Seagate EE25.2 Optimizing Storage for Extreme Environments (87K, PDF) - Page 3

Optimizing Storage for Extreme Environments- EE25.2 Series™ Hard Drives, Flash Solid-State Drives and Standard 2.5-Inch Hard Drives Myth #1: Lighter Weight Flash drives weigh far less than hard disk drives, enabling portable computer systems that are much lighter. Fact: The Seagate EE25.2 Series drive weighs just over 50 grams (approximately two ounces) more than a Samsung 2.5-inch flash drive. But reviewing those figures in isolation doesn't tell the full story. For example, a Panasonic Toughbook 30 laptop computer weighs 8.4 pounds; in that context, the 2-ounce difference between the EE25.2 Series hard drive and the Samsung flash drive accounts for well under two percent of the system's weight, an insignificant amount. Bottom line: Overall system weight is virtually the same whether an EE25.2 Series drive or a 2.5-inch flash drive is employed. Myth #2: Lower Power Consumption Flash drives consume far less power than hard disk drives, enabling significantly longer battery life in portable computer systems. Fact: Thanks to the power-saving features built into the Seagate EE25.2 Series drive, power use is only nominally higher than that of a 2.5-inch flash drive. More importantly, the storage device accounts for less than ten percent of total system power consumption. A system's video display and ASICs demand far more power and are thus the prime determinants of net system battery life. Power Play: Seagate® EE25.2 Series™ Drive vs. Samsung Flash Drive Seagate EE25.2 Series 2.5-Inch Drive (80 GB)* Samsung 2.5-inch Flash Drive (16 GB)* MobileMark Battery Life PATA: 328 minutes SATA: 316 minutes 324 minutes * Figures obtained at Seagate Technology, Longmont, Colorado, testing laboratory Bottom line: System battery run time is virtually the same whether an EE25.2 Series drive or a 2.5-inch flash drive is employed. Myth #3: Superior Ruggedness Flash drives feature extraordinary tolerance to extreme environments, ensuring reliable system operation in even the harshest operating conditions. Fact: Both the Seagate EE25.2 Series hard drive and the Samsung 2.5-inch flash drive can endure a broad range of temperatures as well as high levels of shock and vibration. To be sure, the Samsung flash drive's shock and vibration tolerance numbers are better, but in reality, such numbers are largely academic. In actual use, many other system components would likely fail long before the shock or vibration thresholds of the Samsung flash drive were approached, rendering such capabilities essentially overkill. Tough Enough: Seagate® EE25.2 Series™ Drive vs. Samsung Flash Drive Seagate EE25.2 Series 2.5-inch Drive Samsung 2.5-inch Flash Drive* Temperature (Operating, ºC) Vibration (Gs) Shock (Operating, Gs) -30 to +85 -25 to +85 2 (5 to 500 Hz) 20 (10 to 2000 Hz) 300 (2 ms)/150 (11 ms) 1500 (0.5 ms) * Manufacturer's specifications for 2.5-inch flash drive Bottom line: Projected real-world system reliability is virtually the same whether an EE25.2 Series drive or a 2.5-inch flash drive is employed. Myth #4: Higher Performance Flash drives deliver far higher performance than hard drives, enabling systems that more efficiently execute commands and process data. Fact: Flash drives are indeed much faster than hard drives when randomly reading data, but that is an unrealistically narrow application model. By the same token, the Seagate EE25.2 Series drive is much faster than the flash drive when writing data. But in the real world, most extreme storage applications (such as military radar data updates and ruggedized laptops at construction sites) require frequent random reads and writes of data. Under such circumstances (80%R, 20%W), lab testing proves that the EE25.2 Series drive delivers performance virtually identical to that of a flash drive.