"Sudden Motion Sensor" on laptops ?

[Firestrike]

Hello everybody

So my friend told me that laptops other than Macbooks (he's a HUGE Apple fanboy) don't have a way to protect their hard drives when they fall, unlike Sudden Motion Sensors on Macs (apparently).

Is that true ? I don't know if I can trust him, since he's clearly for one side...

Thanks !

[Mo5]

if HDDs fall they're f*cked. There's really no way to protect them using clever tech... unless you count tougher casing as clever tech

 

Even though it looks like SMS is a thing... https://support.apple.com/sl-si/HT201666

[Fgtfv567]

I think I heard of Lenovo or something doing something similar. I think the HDD is just locking the data once the gyro detects a fall.

Otherwise I'm not sure what it does

[QueenDemetria]

Hello everybody

So my friend told me that laptops other than Macbooks (he's a HUGE Apple fanboy) don't have a way to protect their hard drives when they fall, unlike Sudden Motion Sensors on Macs (apparently).

Is that true ? I don't know if I can trust him, since he's clearly for one side...

Thanks !

Dell and HP have this too on their professional laptops and some of their higher end consumer laptops. I've tested it on my latitude, it works surprisingly.

[Unhelpful]

Hello everybody

So my friend told me that laptops other than Macbooks (he's a HUGE Apple fanboy) don't have a way to protect their hard drives when they fall, unlike Sudden Motion Sensors on Macs (apparently).

Is that true ? I don't know if I can trust him, since he's clearly for one side...

Thanks !

He's.... Just wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_hard-drive_protection 

 

Several others have that. Not apple exclusive. Just the specific "Sudden Motion Sensor" is. That's just the name of their implementation.

[Firestrike]

if HDDs fall they're f*cked. There's really no way to protect them using clever tech... unless you count tougher casing as clever tech

 

Even though it looks like SMS is a thing... https://support.apple.com/sl-si/HT201666

 

I think I heard of Lenovo or something doing something similar. I think the HDD is just locking the data once the gyro detects a fall.

Otherwise I'm not sure what it does

 

I remember having a Sony Vaio Z that did come with a sort of movement protection mechanism for the hard drive, so definitely not an Apple thing.

 

lol at your friend though: SMS are gone since Apple moved entirely to SSDs in their notebooks. He shouldn't be bragging about that sensor as it'd mean he has an outdated or very old MacBook. (there's still on sale the 2012 baseline MBP that comes with a hard drive stock and the Superdrive... but who the heck buys it anymore?)

 

Dell and HP have this too on their professional laptops and some of their higher end consumer laptops. I've tested it on my latitude, it works surprisingly.

 

He's.... Just wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_hard-drive_protection 

 

Several others have that. Not apple exclusive. Just the specific "Sudden Motion Sensor" is. That's just the name of their implementation.

 

Some apple laptops do have them IIRC and 90% of newer macs don't have rotating storage so they're not needed. All of them have gyros in them though so they might actually use that in place of sudden motion sensors.

OK so if I take for example this : http://us-store.acer.com/predator-15-g9-591-70xr-gaming-laptop (cheaper than a max config MBP lol), do you think this has it ?

EDIT : Whoops, sorry

Edited January 20, 2016 by Firestrike

[Unhelpful]

OK so if I take for example this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_hard-drive_protection (cheaper than a max config MBP lol), do you think this has it ?

You linked the wikipedia article that I linked, not a specific product.

[Firestrike]

You linked the wikipedia article that I linked, not a specific product.

>_< sorry !

[Unhelpful]

>_< sorry !

Now there is literally nothing linked

[Firestrike]

Now there is literally nothing linked

Hold on a second, what ? Anyway if you can't see it, this is the Predator 15 from Asus ^^

[Midnitewarrior4]

my 3-4 year old toshiba satelite p850 stops and parks the read write head when theres sudden mtion or vibration to reduce damage, so yes other companies besides apple do it, and its not anything new

[Firestrike]

Yes OS X has this implemented in some fashion. Of course something spinning at 5400 rpm isn't going to like hitting the ground, but parking the heads will help.

Sorry, I linked the wrong adress

[Unhelpful]

Hold on a second, what ? Anyway if you can't see it, this is the Predator 15 from Asus ^^

Now I see it, no idea. I'm honestly not sure if it's purely on the HDD or a mechanism elsewhere.

[KemoKa]

It would just be a gyroscope/accelerometer combo hooked up to a controller with a very high polling rate to detect a drop. Because of the mechanical latencies involved with hard drives, it's unlikely that such a system would actually help.

Apple patented a different mechanism that would allow small flaps to come out of the sides of the display on a phone and protect it from impact shock. Such a mechanism would in theory use the gyro/accelerometer

 

if your hard drive receives a shock hard enough to kill the drive without a motion sensor on the laptop, then no amount of gimmicks would protect the drive. Dell and HP in the past have implemented shock-absorbent cages for their laptop hard drive bays. They help against dropping your laptop a little ways, perhaps even onto carpet, but they won't save it from being dropped onto a hard surface.

And it doesn't even matter because laptops are moving more towards solid-state storage solutions, which are impervious to shock.

 

So yeah, all you're friend is telling you is a load of Apple-fanboy nonsense. PC laptop manufacturers aren't stupid, they often innovate a lot more than Apple ever has.

[Firestrike]

Thank you all for your answers !