B&R Industries Provit 5000, User Manual, Page: 141 / 400

140 Provit 5000 User’s Manual
Controllers • Mass Memory
Mass memory media are inserted in the bus unit in a hard disk / silicon disk slot (enhanced IDE
interface), which is accessible after opening the housing (see also section "Hard Disk / Silicon
Disk Slots").
Mass memory media are installed on a special insert card. A PCI plug is used for
connecting (mechanically and electrically) the hard drive to the IPC. Please note
however, that mass memory media does not possess a PCI interface nor can it
operate on the PCI bus.
11.1 Types of Mass memory Media
There are two different mass memory media to choose from with the IPC5000 and IPC5600
series:
• Hard Disks
• Silicon Disks
In contrast to conventional hard disks, silicon disks have no mechanical parts. Storage takes
place in a FlashPROM on a pure semi conductor basis. This means they are free from nearly all
mechanical influences such as shock or vibration.
Selecting which mass memory to use depends on the different viewpoints and properties of the
respective media.
Hard disks, for example, can only be used limitedly in environments with heavy vibrations or
mechanical shock (see table below). Another characteristic is that hard disks have limited
operating times, real 24 hour continuous operation is only possible under certain conditions.
Silicon disks however are almost immune to all mechanical and environmental influences.
Nevertheless, the number of write/erase cycles is limited and the price is higher than
conventional hard drives.