P2P Hard Disk System Warns of Tsunamis

An anonymous reader writes to mention an article on NetworkWorld about a free software application that detects Tsunamis by listening for vibrations in the hard drives of computers. The peer-to-peer network uses the technology that allows HDDs to keep read-write heads on track, and passes the information to a network for analysis. From the article: "If an earthquake that could lead to a tsunami is detected, the supernodes inform the other nodes. Computers running the client software and connected to the peer-to-peer network can then warn of such events. The software is able to provide such warnings because the seismic waves produced by earthquakes travel at about 5,000 kilometers per hour, while tsunamis move much slower at 500 to 1,000 kilometers per hour"

Comments

I like it in principal

[LiquidCoooled]

I like the science.
I like helping people.
I don't like Windows only java clients which include dll files (they say on the front page its java based, but then on download page you see Mac OS X and Linux version in preparation. I think the DLL is going to pretty much stop all that.

I don't like running random programs accessing none standard data from my harddrive without knowing exactly what its looking at and what happens to my drive if its not got the required capabilities.

There is no technical information about this program or what it actually examines on a harddrive, coupled with the crypto java code buried inside the package (look in bcprov-jdk14.jar\org\bouncycastle\crypto) makes me nervous.

Negating all that it looks cool and if the technical aspects are cleared up I will try it.

I wonder if this functionality could be used to give any standard laptop a similar alarm feature as on the latest macbooks?

Re:I like it in principal

[Em Ellel]

While I agree with you, there is no way to do this in pure java - it will HAVE to have a DLL or some form of native code and it will be highly dependant on hardware. That being said, I agree that it I would be more inclined to run open source code for something like this...

-Em

Shouldn't proper seismic equipment be used?

[ConfusedSelfHating]

I like the idea of disaster prevention through reading hard disk vibration and all, but isn't this the sort of thing that professionals should be responsible for?

Error Message?

[Gryffin]

*** DISK ERROR ***

[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : _

Re:Error Message?

[lpangelrob]

[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : F
...
[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : F
...
[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : F!
...
[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : F dammit!
...
[A]bort, [R]etry, [F]lee to high ground? : F!!! F!!!
...
<end transmission>

Re:April 1st already?

[ultranova]

This should end the need for wasting countless millions on professional seismic research stations. Once again, free software triumphs.

Actually, hard drives capable of stuffing a billion bits per square centimeter and needing the ability to position the head above each one separately triumph. And you know what drives hard drive development ? The need for inexpensive record space of course. And what causes this need ? Pirated movies, games and music.

In other words, piracy saves lives.