MCell HDD has 1GB of smart cache

There seems to be some confusion about the DTS MCell Hard Drive. It has been described by many sites/blog as a hybrid Solid State Drive (SSD) because it uses 1GB of DDR memory. Tell me if I’m wrong but standard DDR memory (Double Data Rate, commonly found in computers) is not a solid state storage at all.

SSDs are power-friendly
Solid-state means that the information stays even when there’s no electricity powering the memory. Flash cards or USB keys good examples of solid-state memory.

The DTS 1GB has a fancy cache but is not a hybrid SSD
In the case of the MCell HDD, the 1GB of RAM is loaded with an embedded software upon power-on. This software will act like an enhanced cache that should allow data request to come from the DDR memory, instead of the disk itself.

Still better than no cache
The 1GB of cache consumes power, even when no information is exchanged with the computer, unlike SSDs. However, the cache should reduce disc accesses that require a mechanical action (head moving) – which is very slow and more power-intensive.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers
Tags: Thoughts