Hdparm and Acoustic Management : problem

[Vincent Trouilliez]

Oh...my....G....

The chap from Seagate just answered my questions [1]..., I can't believe
it. My English is not that good but if I understand well

1) Acoustic Management is patented and Seagate is having problems with
the patent holder.

2) They will indeed from now on stop manufacturing ANY drive with the
acoustic management feature.

3) They will even rework all their current datasheets, to remove all
mentions of acoustic management, slow seek acoustic figures and access
times etc.

Hopefully the patent holder will play it nice and let, hopefully, at
least one of the major drive manufacturers to use acoustic management on
their drives. But maybe this is the end of quiet
seeks... :o(((((((((((((

--
Vince


[1] Seagate's reply:

Hello Vincent,

 Seagate doesn't manufacture drives with this mode anymore.

 Seagate has decided that it will no longer support AAM (Automatic Acoustic
 Management).  Seagate is in the process of removing all product
 information pertaining to the support of AAM.

 Our drives are extremely quiet while operating at the highest performance
 levels, so we believe the ability to switch between modes is unnecessary.

 We are also involved in patent litigation with Convolve and MIT.  Although
 we believe the lawsuit is without merit, Convolve alleges
 that one of its patents, US Patent No. 6,314,473, covers AAM technology.

 We understand that Convolve told the T-13 standards committee that it
 would license its patents on a reasonable, non-discriminatory basis.

  Bryce S.
 Seagate Technical Support