Comment 636 for bug 59695

> The setting for battery mode is a compromise between powersaving&shockprotection vs. load cycling.

I sure hope not.

All I'm saying is that the "shock protection" effect seems to be largely imaginary. Power saving is good, sure, but I really hope this whole hard drive-destroying problem wasn't created in a misguided attempt to protect drives when they are dropped. Dropping a laptop is not exactly normal use, and the chances that this would actually protect your drive seem pretty slim.

If you drop it on AC, it's going to break. If you drop it on batteries while the head happens to not be parked, it's going to break. No matter what hdparm is set to, if you drop it hard enough, it's going to break.