Posted on Wednesday, October 08 2003 @ 22:15 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck| Because smaller, lighter, and more mobile systems are at a continual risk of being dropped and damaged, IBM developed a patent-pending hard drive protection technology to help protect people's data. The IBM Active Protection System, similar to the technology used in automobiles to deploy airbags upon impact, uses a microchip on the system board to detect system acceleration (such as in a fall). The system responds by temporarily parking the drive's read/write head until the system is stabilized. This rapid response can help prevent hard drive crashes that could occur in some falls, to help prevent total data loss and reduce warranty costs.
Some insurance and analyst reports indicate that more than 10.5 percent of notebooks in a corporate enterprise are damaged annually, and that accidental damage accounts for the majority of PC loss claims. Of the three notebook components most prone to damage -- hard drive, display, and keyboard -- hard drive damage results in the loss of valuable information and productivity. |
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More information can be found in this press release
