Subzero temperatures and high altitude proved to be no match for Formation’s ToughDisk® Rugged Hard Disk during a recent expedition of Antarctica's Gamburstev Province (AGAP). An international team of scientists needed to store data collected by radar devices mounted in a twin-engine light aircraft. They used radar to see through a 2 ½ mile thick sheet of ice so they could map the Gamburstev mountain range located below. The team selected ToughDisk 3500 SATA and here’s why:

• Fast and efficient upgrade - With the standard 3.5” form factor and SATA interface, the TD3500 SATA provides an easy upgrade for systems operating in extreme environments or handling conditions.

• Extreme altitude performance – Standard drives are only specified for flight up to 10K feet. ToughDisk performed without fail at a minimum altitude of 16K feet in an unpressurized aircraft. (TD3500 SATA operates up to 85K feet.)

• Industry-leading, 640GB rugged storage capacity – The project required an economical solution to store a mass amount of data since typical flight missions lasted more than 5 hours. 

• Removable storage to minimize downtime between missions – ToughDisk was installed in removable drive bays to make it faster and easier for scientists to offload data and load replacement storage modules between missions.

Read more about the AGAP project. Learn more about ToughDisk and find a representative near you.