The folks at ICY DOCK have come up with their own variation of hybrid storage and released the new 2.5" SATA SSD Xpander Hybrid Adapter today.

The unit takes advantage of the speed from a decent 2.5" SATA SSD and capacity of a 3.5" SATA HDD and combines the best of both worlds into a single storage medium.

Behind the scenes two partitions are created; a hybrid partition and a storage partition. The hybrid partition gives double the capacity of the SSD used while the storage partition is made up of the remaining capacity of the HDD.

Here's a brief rundown of some of the features, plucked from the official announcement :-

• Create a high performance "hybrid partition" that doubles the capacity of the SSD drive been used.

 

• Create a "storage partition" which gives you the remaining capacity of the hard drive minus "hybrid partition" size.

 

• Increase the hard drive transfer rate by up to 2X for both sequential read/write speeds**

 

• Perfect for Media related applications.

 

• Airflow vents for heat dissipation.

 

• Screw-less design for quick & easy SSD installation.

 

• Universal mounting holes for most common PC case.

 

• The adapter is the same as a 3.5" hard drive in dimension and compatible with most common PC cases.

Certainly, it could be an attractive alternative for those looking to combine performance with capacity without having to shell out the exorbitant amount large capacity SSDs are still selling for.

More details in the press release here.