Sensors protect laptop hard drives from detecting earthquakes

This device senses movements, strong bumps that can scratch the data reader on the hard disk surface and warn of earthquakes.

Jesse Lawrence, a professor of geosciences at Stanford University in the US, said this induction information (also known as an accelerometer) combined with the data analysis network Quakecatcher works quite well and enters July 2008, and discovered an earthquake in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles earthquake in July 2008 was discovered by a dedicated sensor to protect laptop hard drives.Photo: AP.

Currently, the new system is in the first phase of testing with three connected laptops. The key to warning performance is the number of machines that link into a large network because only one can't make a difference between an earthquake and an action that accidentally drops a laptop.

"When sensors in laptops detect strong motion, they send information to the server," Lawrence explained. "This machine will be responsible for analyzing whether it is an underground event. The device's level of perception also depends on the distance with the epicenter."

These warnings, even before the earthquake took a few minutes, could also help people if they quickly found refuge, such as under a table, to avoid accidents while things break down.