SilverStone has reinvented the hybrid drive concept with a rather interesting product dubbed HDDBoost.
The contraption is not much to look at, but SilverStone claims it is a clever piece of kit that can boost HDD performance by up to 70 percent. Basically it allows users to connect just about any 2.5-inch SSD to 3.5-inch HDD, thus combining the best of both worlds - SSD seek times and HDD capacities.
It creates a mirror of front end data of the HDD on the SSD and allows the system to access them in less than a millisecond. However, the rest of the data is still read from the HDD, but in spite of this SilverStone claims it can accelerate the drive by up to 70 percent, depending on the speed of the SSD. It all sounds pretty nice, provided it works as advertised.
Best of all, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put it all together. There's no need for any special software or drivers, as the hardware apparently takes care of everything. The price is also quite tempting, as it costs just €37, or around $50. However, it is currently available only in Japan, but if it proves successful we'll probably see it elsewhere.
You can check it out here.