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Of course, using platter-based hardware means that no SSHD will achieve true SSD speeds, and the SSHD needs to ‘learn’ which files you use frequently – so it takes a little time for its performance boosts to become obvious. Over time, those are the ones that are stored on the flash chips. The reliance on a small amount of flash memory brings the cost down when compared to a full-fat SSD, and an SSHD can still deliver a performance boost when compared to a hard disk – because PCs, laptops and consoles spend lots of time accessing the same files. They use a conventional platter-based system, just like a hard disk, but they’re augmented with a small board of SSD-style flash memory that stores your console’s most frequently-accessed data.
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Solid-state hybrid drives are a relatively new invention that bridges the gap between conventional hard disks and newer SSDs.
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