14 DAY TRIAL // Fujitsu announced today that a new line of hard disk drives in small form factor (2.5 inch) is now available. Nothing really interesting until now. The good part comes now, as the hardware producer said that the mini 2.5 inch hard drive is intended for industrial equipment, enterprise and medical application and it is designed to withstand a continuous operational mode.
In an effort to attract new customers, other hard disk drive manufacturers like Seagate, Western Digital and Maxtor are developing the so-called "green" drives, that make do with less power through various ingenious mechanisms like write/ read heads parking and unloading. Fujitsu on the other hand took a completely different approach in its search for new customers and it focused on systems that stay in operation for long periods of time. The main features of these hard disk drives is robustness as they must operate in often harsh environments supporting very high or very low temperatures and vibrations from other drives or another kind of mechanisms. The newest model of continuous operating drive comes with a Serial ATA 2 connector and, unlike previous models, it uses the slower 5400rpm, at the same time generating less heat.
Other models are already available, like the MHW2 BK Series that supports higher rotation speeds (7200rpm) and MHW2 AC Series that is designed for extreme temperature ranges. Fujitsu recommends these hard disk drives for use in "industrial equipment, such as ATMs, POS systems, and medical equipment, or for enterprise applications, such as entry-level servers and storage systems". According to the press release these hard drives "deliver exceptional reliability and meet a variety of needs, such as for 24-hour continuous operation and high-frequency access, as well as for lower heat generation and reduced energy consumption". The new series of hard disk drives will be available for direct purchase through channel retailers since late August 2007.