By Adena DeMonte

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday began shipping a hybrid hard drive that the company claims will speed up boot times and eat up 70-90 percent less power than traditional hard drive units. But some analysts said computer makers were hesitant to adopt the new technology until the Korean company could prove it was reliable.

Samsung’s hybrid hard drive combines a small flash memory chip with a traditional rotating disc drive. Incoming data is recorded on the chip and transferred to the disc drive only when the flash memory is full. That means the traditional disc spins less frequently and uses less power.

Computers will require a hybrid hard drive to run Microsoft’s Windows Vista Premium laptops, but uptake will remain modest in the short term. iSuppli analyst Krishna Chander expects hybrid drives to account for 1 to 2 percent of hard drive sales in 2006, growing to about 3 percent in 2007. Growth is seen to take off in 2008, when hybrids will account for 15 to 20 percent of the notebook sales, he said.

“There is a challenge to prove the reliability of this total drive that has both flash and hard drives integrated into one,” said Mr. Chander.

Seagate Electronics, leader in the hard drive market, is hot on Samsung tail and expects to roll out a similar offering in the near future. Chip giant Intel is also developing similar technology known as Robson that could slow Samsung’s push for market share. But Mr. Chander thinks there’s place for both technologies, noting that hybrid hard drives and Robson will likely see equal growth in the coming years.

Samsung’s hybrid launch comes as the notebook hard drive market is exploding. iSuppli said Wednesday that notebook hard drive shipments were set to hit $14.9 billion in 2010, up from $9.2 billion in 2006. Compare those figures to the desktop hard drive market, which took in $11.6 billion in 2006 and is expected to lose steam, shrinking to $11.2 billion in 2010.

Still, Samsung faces tough competition to maintain and grow market share in the crowded hard drive market. According to the iSuppli report, Samsung sold only 10 percent of the hard drives shipped in 2006, ranking fourth behind leaders Seagate Technology at 33 percent, Western Digital at 20 percent, and Hitachi at 16 percent.