What to buy for laptop - SSD or Hybrid HDD?

[Ian]

I recently got an HP Elitebook 2540p and I'm looking to upgrade the hard drive in it. It currently has a 250GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 and would like to step up to an SSD or hybrid hard drive like the Seagate Momentus XT. I have a lot of data so if I go the SSD route, I'll need one with at least 200GB of capacity, which are still pretty pricey for a decent one. Comparatively, the Momentus XT is dirt cheap. It's not nearly as fast as the SSD but with 4GB of flash on board, it should be faster than the Hitachi currently in it. Not to mention, it will double my current storage capacity. Thoughts?

[stix]

So have you tried one of these options yet? I like the concept of the Momentus XT; seems like it would be a nice trade-off if it delivers, although the 4GB of flash sounds small. Would enjoy hearing about it if anyone is using one. The SSDs are just too expensive for me to consider at this point. Anyone know what's their reliability compared to hard disk drives? I'm using an SDHC flash memory card in my laptop for ReadyBoost.

[Ian]

I haven't had time to buy anything yet. At this point, I'm leaning toward the Momentus XT.

I think it s too early to know how reliable SSD's are. I'd really hesitate to buy any MLC-based drives for long term storage of important data. I've had too many MLC-based flash drives die over the last few years.

[Ian]

For those that are wondering, I bought a 500GB Momentus XT. I haven't had time to swap out my existing hard drive yet though.

[stix]

It would be good to hear about the difference in performance, once you get the drives swapped.