes your Mac experience even better. And you don’t have to do a thing.”

(sounds familiar)

Seagate’s new and improved Momentus XT page touts solid state hybrid as, “The ultimate solution to meeting improved storage performance and capacity needs within the budget constraints of IT organizations is a blend of solid state drive (SSD) and hard disk drive (HDD) technology. Solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) effectively merge these technologies, providing storage devices that are compatible with traditional HDD modules, while delivering one of the most compelling value propositions the storage market has seen in years: SSD–like performance and hard drive capacity.”

Whatever technology you deploy, separate SSD and HDD components like Apple’s Fusion Drive, or SSD integrated on to the HDD as a single device like Seagate’s, one thing is for certain, solid state hybrid will become mainstream for consumer and commercial laptops and desktops over the next year. Seagate has already announced plans for a desktop 3.5-inch SSHD, and no doubt an enterprise version is also in the works.

For Seagate, it’s obvious solid state hybrid drives are a big deal. We just recently launched a dedicated section of our website on SSHD: http://www.seagate.com/solutions/solid-state-hybrid/ as well as the new FAST Storage magazine which is more of an interactive e-book all about solid state hybrid technology.

The main difference between Apple Fusion Drive and Seagate SSHD technology: open vs. closed. Apple hybrid technology is designed and built for Apple. Seagate hybrid technology is designed and built for…well, everyone.

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