SoftwareMicrosoft Not Cool With Hybrid Storage Netbooks.
Microsoft isn"t too keen on SSDs and HDDs living under the same roof.
Some of the first mainstream computers to incorporate SSD technology were early netbooks. The durable and speedy nature of solid-state storage made them ideal for the application.
Now a couple of new models of netbooks have learned the trick of using an SSD for your startup and OS drive to take advantage of the speed and then using a traditional HDD for the less demanding storage. Itò€™s a set up that many of us would like to have in all our computers, not just our laptops.
Unfortunately, Microsoft isnò€™t so taken with the idea for netbooks and is disallowing the bundling of Windows XP with ò€˜hybridò€™ storage netbooks, according to Bit-tech. Microsoft setting hardware limitations for netbooks allowed to pack Windows XP isnò€™t new.
Netbooks with Windows XP can have an SSD no larger than 16 GB or an HDD up to 160 GB. Having both at the same time, however, appears to be taboo. The only netbook affected appears to be the MSI Wind U115, which is available in various combinations of 8 GB or 16 GB for the SSD, and 120 GB or 160 GB for the HDD. Bit-tech reports that MSI must remove its Windows XP-packed hybrid netbooks by the end of this month.
Last week NEC announced its own netbook packing both a 160 GB HDD and a 16 GB SSD, which appears will now not be shipping with Windows XP.