Seagate (http://www.seagate.com) has announced channel and original equipment manufacturer shipments of the Momentus XT drive, which it says is the world’s fastest 2.5-inch laptop hard drive, combining SSD-like performance with the massive capacity and much lower cost of HDDs.

The Momentus XT drive also features Adaptive Memory -- a new technology from Seagate that purportedly learns and optimizes the drive’s performance to each user by moving frequently used information into the flash memory for faster access. The Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive boots up to 100%t faster than traditional 5400RPM drives, the mainstream spin speed for laptops, and sets new benchmarks for real-world system performance for laptops and gaming systems, according to Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president of sales, marketing and product line management.

The Momentus XT drive combines a 7200RPM spin speed, 4GB of solid state memory and Seagate’s Adaptive Memory technology. The drive installs in the same way as a traditional 9.5mm-high notebook drive for new systems or laptop upgrades and, unlike early hybrid drives, operates independently of the operating system and the motherboard chipset.