Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone,

A few days ago, I was about to pull the trigger to buy two 7k200 drives from ZZF and then I found a thread where the ability of the regular bulk drives (like the one in the link) to work with Lenovo's Active Protection System was questioned. For some reason (probably my impatience) I can't seem to find that thread now, but the gist of it was that maybe the drives needed some Lenovo firmware to actually work with APS.

So my question is the following, does the drive mentioned abovework with APS without any extra firmware? I have the Lenovo original restoration discs and all, so that's not a problem. Thanks in advance for your input.

aps works with any HDD.

i was gonna break it down and state that all HDDs since 1980 or something supports the command that says to park but yeah...

APS works with any HDD that can fit in the Thinkpad.

I understand what you are saying, but does APS REALLY work with any HDD that fits thinkpads?
Thanks.

I have upgraded my stock Lenovo HDD with a 200GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 and I can confirm that APS does work.

Not only does it work, but it works quite well.

rmendoza wrote:I understand what you are saying, but does APS REALLY work with any HDD that fits thinkpads?
Thanks.

Ok guess gotta break it down then.

APS is just software that interfaces with an accelerometer built into the motherboard of the Thinkpad. (which is why it wont work on TPs before the T4x because they didn't have that sensor built in). The software monitors the chip and if it senses sudden changes in orientation/decent then it sends the "PARK" command to the HDD which in turns moves the head (reads/writes) to the "PARK" position (away from the spinning discs). They continue to spin but if the laptop falls with the head above the disc the head crashes into the disc and damages it and therefore you loose your data in that area. (usually there are 2 or 4 heads in laptop drives). Once the accelerometer calms down then the APS software releases drive from it's PARK command and it continues to read/write again.

The reason this works with any HDD is because all HDDs park their heads when they are done reading/writting (or in the off/standby). Sending the command to PARK just makes the HDD think the OS is no longer needing to read/write anything so it just goes back to idle mode. Even if you were copying a file the APS software interupts the flow with the command and then starts again after it's settled. Without APS installed in the system the OS still sends park commands but the OS isn't aware of the laptops status and that's why APS is needed.

Side note - There are HDDs out there now that has APS (well the equivalent) built into the drive itself and therefore you don't even need to install APS. That HDD has it's own accelerometer built into it and with the firmware, it can sense it's own status and park the heads if needed.

Seagate calls theirs "G-Protection" -
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/gf_protect.html

thanks everyone. the drives are on their way.

SHoTTa35 wrote: The reason this works with any HDD is because all HDDs park their heads when they are done reading/writting (or in the off/standby). Sending the command to PARK just makes the HDD think the OS is no longer needing to read/write anything so it just goes back to idle mode. Even if you were copying a file the APS software interupts the flow with the command and then starts again after it's settled. Without APS installed in the system the OS still sends park commands but the OS isn't aware of the laptops status and that's why APS is needed.

Actually, it's a bit more elaborate. See here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=63242

A harddisk's ability to just PARK the heads alone is *not* sufficient.
The drive must be able to do so without cache flushing, otherwise it would take too long until the heads are parked in a safe position should the drive experience any shock.
This feature, however, is flagged as optional in the ATA spec, so not all drives may support it.

Still, I think that most newer drives meant for use in mobile computers will support this feature.

Quagmyre wrote:

SHoTTa35 wrote: The reason this works with any HDD is because all HDDs park their heads when they are done reading/writting (or in the off/standby). Sending the command to PARK just makes the HDD think the OS is no longer needing to read/write anything so it just goes back to idle mode. Even if you were copying a file the APS software interupts the flow with the command and then starts again after it's settled. Without APS installed in the system the OS still sends park commands but the OS isn't aware of the laptops status and that's why APS is needed.

Actually, it's a bit more elaborate. See here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=63242

A harddisk's ability to just PARK the heads alone is *not* sufficient.
The drive must be able to do so without cache flushing, otherwise it would take too long until the heads are parked in a safe position should the drive experience any shock.
This feature, however, is flagged as optional in the ATA spec, so not all drives may support it.

Still, I think that most newer drives meant for use in mobile computers will support this feature.

That's the thread I was trying to find!!!