User's Manual

z
Battery runtime is improved due to lower power consumption of flash vs. rotating media
z
Reducing the spin time of the rotating media means less time the hard disk is exposed to damage during shock
and vibration events
z
Boot and resume-from-hibernate times are faster
z
Less heat
z
Longer service life
Our Future Roadmap
Itronix continuously monitors developments in storage technology and offers best-in-class products that we test and
validate to meet our rugged product specifications. As SSD and HHD technologies become available at competitive
p
rices, Itronix will be a leader in bringing these capabilities to the mobile computing market.
Call to Action
Some software designs and configuration parameters can cause excessive hard disk drive (HDD) access, leading to
unexpected wear and reduced service life. These are rare occurrences, but can lead to costly repairs and downtime.
Before deploying a new software load on your mobile computer:
1. Check your Power Management settings and ensure that “Turn off hard disk” inactivity is set to allow the disk
to spin down when inactive. Itronix recommends using the minimum setting (“After 1 min”).
2. Perform a simple visual inspection of the HDD disk activity indicator LED as you put your application
through its paces. Is the LED constantly blinking?
3. Run Microsoft Windows XP Performance monitor or Windows 2000 System Monitor to check the disk access
pattern of your software. How frequently is the HDD being accessed?
Tip
To avoid System Monitor itself from accessing the
internal HDD and creating “false hits” in your activity
log, you can write the logging data to an external USB
“thumb drive”
4. Ensure your training materials instruct users to place the computer in standby, shutdown, or hibernate when
not in use. Enable automatic standb
y
in the Windows
p
ower mana
g
ement settin
g
s.
Pa
g
e 84 of 90GoBook M
R
-1
6/18/2008file://C:\Documents and Settin
g
s\harwoodm\Local Settin
g
s\Tem
p
\~hh96AE.htm