Formation Enhances Hard Disk

MOORESTOWN, N.J. -- Formation, Inc. announced today introduction of its ToughDisk(R) 3500 SATA, a 320GB rugged hard disk that delivers a 100% storage capacity increase and high performance SATA interface for its ToughDisk product line. ToughDisk is a rugged data storage solution used by all branches of the United States military and many commercial organizations because of its ability to perform reliably in temperature, altitude, shock, vibration, humidity, and dust conditions that would destroy conventional hard disks, at a fraction of the cost of solid-state storage.

"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."

The standard SATA interface allows the ToughDisk 3500SATA to be used as a drop-in COTS replacement of conventional 3.5" low profile drives resulting in a storage capacity greater than equivalently performing SAS disks. Performance characteristics of the ToughDisk 3500-SATA include:

"The TD3500 SATA can be used with high-end SAS controllers as well as any of the ubiquitous embedded SATA ports," says Sam Carswell, Formation's chief technology officer. "They provide the performance of SAS enterprise-class disks without the heat and mechanical limitations of those 15K RPM disks. Using the same principle that gives dual-core processors high performance with fewer watts of power dissipation, this 3.5" SATA disk contains four 2.5" inch platters bonded together with RAID. The independent actuator arms and read/write heads double the media transfer rate normally available from rugged disks."

Formation Inc.