Very interesting!

Perhaps we should collaborate on HDD Synth - Mechanical hard drive sound synthesis using my hardware and your recordings 😀

I've just checked your thread, great project!

Yes, one possible use for my recordings with a device like yours would be to give the option to a user to "emulate" different hard drive sounds 😀

😀

This was something i'd be interested back in 2018 when I was doing a deep dive into coding drive sound emulation at one point. I had done a hard drive by a lowpassed buzzsaw loop of slowly variating pitches with a dash of HRTF to simulate the position inside a case, and a bit of metallic echo on it. It was too expensive on the CPU to commit to PCem.

ohlala! subscribed! 😁

I recently came across this other guy https://www.youtube.com/@marwi16a53 who has a few more harddrive spinups etc on his channel.
So not to discourage you, more like, you've got a few more videos to make 😁

Subscribed to your channel! 👍

Thanks for your support guys 😁

weedeewee wrote on 2023-01-19, 18:32:

I recently came across this other guy https://www.youtube.com/@marwi16a53 who has a few more harddrive spinups etc on his channel.
So not to discourage you, more like, you've got a few more videos to make 😁

Yes, I know I'm not the first one on YT to make hard drive videos 🤣 but I'm trying to do it in my own way. I'm not sure I'll catch up with this person but hopefully there'll be a nice asortment of different models by the time I'm done 👍

Update #1

There are now 10 recordings available for your listening pleasure 😀

Kalok KL320 (20 Mb MFM)
NEC D5126 (20Mb MFM)
WD 93028-A (20Mb IDE - from a Commodore PC30-III)
IBM WDL-330P (30Mb - from a PS/1 machine)
Maxtor 8051A (40Mb IDE)
Seagate ST-157A (40Mb IDE)
Conner CP3104 (104Mb IDE)
Conner CFA170A (170Mb IDE)
WD Caviar 1210 (210Mb IDE)
WD Caviar 2420 (420Mb IDE)

Please come and check out the channel if you're into this sort of thing 😁

Thank you very much for your work! Please keep it up! 😎 👍

Btw, what you're doing is more than just a fun project, it has a real value.
There are people who semi-professionally record sounds of things of days gone by for future generations.
Ring tones, typewriters, modem sounds, printer/scanner noise, fax machines, etc.

Jo22 wrote on 2023-02-17, 17:10:

Thank you very much for your work! Please keep it up! :cool: :thumbsup: […]
Show full quote

Thank you very much for your work! Please keep it up! 😎 👍

Btw, what you're doing is more than just a fun project, it has a real value.
There are people who semi-professionally record sounds of things of days gone by for future generations.
Ring tones, typewriters, modem sounds, printer/scanner noise, fax machines, etc.

Thank you! I'm planning to do my entire inventory of drives - I have around 50 of them 😀

Sooner or later they will all fail but at least their glorious soundtrack will be preserved 😁

MMaximus wrote on 2023-02-19, 15:36:

Thank you! I'm planning to do my entire inventory of drives - I have around 50 of them 😀

You're welcome! I'm looking forward to it! 😁

If you like, or if you need more different sounds, you can run CheckIt, too.
On my 20MB MFM/RLL HDD (a NEC?), when I tested it for errors (I was worried about its health),
it caused a lot of different sounds for things like linear read etc.
Running CheckIt is not necessary by any means, it just came to mind right now while typing.

MMaximus wrote on 2023-02-19, 15:36:

Sooner or later they will all fail but at least their glorious soundtrack will be preserved 😁

Yes, that's inevitable. Sooner or later they will be gone. But not completely. 😀

The optimist and philanthrop I am (or try to be), strongly I believe that there will be people in the future who will recreate these drives.
Just like there are enthusiasts right now who make new vinyl records or re-built Amiga, C64 or XT motherboards from scratch.
Even if it's just for fun, a doctoral thesis, a museum or an exhibition - just think what work the guys/gals at Smithsonian did put into restoring a '60s film prop.
So those future people surely have an interest in these authentic recordings, too, even if it's primarily for comparison.

I mean, in a few decades from now on, early 8-Bit CPUs maybe can be printed at home on plastic/glass with a new printer technology.
Akin to the 3D printers we have now. As long as people care about something, something isn't gone completely.
(Morse code is still in use by amateurs for exmple, 5-Bit RTTY code and FAX are still being used for weather forecasts on shortwave etc..)

PS: Did you know that *maybe* there's an MFM HDD era sound in ST:TNG? 😁 I wonder what model it is/was!
I vaguely remember it's in the episode with the old space station from 21th century earth floating through free space..
More precisely, the scene in which Cmdr. Data in checking the station's computer panel and downloading information about the passengers from the old "hard disk".
Unfortunately, I don't have this on video, so I can't double check. All I find online is this short scene with other squeeky computer sounds.
However, since the episode is from 1988, it would make sense if such a sound was being used. At the time, such HDDs were still in wide use.

Update #2

Since the last update there have been 20 more recordings added to the channel

WD Caviar 2850 (850Mb IDE)
WD Caviar 21000 (1Gb IDE)
WD Caviar 31200 (1.2Gb IDE)
WD Caviar 22100 (2.1Gb IDE)
Kalok KL3100 (100Mb IDE)
Quantum Lightning ProDrive 365AT (365Mb IDE)
Maxtor 7120AT (120Mb IDE)
Seagate ST3491A (420Mb IDE)
Seagate ST-277R (77Mb RLL)
IBM DJAA-31700 (1.7Gb IDE)
Quantum Fireball EX 3.2AT (3.2Gb IDE)
Maxtor 83240D4 (3.2Gb IDE)
Quantum Fireball Plus AS (40Gb IDE)
Seagate ST-125L (IBM PS/2 8530) (40 Mb IBM)
Western Digital Enterprise 2170 (2.1Gb SCSI)
MicroScience HH 612 (10Mb MFM)
Western Digital Caviar WD400BD (40Gb SATA)
Seagate Barracuda ST34371WC (4.3Gb SCSI)
Western Digital Caviar WD400 (40Gb IDE)
IBM DMVS COMP-IEC 950 9Gb SCSI

Jo22 wrote on 2023-02-19, 19:46:

If you like, or if you need more different sounds, you can run CheckIt, too. On my 20MB MFM/RLL HDD (a NEC?), when I tested it f […]
Show full quote

If you like, or if you need more different sounds, you can run CheckIt, too.
On my 20MB MFM/RLL HDD (a NEC?), when I tested it for errors (I was worried about its health),
it caused a lot of different sounds for things like linear read etc.
Running CheckIt is not necessary by any means, it just came to mind right now while typing.

...

The optimist and philanthrop I am (or try to be), strongly I believe that there will be people in the future who will recreate these drives.
Just like there are enthusiasts right now who make new vinyl records or re-built Amiga, C64 or XT motherboards from scratch.
Even if it's just for fun, a doctoral thesis, a museum or an exhibition - just think what work the guys/gals at Smithsonian did put into restoring a '60s film prop.
So those future people surely have an interest in these authentic recordings, too, even if it's primarily for comparison.

I mean, in a few decades from now on, early 8-Bit CPUs maybe can be printed at home on plastic/glass with a new printer technology.
Akin to the 3D printers we have now. As long as people care about something, something isn't gone completely.
(Morse code is still in use by amateurs for exmple, 5-Bit RTTY code and FAX are still being used for weather forecasts on shortwave etc..)

PS: Did you know that *maybe* there's an MFM HDD era sound in ST:TNG? 😁 I wonder what model it is/was!
I vaguely remember it's in the episode with the old space station from 21th century earth floating through free space..
More precisely, the scene in which Cmdr. Data in checking the station's computer panel and downloading information about the passengers from the old "hard disk".
Unfortunately, I don't have this on video, so I can't double check. All I find online is this short scene with other squeeky computer sounds.
However, since the episode is from 1988, it would make sense if such a sound was being used. At the time, such HDDs were still in wide use.

Thanks for the idea, I've ran Checkit benchmark on some of these older drives (the benchmark is quite short so it's not worth it for the more recent drives, but it works well for older systems)

I don't know if these drives will ever be recreated, but maybe in some sort of emulated form? (I keep hoping someone will recreate a modern version of a CRT one day but I don't see that happening ever 😬)

As for of Star Trek, I've never really watched it so I wouldn't know, but it's quite cool if they used such a sound in it 😁