HDD actuator resonance detection through acoustic signal analysis

This paper presents a method for monitoring the hard disk drive (HDD) actuator resonant frequencies by analyzing the audible acoustic signal emitted by the actuator during seeking operations. The acoustic signal detected by a microphone is amplified by a filter board. Then its power spectrum density (PSD) is estimated. Using the authors' "resonant frequency extraction algorithm" or "RFEA" the PSD spikes are extracted from the environmental noise, spindle motor noise and etc. These peaks comply very well with the actuator resonant modes measured using laser Doppler vibrometer and dynamic signal analyzer. Therefore, the proposed method is an effective way of monitoring the HDD actuator resonance variation without employing the position error signal.