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Thinkpad hard drive shock protection question.
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:57 am
by rocketman
How does the Thinkpad hard drive shock protection work? Lets say in the future when faster hard drives come out and I want to upgrade does that mean I'll lose the shock protection? Is it the particular hard drive used or some kind of protector that surrounds it?
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:29 am
by jdhurst
The hard drive protection requires the hard drive firmware and the IBM Active Protection System to be in harmony. You can upgrade to faster drives, but you need to check the drive for newest firmware, and check the IBM APS to make sure it recognizes the drive. I lost one drive because of incompatability early this year. The incident was well known and publicized at the time. ... JD Hurst
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:38 am
by benz
In addition to what jdhurst said, the key to APS is the accelerometer, which is mounted directly on the motherboard. So if your Thinkpad doesn't have it, theres really no way to upgrade to it without replacing the motherboard.
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:54 am
by Ghostrider
I think the first question was "how does it work".
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IBM ThinkPad HDD Shock Absorber
The IBM ThinkPad HDD Shock Absorber helps protect your hard drive and prevent hard drive failure due to operational shock and other common types of shock events. Like an automobile bumper, it absorbs some shocks to help prevent damage — whether the system is turned on or off — and provides up to 30% more protection than the system case alone38.
This one is clear to understand. If the notebook falls down there is a physical shock absorbtion by a damping material that will reduce the force applied to the harddrive.
But what you mean may be mentioned in this article... Lot of marketing blabla:
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IBM Active Protection System
The IBM Active Protection System features an integrated motion sensor that continuously monitors your notebook, providing up to four times greater impact protection than systems without this feature. Using technology similar to that which controls automobile airbags, the system can detect sudden changes in motion and temporarily stop the hard drive to help protect data from some crashes which may occur in everyday notebook accidents. It also can automatically adjust sensitivity levels when repetitive motion is detected.
So there is a build-in sensor in your notebook that tracks motions of the notebook all the time. If there is a sudden acceleration (like it happens while falling) a signal is send to the harddrive to park it's heads in a safe position so that they will not crash on the surface of the platers when the notebook hits the ground.
A simple parking signal should work with all drives BUT I am not sure if this is some kind of "emergency stop" that is just compatible with selected drives that IBM uses.
Nevertheless you should hope that you will never have to experience this technique. ... your notebook will be damaged "just" your data will be safe. For business people this may be much more important - and worth much more money - than the whole notebook. For me it's still the other way around.
