Storage

A ToughDisk Is a Rugged Disk

320GB rugged hard drives with SATA interface

By Alexandru Pancescu, Hardware Editor

14th of September 2007, 09:52 GMT

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Rugged storage solutions are largely based on hard disk drives that are encapsulated into a protective casing that implements a number of shock absorbing technologies as well as technologies designed to maximize the life of the drive in extreme operating environments. Formation is one of the companies that focuses on the manufacture of such drives and it announced the availability of a new product from the ToughDisk family, which comes with an 100 percent storage capacity increase as well as a faster Serial ATA II interface for a new high performance level.

According to the company's press release, the new rugged data storage solution is able to perform reliably in environmental conditions that would destroy a conventional design of a hard disk drive, while

keeping the total cost at a fraction of the cost of a similar capacity solid state drive.

''The SATA interface was selected as the newest addition to the TD3500 product line because of its growing acceptance as the interface of choice for embedded and enterprise storage,'' said Gene Lovely, director of business development for Formation. ''ToughDisk 3500 SATA users can now benefit from the use of longer, thinner cables that are easily routed to let air cooling work more efficiently, faster data transfer rates, and lower power requirements while enabling hot swapping and more reliable operation.''

Thanks to its rugged features, the Formation ToughDisk is able to perform reliably at temperatures between -40 and 70 degrees Celsius and it is the only 3.5 inch Serial ATA storage solution available on the market that is vibration and shock hardened. As the drive comes with the fast Serial ATA interface, it is able to sustain greater read and write speeds, over 90MB per second read speed, than similar products which are equipped with the Parallel ATA data transferring interface. The drive also supports the eSATA interface for easy connectivity with computer systems that sport such a port. For systems that lack a SATA interface, Formation included in the design of the ToughDisk 3500 product an auxiliary high speed USB 2.0 port that allows the storage solution to be used as an external drive.

Among other features that make the hard disk drive the perfect data storage solution for demanding operating environments, there is the low power 5VDC which is normally used to power all drives form the ToughDisk 3500 product family, while the drive also comes with optional 12VDC and 28VDC powering inputs.

The ToughDisk 3500 product family of storage solutions from Formation can be used as standalone systems or in conjunction with high performance SAS controllers as well as embedded SATA ports that are found in almost all computer systems. While fast revolving hard disk drives are usually the preferred solution when it comes to mission critical data storage, they also have a pretty bad side as they are limited by their high heat generation. The ToughDisk aims to replace such disks while providing an equivalent level of performance thanks to its clever design that integrates four 2.5-inch platters bonded together in a RAID configuration. As the drive comes up with independent read/ write heads and actuator arms, it is able to achieve double data transferring rates than other rugged storage solutions.

TAGS:

Formation | rugged | storage | ToughDisk | hard disk

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