WD Explains Its Windows-Only Software-Based SSHD Tech 286
crookedvulture writes "Seagate and Toshiba both offer hybrid hard drives that manage their built-in flash caches entirely in firmware. WD has taken a different approach with its Black SSHD, which instead uses driver software to govern its NAND cache. The driver works with the operating system to determine what to store in the flash. Unfortunately, it's Windows-only. You can choose between two drivers, though. WD has developed one of its own, and Intel will offer a separate driver attached to its upcoming Haswell platform. While WD remains tight-lipped on the speed of the Black's mechanical portion, it's confirmed that the flash is provided by a customized SanDisk iSSD embedded on the drive. The iSSD and mechanical drive connect to each other and to the host system through a Serial ATA bridge chip, making the SSHD look more like a highly integrated dual-drive solution than a single, standalone device. With Intel supporting this approach, the next generation of hybrid drives appears destined to be software-based."
Re:Win modem (Score:5, Funny)
Here's [angband.pl] my dissertation on winmodems. Should apply well to windisks too, I guess.
Wait, a hard drive with SSHD? (Score:5, Funny)
WD has taken a different approach with its Black SSHD
They'll have a lot more explaining to do, once some hacker, cracks the SSH password, starts pwning WD disk drives, and they begin to spew forth spam... :)
Re:Win modem (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, it's right along the lines of a software raid controller that only works in Windows. Awesome...
Re:Stop. Hammer time. (Score:5, Funny)
Boat anchor? How large do you think these drives are?
Have you considered he might have a really, really small boat?
Re:It's stupid though (Score:5, Funny)
Don't you see? WD has invented the idea of having an SSD and an HDD show up as separate devices! It's ingenious! Next they're going to move beyond computers and re-invent the classic Swiss army knife. Instead of having all the tools inconveniently stuck together, they'll have a bunch of separate tools in a box!
Re:This is all a bunch of stupid shit (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Win modem (Score:4, Funny)
Your brother-in-law got Windows Me to run 30 minutes before it blue-screened? Amazing.