Hard-disk Active Protection System is poorly implemented...

[jvarszegi]

... for multi-drive systems.

I have an mSATA boot drive, and have kept the mechanical drive as my data drive. Because the APS was apparently implemented with the antiquated notion that people would only run one type of drive (mechanical or SSD), I have a choice: pause my SSD for no reason along with my mechanical disk, or risk damage to my mechanical drive so that my SSD can function without needless interruptions.

[Harryc]

I kind of agree that with the advent of SSD's the APS could be a bit more modern in its implementation. But look at it this way, if you drop of jostle the thinkpad enough to harm the mechanical drive, does it really matter if the SSD kicks off for a moment? If it's minor vibrations that you are referring to, then the APS sensitivity is set too high. I think that as the number of SSD's exceeds the number of hard drives sold, Lenovo will have to change with the times. As it is now, Lenovo sells SSDs as an option. The base equipment is still a mechanical hard drive for the most part.

[yak]

I experience a different behavior.

I have a 160GB Intel 320 series SSD in my X200. The mechanical drive I used to have (WD Scorpio Black 320GB) went to an UltraBay adapter which is installed in my UltraBase. I was testing the APS behavior in this setup shortly after I got my SSD (couple of months ago). The system worked correctly: the mechanical drive in the UltraBay was pausing (indicated by stuttering video playback from a file on this drive as well as icon in the system tray) but the SSD wasn't (no stuttering when video played from this drive). After I pulled the mechanical drive from UltraBay, the system stopped reacting to movement altogether (no stuttering, no pause icon indication).

Everything worked as it should I say.

Maybe the problem lies in the way they detect SSD drives. If there's no easy way to distinguish the drives, the system may use a list of known drives or families of drives and assume a mechanical drive if in doubt (which makes sense). Just a thought.

[jvarszegi]

Huh. I must have gotten confused before. I just tested with a video on the SSD, and no amount of shaking caused it to stutter, though APS was turned on.

[blackomegax]

SSD's completely ignore head park and spin down signals, and thus keep on truckin' while everything else pauses.