DiscounTechnology Blog

Laptop hard drives have long been made to be very resistant to shock due to the nature of the environment they operate in. Seagate has now taken this one step further with their Free-Fall Protection. This feature provides enhanced data protection against shocks that the drive may endure while it is operating.

What is Free-Fall Protection?

Free-Fall Protection uses a zero G acceleration sensor mounted on the circuit board of the drive. This sensor detects any changes in acceleration of the drive, such as when it or the laptop it is mounted in is dropped. When a Free-Fall event is detected, the drive will cause the actuator to park the heads away from the surface of the platter thus preventing head / platter contact and the resultant loss of data. This protection can be engaged in a fall as little as 8 inches.

Drives With Free-Fall Protection

Seagate's Momentus 7200.2 line of drives are available in 80GB, 100GB, 120GB and 160GB capacities. They spin at 7200 rpm for outstanding performance and use perpendicular recording technology to achieve these high capacities in a 2.5 inch form factor. DiscounTechnology now carries these drives beginning with the ST980813ASG. This is an 80GB SATA drive that features Free-Fall Protection.

Fujitsu Europe has been offering the optional adding of a freefall sensor to its MHW2xxxBH drive series since April 2007.>/p>