Microsoft hopes to combine two popular storage media – flash memory and hard drives – in a bid to cut power in future laptops.

In a presentation at the WinHEC show here Wednesday, Microsoft officials said they had begun talks with hard-disk makers to redefine how hard drives access data. The upgrades would require flash memory to be built in or alongside hard drives, to minimize the time the PC would access the drive.

While desktop customers value speed, laptop users are more likely to try and prolong connecting to a power cord. Although notebook PC OEMs often look to the CPU and display as the chief power draws, spinning up a rotating hard drive can also drain batteries quickly. Using Microsoft Word, for example, consumes more power than running the MobileMark laptop benchmark, Microsoft's tests found.

Microsoft is proposing embedding a NAND flash chip in or near the hard drive to serve as a write buffer, in conjunction with "Longhorn", Microsoft's next-generation operating system. Executives called the initiative a "project", but tried to make a case for redesigning next-generation 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch mobile hard drives with the new technology. However, Microsoft has just begun to contact drive vendors, so any drives would likely be years away.