Why Your Best Value is 100% Solid State Drive

The digital bus video system market is rapidly migrating to 100% Solid State Drive (SSD), to achieve the highest levels of data integrity, reliability, and durability inherent in the Solid State Drive flash memory devices (CF or SD cards & RAM drives) of school bus video systems.

It is reasonable to surmise as Solid State Drive (SSD) memory capacity increases and cost decreases they will soon replace the fragile hard drives of the digital bus video systems and offer the school districts a system capable of outlasting the expected 20-year bus life.

Within the next 5 years, we will see the sun set on hard drive technology in digital bus video systems, and a new dawn of 100% Solid State Drive (SSD) will provide the school bus video market the extreme durability and uncompromising data integrity those districts deserve for their tax dollars. When that sun sets on hard drives and the new dawn brings a sunrise on the Solid State Drives will your district be "in the dark" or "enjoying the sunrise" of true data integrity and reliability?

100% Solid State Drive Memory (SSD)

Hard drive disk failure is a common occurrence in this age of desktop computers but when you move the same technology to a mobile application the incidence of failure and damage to the fragile drive mechanism of a conventional hard drive can increase exponentially.

The frequency of drive failure crashed drives and lost data are well known in the PC markets. Entire industries and submarkets have arisen to help safeguard business entities from the all too common problems with hard drives offering back up, archival, off-site storage, and data recovery services. Risking your district's bus video liability protection to a fragile recording mechanism that could fail when you need it most, does not make sense when the most dependable, 100% Solid State Drive (SSD) is now available.

Once the decision is made to move forward to limit risk and enhance child safety on the bus by investing in a digital bus  video system, accept nothing less than a 100% Solid State Drive (SSD)

Hard Drive Problems & Life Span

The main problem with bus video system hard drives is they are fragile mechanical mechanisms with moving parts susceptible to wear and tear. Even under the best of circumstances within an ideal operation environment of an air-conditioned office, they are wearing themselves out over time simply from normal wear and tear on the moving recording mechanism each time it is turned on and required to read from the disk or write to the disk.

HDDs mechanism will deteriorate over time. HDDs consist of rotating, magnetically coated disks, known as platters, which are used to store data. This rotating motion of the mechanical arms results in considerable wear and tear after long periods of use. The operational life span of a computer HDD is typically over three years under controlled conditions, but your bus's life span can be up to 20 years and it does not spend that time sitting still in an air-conditioned office.

No matter how much cushioning a manufacturer provides the conventional hard drive, no matter how buffered the case is from shock and vibration, none of that addresses the primary flaw in the design of the system; that the bus video systems hard drive begins wearing out the day it is first turned on and with each hour of video it records it gets that much closer to failure due to natural wear and tear. Regardless of your intended application, what does it matter if the data you must have for liability defense goes up in smoke like the last gasps of a fragile hard drive when it crashes?

100% Solid State Drive (SSD) Life Span

“CF or SD”  Flash-based SSD are uniquely suited for mobile applications like school buses. They have no moving parts to wear out, no fragile mechanism to be damaged by potholes, hitting curbs, impacting other vehicles plus their temperature operating range far exceeds what conventional PC hard drives. “CF” Compact Flash cards are rated at around 300,000 write cycles, the best Flash chips are rated at 1,000,000 write cycles per block. This is the only rating I can find to determine the expected life of the CF card.

The only measure, I can find for the expected life of an SSD is “Write Cycles”, if you multiply the number of days a year most buses operate (180) by the number of trips per day (2) you will get an average trip per year of 360, then double that for good measure and you have 720 trips per year per bus on average. Divide the expected life (write cycles) 300,000 by the number of trips expected each year and you get about 4,166 years' worth of write cycles. This is not meant to imply they will work that log in a school bus video system, but it does seem to indicate they are capable of lasting the life of the bus or longer. This 100% Solid State Disk (SSD) is the only memory device I am aware of that seems capable of lasting the life of the bus.

Hidden Costs Of Hard Drives

The trade-off of massive storage capacity in a hard drive is a poor substitute for dependable data integrity when everything that can go wrong in the mobile video environment is calculated into the equation.

Assuming your bus lasts 20 years, it could require up to 6 hard drive replacements over the life of the bus causing your district to bleed budget funds far into the future. This 3-year life expectancy of the hard drives is based on the longest warranty coverage of a hard drive by the manufacturer of a bus video system I am aware of, currently at 3 years.

The fact that they will warranty its function for 3 years leads one to believe it will last 3 years.

Given this same deductive reasoning of the expected life of the drive, many CF or SD Flashcards manufacturers  (Flashcards are 100% Solid State Drives SSD) offer Limited lifetime warranties based on their belief that with no moving parts and extreme durability the CF or SD flash cards (SSD) will outlast their user. For the first time in school bus video, the system memory storage is capable of outlasting the bus life of 20 years of daily use.

Reliability

In terms of reliability, the conventional school bus video system HDDs pale when compared to SSDs. The absence of mechanical arms and spinning platters to wear out or crash is the reason behind its reliability. In demanding environments, SSDs provide the type of ruggedness required for mobile applications. Unlike HDDs, SSDs can withstand extreme shock and vibration with data integrity and without any danger of data loss. This feature is very important in school bus applications as there may come a time when the district is facing a $40,000,000.00 liability lawsuit resulting from a school bus-related incident and the only thing standing between your district and a damaging court ruling or costly damages settlement may be the bus video system you invested in to protect yourself from this very situation. That is not the time to remember reading about the extreme durability and dependability of an SSD-based system while you try to explain why you chose the fragile hard-drive-based system that failed, because it offered more storage capacity or saved a few bucks.

The US Armed Forces are the best-equipped fighting force in history. They demand the highest quality standards from their equipment and set extreme specifications that can survive the most abuse, in every extreme environment and situation they can anticipate.

The SSDs ability to deliver unnerving performance in extreme conditions also makes SSD play a vital role in military operations, be it in defense, aerospace, aviation, or school bus digital video camera system applications. 

What can a Digital Bus Video System do for our School District?

Excerpt from: Buyers Guide To Digital Bus Video Systems

Can Provide A Deterrence

Digital school bus video systems on buses are a proven deterrent to help prevent some behavioral problems. This is not debatable and has been not only used as a primary deterrence by security and law enforcement in the past but by school districts throughout the USA. Digital video surveillance systems are management tools to increase the safety of your vehicle passengers, increase driver awareness of supervision so they are mindful of their actions.

Can Act As Expert Witness

Documentation of child or driver incidents by use of a school bus camera system, of the actions and or statements made without bias, prejudice, or outside influence. Recorded video evidence has and can be used in court as long as legal guidelines and access controls are maintained. 

Can Overcome Perspective Bias

These products provide a means to verify or dismiss actions and events that may be claimed by children, parents, or others who may be responding to incorrect information, lies, slander, or false perceptions. Children and politicians share a propensity to fabricate falsehoods. Like so many "Washington Weasels" who only admit their deceit when it is played in high definition video for all to see, School bus camera systems provide a similar service as up to the point a parent sees their angel with his hands around another child's neck, nothing you could have told those parents would have changed their minds that their child was being falsely accused.

Can Prove A Negative or Non-Event

Documented events, actions or lack of them, can help defend your driver, students, school administration, or school system against liability lawsuits. One of the most damaging to a person's reputation and hardest to defend against can be malicious, baseless, or unfounded accusations against a person in authority by someone they are charged to protect. A single false claim that a driver sexually molested, fondled, or made lewd, derogatory suggestive comments to a child can destroy a driver's ability to work around children. It is impossible to prove something did not happen between 2 individuals when there is no evidence, witnesses, or confession. Digital bus video systems can provide impartial documentation to help resolve complaints or concerns.

Can Help Criminal Documentation For Prosecution

Mobile digital video systems can document incidents of; aggravated assault, assault, rape, sexual assault, assault, hate crimes, bullying, terrorist threats, for legal prostitution of the perpetrator in defense of the victim. The best evidence in court is often a video file of the incident from a scientific recording instrument like a mobile vehicle DVR as it is impartial.

Can Help Prevent Vandalism

When vandals are documented by a Digital vehicle recorder they can be proved guilty as charged and punished, protecting the district from unnecessary waste due to continued vandalism.

Can Provide Peace of Mind

In knowing you have taken positive public and verifiable steps to either stop or prevent unwanted behavior on your bus by the addition of these vehicle camera systems. In light of the priceless value of the children entrusted to the school system daily, the cost of a system that can provide the above is an investment that will demonstrate a level of decisive leadership in accepting the awesome responsibility of caring for the safety of our children.

Document Your Driver Actions & Performance:

    * Does the driver text on a phone while driving?

    * Does the driver surf the net on a laptop PC while driving?

    * Does the driver watch video movies or TV while Driving?

    * Does the driver pick up hitchhikers?

    * Does the driver use the company vehicle for non-company work?

    * Does the driver pose a hazard to other drivers on the road?

    * Does the driver act in a way that your company may be sued?

    * Does the driver have unauthorized passengers in the vehicle?

    * Did the driver stop at the 4 way stop signs?

    * Did the driver stay on route or wander all over the place?

    * Did the driver make personal trips in the vehicle?

    * Does the driver speed on certain roads?

    * Does the driver stop at a railroad crossing or just slow down?

    * Was the vehicle used on weekends for unauthorized trips?

    * Where the vehicle is parked during the day and night?

Can Provide Documentation of Driver Activities

For the first time, driver activity can be monitored in a real-time medium. What they say to children, how they interact and what they do, or do not do, are now part of the documented video that can be viewed or archived should some concerns or problems need to be addressed.

Can Highlight Potential Safety or Legal Violations

On-Screen Mapping technology can now address specific claims that may arise from the public or parents that can take up valuable resources and time to handle and manage internally. 

Verify or Disprove Claims About Your Driver:

    * The vehicle was too early or did not visit a customer

    * The vehicle was too late or never showed up

    * The vehicle did not stop at a particular address

    * The vehicle was speeding past our house

    * The vehicle does not stop at 4-way stops

    * The vehicle speeds over train tracks

    * The vehicle drives on the shoulder of the road

    * The vehicle tailgates and has threatened other drivers

Digital bus video systems are management tools to increase the safety of your vehicle passengers, increase driver awareness of supervision and back them up when they do the right thing.

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