Active Protection System

[DaveMackenzie]

Hi Guys,
I am a T41 owner and love it to bits, but one thing that has confused me is about the Active Hard drive protection system, was this installed in all T4x Series thinkpads, or just certain models as my system does not have it!!!!
I was quite interested because there are a few homebrew apps that you can use for switching from window to window by tapping the system etc, i was thinking of having a go myself at creating a short program so that if you tap the thinkpad twice, it will shutdown!!!
Any information will be appreciated,

[GomJabbar]

You can get it from the following page. Be sure and follow the installation instructions.

Software and Device Drivers - ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p

[DaveMackenzie]

Thanks for the quick reply,
I should have put more sense in my post, basically i wanted to know if all ibm T4x series had the APS accelerometer fitted, or was it certain models as my T41 does not have the APS, its not a great loss, but it would have been handy for the gadget side!

[jdhurst]

Not all T4x's have hard drive protection. Which ones? I don't know. How do I know? The motherboard in my T41 was replaced (original board cracked or similarly bad under warranty). The replacement worked fine but was incorrect and did not offer hard drive protection. The replacement of the replacement works fine and offers hard drive protection as did the original. So ergo, not all T4x boards offer it.
... JD Hurst

[GomJabbar]

Looking at the tawbook and ltwbook, the TAA (Trade Act Agreement) T40 models, did not have any hard drive protection. The rest of the T40's appear to have something called "IBM Integrated HDD Shock Absorber". The T41's and onward claim to have the "IBM Hard Disk Drive Shock Absorber / IBM Active Protection System (shock protection)". The ThinkVantage Active Protection System driver page seems to agree with this, since it is only for the T41's onward.

What the difference is between the "IBM Integrated HDD Shock Absorber" of the T40's and the "IBM Hard Disk Drive Shock Absorber / IBM Active Protection System (shock protection)" of the T41's onward, is anyone's guess.

[DaveMackenzie]

I have a US model, judging by the keyboard anyway, im looking to buy a new keyboard on ebay! but i guess IBM create soo many model variations that only some came with APS, i think the main diference is APS has an onboard gyroscope which detects an acceleration in G-force, thus spinning down the hdd instantly to avoid the heads removing the thin magnetic layer on the disc, the hard drive shock absorber im guessing is just the way the the caddy is fitted, as if it is almost floating in the bay, I wouldnt be too worried about losing data on here anyway as i regularly backup my system on my server for when i re-install windows once every 6 weeks to maintain speed (seeing as microsoft dumps a lot of un-needed files in the hidden folders)