Hard drives have long utilized small bits of cache memory to boost performance, and some recent hybrid hard drives already combine up to 256MB of NAND flash memory with traditional platter-based storage. Now a Japanese company called DTS has taken the idea of hybrid drives in a slightly different direction, having just unleashed a new type of hard drive called Mcell that offers 1GB of on-drive cache using standard DDR RAM. DTS markets the disc as being a significantly cheaper way to get some of the benefits of solid state drives without the price.
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