4 ms·

not much around that's as satisfying sounding as starting up a big full-size ATX case crammed with raptors. starting up a big lathe or mill spindle, or maybe a

by serf 5y ago

not much around that's as satisfying sounding as starting up a big full-size ATX case crammed with raptors. starting up a big lathe or mill spindle, or maybe a large phase converter with a heavy lever switch come close, but they don't scratch that "i'm in a super computer lab" itch as much as the fantastic whir of a raptor RAID. utilitarian feature : you could hear a bad sector from anywhere in a large room.

linker3000 5y ago
I used to work for HGST (now absorbed into WD) in the EMEA Enterprise Support lab. My main role was setting up PoC/testing systems, and support for high capacity SAS/helium drives, although I mostly worked with high-capacity flash boards and arrays. The 15K rpm drives could sometimes be quite noisy; especially with 48 or more in an array. Three of the engineers with whom I worked specialised in disk failure analysis; one of their tools was an inductive telephone earpiece pickup coil with suction cup, connected to a small amplified speaker. These guys would put the pickup on top of a drive and listen to all the electronics, spindle motor and head-moving voice coil electromagnetic noise as the drive spun up. This process would generally be followed by comments such as: "Hmm, head 4 sounds iffy", "This unit's on older firmware" and "Sounds like the heads aren't coming off the ramp"... A lost/fading talent now that 2 out of 3 are retired". It was quite amazing to watch and listen to these guys at work.
- xattt 5y ago
  I believe this sort of acoustic analysis for failure is still used in wind turbines.
- tiernano 5y ago
  I have 300GB wd velociraptors for many years in one of my machines... going back 10 years, only got replaced last year... probably didn't need to be replaced, one drive out of a raid 0 array died, the other probably still works... but on the note of hearing differences in sounds, back in the day of dial up, since my ISP gave unlimited free dial up minutes, but it had to last no more than 2 hours (it would auto kick you off if you were on for more than 2) my modem would dial every 2 hours... And it got to a stage that I could know, by sound, if it was going to get a 56k link or a 33.6k link...
  - xvf22 5y ago
    I can totally relate, I could also tell the link speed by the noises.
  - fibonachos 5y ago
    Wow, this brought back some great memories :)
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  one of their tools was an inductive telephone earpiece pickup coil with suction cup, connected to a small amplified speaker. Ah, yes, the Mark I Real-Time Fourier Analyzer.
ggreer 5y ago
The motors in a Tesla can go up to 18,000rpm (20,000rpm in the carbon-wrapped Plaid motors). They sound pretty cool when you floor it.[1] Though once you pick up speed all you can hear is wind noise. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rg75JbVOpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rg75JbVOpg
- HPsquared 5y ago
  That one has a bad bearing, as noted in the description. Normally they don't whir nearly as much...
- Symbiote 5y ago
  For vehicle motors, I think you should look to the Siemens Taurus locomotive. Though half an hour of clips is a bit excessive. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IC-JRJYwc&vl=en https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IC-JRJYwc&vl=en

by serf 5y ago

linker3000 5y ago

I used to work for HGST (now absorbed into WD) in the EMEA Enterprise Support lab. My main role was setting up PoC/testing systems, and support for high capacity SAS/helium drives, although I mostly worked with high-capacity flash boards and arrays. The 15K rpm drives could sometimes be quite noisy; especially with 48 or more in an array. Three of the engineers with whom I worked specialised in disk failure analysis; one of their tools was an inductive telephone earpiece pickup coil with suction cup, connected to a small amplified speaker. These guys would put the pickup on top of a drive and listen to all the electronics, spindle motor and head-moving voice coil electromagnetic noise as the drive spun up. This process would generally be followed by comments such as: "Hmm, head 4 sounds iffy", "This unit's on older firmware" and "Sounds like the heads aren't coming off the ramp"... A lost/fading talent now that 2 out of 3 are retired". It was quite amazing to watch and listen to these guys at work.

xattt 5y ago
I believe this sort of acoustic analysis for failure is still used in wind turbines.
tiernano 5y ago
I have 300GB wd velociraptors for many years in one of my machines... going back 10 years, only got replaced last year... probably didn't need to be replaced, one drive out of a raid 0 array died, the other probably still works... but on the note of hearing differences in sounds, back in the day of dial up, since my ISP gave unlimited free dial up minutes, but it had to last no more than 2 hours (it would auto kick you off if you were on for more than 2) my modem would dial every 2 hours... And it got to a stage that I could know, by sound, if it was going to get a 56k link or a 33.6k link...
- xvf22 5y ago
  I can totally relate, I could also tell the link speed by the noises.
- fibonachos 5y ago
  Wow, this brought back some great memories :)
CamperBob2 5y ago
one of their tools was an inductive telephone earpiece pickup coil with suction cup, connected to a small amplified speaker. Ah, yes, the Mark I Real-Time Fourier Analyzer.

ggreer 5y ago

The motors in a Tesla can go up to 18,000rpm (20,000rpm in the carbon-wrapped Plaid motors). They sound pretty cool when you floor it.[1] Though once you pick up speed all you can hear is wind noise. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rg75JbVOpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rg75JbVOpg

HPsquared 5y ago
That one has a bad bearing, as noted in the description. Normally they don't whir nearly as much...
Symbiote 5y ago
For vehicle motors, I think you should look to the Siemens Taurus locomotive. Though half an hour of clips is a bit excessive. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IC-JRJYwc&vl=en https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IC-JRJYwc&vl=en