Monitoring Disk Drives To Predict Failure

• US 20090161243A1
• Filed: 10/21/2008
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Chandrakant, Sharma, Ratnesh
• Application Number:
  US12/254,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20090161243A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 360/31
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/36 Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing for digital recording G11B20/00 and s.gr.; for monitoring, testing or measuring of TV recorders of the type covered by H04N5/76 and subgroups, see H04N17/06

Abstract

Embodiments include methods, apparatus, and systems for monitoring disk drives to predict failure. One embodiment includes a disk drive having a plurality of different types of sensors that sense events over a lifetime of the disk drive. Data from the events is aggregated to predict when the disk drive will fail.

Claims

1. ) A method, comprising:

sensing events of a moving mechanical part using plural different types of sensors;

aggregating data from the events to predict a life expectancy of the moving mechanical part; and

notifying a user of the life expectancy.

2. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising, sensing the events over a lifetime of a bard disk drive.

3. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising, recording both a time at which the events occur and a duration for how long the events last.

4. ) The method of claim 1, wherein the moving mechanical part is a hard disk drive and the events include vibration of the hard disk drive, temperature of the hard disk drive, and shock imparted to the hard disk drive.

5. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising, detecting interference between the moving mechanical parts.

6. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising, storing a history of the events during a lifetime of the moving mechanical part.

7. ) The method of claim 1 further comprising, using the data to predict when in time a hard disk drive will fail.

17. ) The disk drive of claim 1S further comprising, an integrated circuit sensor mounted on the head to monitor temperature changes.

8. ) A tangible computer readable medium having instructions for causing a computer to execute a method, comprising:

sensing events with multiple different sensors over a lifetime of a disk drive;

accumulating data from the events to predict when the disk drive will fail; and

notifying a user of a prediction of failure for the disk drive.

9. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, analyzing sensed data from an optical sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, and a strain sensor over a lifetime of the disk drive.

10. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, monitoring platter surface imperfections, rotational wobble, and head-platter clearance of the disk drive.

11. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, analyzing vibration with a piezoelectric sensor mounted on a head of the disk drive.

12. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, analyzing sensed data from a strain gage that monitors accumulated deviations during a lifetime of the disk drive.

13. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, analyzing sensed temperature data of the disk drive to determine the prediction of failure.

14. ) The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising, analyzing sensed corrosion of mechanical integrity of the disk drive to determine the prediction of failure.

15. ) A disk drive, comprising:

a disk;

a head for reading or writing data on the disk; and

a plurality of different types of sensors that sense events over a lifetime of the disk drive, wherein data from the events is aggregated to predict when the disk drive will fail.

16. ) The disk drive of claim 15 further comprising, a chip that analyzes the data to predict when the disk drive will fail.

18. ) The disk drive of claim 15, wherein the plurality of different types of sensors include an optical sensor for detecting alignment, a piezoelectric sensor for detecting vibration, and a strain sensor for detecting shock imparted to the disk drive.

19. ) The disk drive of claim 15 further comprising, a memory for storing both a time at which the events occur and a duration for how long the events last.

20. ) The disk drive of claim 15 further comprising, an assessment module that analyzes the data to predict when the disk drive will fail.