Seagate EE25.2 Optimizing Storage for Extreme Environments (87K, PDF)

Introduction

Sophisticated electronic devices now permeate virtually every

aspect of business and personal life, boasting communications

and entertainment capabilities that until recently were the exclusive

province of bulky desktop computer systems. Bringing remarkable

power and compactness to a host of outdoor and mobile settings,

these devices are the foundation of such diverse applications as:

•

Automotive entertainment, navigation and data delivery systems

•

Industrial PCs used for process monitoring and data acquisition

•

Military field imaging and information systems

•

Digital signage and advertising displays

•

Mobile/portable medical equipment

Not surprisingly, these applications present daunting environmental

challenges: severe temperatures (from sub-zero frost to sweltering

heat), punishing vibration and shock, stifling humidity and extreme

altitude. To survive in such grueling settings, system components

must be purpose-built for ruggedness, durability and protection

from hostile conditions. And this is particularly true for a critical

element of outdoor and mobile systems: the storage device.

Standard 2.5-inch hard disk drives are designed to operate reliably

in the relatively hospitable physical surroundings characteristic

of laptop computer use: mild temperatures, stable humidity and

only moderate levels of vibration. When deployed in the far more

rigorous environments that typify outdoor and mobile storage,

such laptop drives often suffer degraded reliability.

Flash solid-state drives certainly seem more promising, shrugging

off the harsh conditions that compromise conventional laptop hard

drive durability. But flash drives also offer write performance inferior

to hard drives, limited capacity and sharply higher cost per GB.

The solution? An innovative breed of storage device that combines

superior hard-drive speed, storage capacity and economy with

flash-rivaling ruggedness—in short, the Seagate

®

EE25.2 Series

™

hard disk drive.

Optimizing Storage for Extreme

Environments—

EE25.2 Series

™

Hard Drives, Flash Solid-State

Drives and Standard 2.5-Inch Hard Drives

Technology Paper