Invariant multi-dimensional vibration-resilience-signature generation system

1. A system that generates vibration-resistance signatures for hard disk drives (HDDs), comprising:

a disk enclosure configured to accommodate one or more HDDs;

a set of HDDs mechanically coupled to and affixed to the disk enclosure;

a vibration generator mechanically coupled to the disk enclosure and configured to apply a translational vibration profile to the disk enclosure;

a coupling mechanism between the set of HDDs and the disk enclosure, which translates the translational vibration profile into both translational and rotational vibrations for the set of HDDs in multiple dimensions; and

a monitoring mechanism configured to monitor an HDD performance metric from the set of HDDs while the HDDs are subject to the translational and rotational vibrations; and

a signature-generation mechanism configured to use the values of the HDD performance metric to generate vibration-resistance signatures for the set of HDDs.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the coupling mechanism between an HDD and the disk enclosure includes an HDD carrier, which interfaces with the disk enclosure and encloses the HDD.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration generator is a translational shake table.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration generator is configured to generate translational vibrations along three orthogonal directions.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration generator is configured to apply translational vibrations to the disk enclosure along two or more orthogonal directions.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the coupling mechanism between an HDD and the disk enclosure further includes one or more connectors which couple power and signal wires to the HDD.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the translational vibration profile has a flat vibration spectrum between vibration frequencies f 1 and f 2 .

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the translational vibration profile has a non-flat vibration spectrum of non-zero amplitudes between frequencies f 1 and f 2 .

9. The system of claim 1 ,

wherein the vibration generator is configured to apply a set of translational vibration profiles which have stepwise-increasing vibration amplitudes from a minimum root-mean-square (RMS) value to a maximum RMS value; and

wherein the signature-generation mechanism is configured to generate the vibration-resistance signatures for the set of HDDs, wherein each signature comprises an HDD performance metric as a function of the stepwise-increasing vibration amplitudes.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the HDD performance metric can include one or more of:

an HDD read throughput; and

an HDD write throughput.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration generator is configured to generate vibrations that simulate a vibration profile which is based on measured vibration characteristics of components in the system.

12. A method for generating vibration-resistance signatures for hard disk drives (HDDs), comprising:

locating a set of HDDs inside a disk enclosure, wherein the set of HDDs are mechanically coupled to and affixed to the disk enclosure through a coupling mechanism;

applying a translational vibration profile to the disk enclosure, wherein the coupling mechanism between the set of HDDs and the disk enclosure translates the translational vibration profile into both translational and rotational vibrations for the set of HDDs in multiple dimensions;

monitoring an HDD performance metric from the set of HDDs while the HDDs are subject to the translational and rotational vibrations; and

generating vibration-resistance signatures for the set of HDDs using the values of the HDD performance metric.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein prior to applying the translational vibration profile, the method further comprises mechanically coupling the disk enclosure to a vibration generator, which is configured to generate a translational vibration profile.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the vibration generator is a translational shake table.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying the translational vibration profile to the disk enclosure involves applying translational vibrations along three orthogonal directions.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying the translational vibration profile to the disk enclosure involves applying translational vibrations to the disk enclosure along two or more orthogonal directions.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the coupling mechanism between an HDD and the disk enclosure can include:

an HDD carrier, which interfaces with the disk enclosure and encloses the HDD; and

one or more connectors which couple power and signal wires to the HDD.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the translational vibration profile has a flat vibration spectrum between vibration frequencies f 1 and f 2 .

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the translational vibration profile has a non-flat vibration spectrum of non-zero amplitudes between frequencies f 1 and f 2 .

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:

applying a set of translational vibration profiles which have stepwise-increasing vibration amplitudes from a minimum root-mean-square (RMS) value to a maximum RMS value; and

generating the vibration-resistance signatures for the set of HDDs, wherein each signature comprises an HDD performance metric as a function of the stepwise-increasing vibration amplitudes.