As the inventor of NAND Flash Technology and a leader in HDDs, Toshiba's “Hybrid Drives” also known as “Solid State Hybrid Drives” (SSHD) feature self-learning algorithms that enable the drive to identify the user’s access patterns, allowing frequently used data to be stored in the NAND cache part of the drive making it quickly accessible to the host. Likewise, data that is used less often is moved from the NAND Flash to the HDD for long term storage.

We have in our labs Toshiba's latest solid state hybrid drive (SSHD). The drive (part # PH2100U-1SHD (U.S.) / MQ01ABDH100H (EU) squeezes 8GiB of NAND storage, a 32MB of DRAM cache and up to 1 TB of HDD storage into a 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) form factor with 9.5mm height. It can be used as more a affordable alternative to an SSD in ultrathin notebooks, and slim line PCs.

We should make it clear that SSHD drives won't put-away SSDs. Toshiba aims to provide consumers with a reasonably priced option that still increases performance at the same capacity point. The 1TB SSHD retails online at Amazon.com for $107.