Samsung is presenting today their first commercial prototype of a Hybrid Hard Disk (HHD).

They announced this some time ago and here we have the confirmation that the HHD will be presented at Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) on May 23-24.

HHD ingrates NAND flash memory with rotating magnetic storage. The HHD will be exhibited with two cache densities, 128MB and 256MB.

“We see the HHD as the most advanced and cost-effective means of improving the performance of a notebook computer’s storage functionality,�? said Jon Kang, senior vice president, technical marketing group, Samsung Semiconductor. “The Samsung HHD addresses the two biggest consumer desires: extending battery life and improving boot and resume performance.�?

The high densities of magnetic storage technology are preserved, while the exceptionally low power, high reliability and fast read/write access of advanced NAND flash technology enhance overall value at minimal additional cost. With an HHD, consumers receive a system that boots or resumes up to twice as fast as conventional HDDs, lasts 20-30 minutes longer on battery and is up to five times more reliable.

“Hybrid hard disks and Windows ReadyDrive Technology are integrated advancements that improve the performance and reliability of computers using Windows Vista, especially notebook computers,�? said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president, Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. “We are very pleased to see Samsung moving so rapidly with HHD technology to prepare for high-volume production in time for the Windows Vista launch.�?

The good thing about this kind of HDD is that it eliminates the need for the hard disk to constantly spin whenever a computer is operating on battery power, and is less susceptible to damage from jarring or being dropped since it is idle most of the time.

Every time the cache is filled, the rotating drive spins to “flush out�? or transfer data from the cache, spinning only a few seconds every 10-20 minutes. The Samsung HHD architecture uses the fastest flash device on the market as cache, Samsung’s OneNAND™ flash with 108MB/s read and 18 MB/s write data-rates. The functionality of the H-HHD is automated by the high performance HDD SOC which supports 3.0G Native Command Queuing SATA and an OneNAND TM interface. The HHD saves between eight and 25 seconds of boot-up time and extends battery life by about 8-10 percent depending on the model of computer.

We will come up with fresh informations when WinHEC will take place.