System Configuration:

The following hardware will be used to test the Seagate 500GB Laptop Thin SSHD:

» Intel i5-3570K 4.2Ghz processor
» Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH
» Intel OEM cooler
» 16GB Generic DDR3 memory
» ASUS GTX 560Ti video card
» LG Blu-Ray burner
» Vantec EZ Swap F4 Four Bay 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD Rack
» Corsair CS600 power supply
» Windows 8 Enterprise



As far as the installation goes, if you have ever installed any hard drives, nothing will surprise you here. Secure the drive to your system as necessary, connect the SATA data and power connections, and the drive is ready to go.

Testing:

Before we begin the storage benchmarks, we need to realize that the Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD is different than normal drives since it includes NAND storage to improve the access to the most commonly used files. Seagate's Adaptive Memory technology uses algorithms to evalute your most commonly used files and it copies them into the NAND memory in real time. With this in mind, the benchmarks will be run 5 times in a row to allow the drive the opportunity to analyze the data and move it to the NAND memory.

In addition to the standard synthetic benchmarks, the drives will be tested for Windows boot speed and launching time for Photoshop CS6. The following drives will be included in the testing process to compare to the new Seagate Thin SSHD drive.

» OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD
» Seagate Momentus XT 7200RPM 750GB SSHD
» Seagate 320GB 5400RPM hard drive