Reliability

Thermal monitoring
The core temperature of the hard disk drive can be monitored intelligently. If a fan or air-conditioning has failed, the system will raise the alarm and the fault can be fixed. The system can also alternatively control the device fan to speed up (to make the disk cooler) or slow down (to make the device quieter). The Smart Command Transport feature set includes the ability to log the temperature at regular intervals – this can be reported to the system, or could be used in field returns to see the history of the drive temperature for failure analysis.

Thermal Fly-height Control
The need for ever-more sophisticated surveillance systems with higher data storage capacities means finding innovative solutions for fundamental magnetic recording technology issues. In this context, a pressing issue is how to effectively read data and write new data over a wide range of operating temperatures.

For many product generations, Hitachi used an on-board thermal sensor so the operating temperature can be monitored, and in turn the write current could be adjusted to compensate for changes to the head mechanical fly-height. But in 2006, we introduced Thermal Fly-height Control on the Travelstar and Deskstar families, which helps create more consistent spacing between the read/write elements and the recording disk.

Fly height is the spacing between the read/write head and the recording disk – an important parameter affecting error rate performance. A key variable of fly-height is the read/write element protrusion towards the recording disk. This protrusion changes with temperature and read/write duty cycle, affecting the spacing to the recording disk. Using an integrated heating element in the head allows direct control of the head read/write element protrusion.

Low power idle
Consumers and manufacturers are demanding greener, less power-hungry products. Which is why we've developed hard drive models which use less power but don't compromise performance. These drives are designed to switch to a low wattage idle power mode if recording or playback pauses for longer periods. They require smaller power supplies and less cooling, which may help extend the life of the hard drive and the host product

Load/unload and advanced power management
Today's disk surfaces are very smooth, with minimal texturing to reduce stiction. Hitachi GST first employed a ramp load/unload technique on mobile disk drives in the late 1990s, and today is using this technique on other products. Ramp load/unload allows a reduced amount of texturing while protecting against stiction, and also provides addition resistance to non operating shock, resulting in impressive power reduction.

Many of our hard drives also incorporate Advanced Power Management capabilities, which significantly lower the power consumption of hard drives while they're in idle mode.

Error handling
Hitachi GST drives can be customised to handle errors for specific applications like set-top boxes or CCTV. SmoothStream and AV-zoning technologies have refined the way errors are handled by the hard drive, improving recovery times and contributing to a better overall experience for the end-user.

Hitachi Design Studios: Lee ensures our drives are always cool