
HGST Hard Disk Drive Technical Reference Manual
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Reliability Features Set-Data Lifeguard™ — Representing HGST's ongoing commitment to
data protection, Data Lifeguard includes features that enhance the drive’s ability to prevent
data loss. Data Lifeguard data protection utilities include thermal management, an environ-
mental protection system, and embedded error detection and repair features that automatically
detect, isolate, and repair problem areas that may develop over the extended use of the hard
drive. With these enhanced data reliability features, the drive can perform more accurate mon-
itoring, error repair, and deliver exceptional data security.
Hot Plug Support — SATA supports hot plugging (also known as “hot swapping”), the ability
to swap out a failed hard drive without having to power down the system or reboot. This
capability contributes to both data availability and serviceability without any associated
downtime, making it a critical feature for extending SATA into enterprise applications.
Active LED Status — These drives support external LED requirements. It provides an activity
LED output which is ON during command execution and OFF otherwise.
Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB) — Bearing design that incorporates a layer of high-viscosity
lubricant instead of ball bearings in the hard drive spindle motor. As an alternative to
conventional ball bearing technology, FDB designs provide increased non-operational shock
resistance, speed control, and improved acoustics.
Staggered Spin-Up — Native SATA feature that allows the system to control whether the drive
will spin up immediately or wait until the interface is fully ready.
CacheFlow™ —This unique, multi-generation caching algorithm evaluates the way data is
read from and written to the drive and adapts “on-the-fly” to the optimum read and write
caching methods. CacheFlow minimizes disk seek operations and overheads due to rotational
latency. CacheFlow supports sequential and random write cache. With write cache and other
CacheFlow features, the user can cache both read and write data. The cache can hold multiple
writes and collectively write them to the hard drive.
48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) — The drives support both 48-bit and 28-bit LBA and
CHS-based addressing. LBA is included in advanced BIOS and operating system device
drivers and ensures high capacity disk integration.
Power Management — The drives support the ATA and Serial ATA power management
command set, allowing the host to reduce the power consumption of the drive by issuing a
variety of power management commands.
Automatic Defect Retirement — If the drive detects a defective sector while reading, writing,
or performing offline data collection, it automatically relocates the sector without end-user
intervention.
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) — S.M.A.R.T. enables a
drive’s internal status to be monitored through diagnostic commands at the host level and
during offline activities. S.M.A.R.T. devices employ data analysis algorithms that are used to
predict the likelihood of some near-term degradation or fault conditions. When used with a
S.M.A.R.T. application, the drive can alert the host system of a negative reliability status
condition. The host system can then warn the user of the impending risk of data loss and
recommend an appropriate action.
ATA Security — The drives support the ATA Security Mode Feature set. The ATA Security
Mode feature set allows the user to create a device lock password that prevents unauthorized
hard disk access even if the drive is removed from the host computer. The correct password
must be supplied to the hard drive in order to access user data. Both the User and Master
Password features are supported, along with the High and Maximum security modes. The
Master Password Revision code is also supported.