Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site • Hacker News Board

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#191

Post by loloquwowndueo » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 1:27 PM UTC

matheusmoreira wrote: post #136

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because then it gets a 0/10 repairability score on ifixit :)

That can be avoided by filling it with a fluid that the repairman can simply drain instead. People hydromod digital quartz wristwatches by filling them with oil. This gives them truly absurd water resistances and even improves the readability of the screen somehow.

“My phone needs an oil change”

“I dropped my phone and all the oil leaked out making a mess”

Yeah that’s not going to happen my dude.

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#192

Post by baking » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 1:32 PM UTC

Buttons840 wrote: post #111

If a hardened camera can survive, I'm surprised subs don't have a floating black box that can survive an implosion and then float to the surface and begin emitting a radio signal. I guess the trick would be finding a way to securely attach the black box in a way that would ensure its release in a catastrophic disaster.

There were glass spheres outside the main pressure vessel containing electronics and filled with mineral oil that were damaged during the implosion, but the electronics survived mostly intact. This probably would have been a good option for a "black box" recorder. Scott Manley discusses the spheres in his video.

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#193

Post by pfdietz » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 2:10 PM UTC

MadnessASAP wrote: post #65

pfdietz wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment made me wonder how much easier proximity fuzes would have been to develop in WW2 had they had transistors (or integrated circuits). I assume making modern solid state electronics 20,000g shock resistant is much easier than doing the same to vacuum tubes.

No need to wonder, proximity fuzes are still used today. And yes, they are much smaller, cheaper, more reliable, and precise.

I was wondering how much easier it would have been, specifically in dollar terms. Order of magnitude?

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#194

Post by eth0up » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 2:31 PM UTC

Them sandisks need to be pretty tough to not vaporize whilst cooking your USB ports. Ever notice how infernally hot they get under large file transfers?

Completely killed one of my ports after 50gbs

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#195

Post by nativeit » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 2:32 PM UTC

15155 wrote: post #139

BikiniPrince wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s entirely true for manufacturing at scale. I really doubt they are selling a lot of these.

JLCPCB will stick an IMXRT1064 and an oscillator on 5 custom PCBs for you for <$100 - the Teensy is basically $25-$35 for the same thing.

$25-35/ea, so well over $100 for 5 boards.

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#196

Post by nativeit » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 2:38 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #186

ssl-3 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I previously wrote something rather crude. I am attempting to revise that into something more positive.) In this context, all people are free to do whatever they want. It is beyond me to suggest that any person cannot do a thing.

Well, but it's not about whether someone can or cannot do something. Since you seem experienced with these devices I'm just asking if there's any technical reason why this might be a bad idea other than the fact that it just doesn't seem like a very professional thing to do. Like for example even though I'm far from an expert I know Raspberry Pis would be awful for any commercial application because they are notoriou…

The Teensy wasn’t engineered, tested, rated, or certified for any sort of continuous duty, let alone within a pressurized O2-enriched environment (assuming it was inside the vessel), especially not within deep sea Helium-enriched environments (that have been shown to break things like MEMS devices), and present unnecessary risks for an entirely inefficient choice (see: comment above, Teensy’s are ~$30-40/ea where small PCBs populated with the same circuit features can be had for under $20).

I’m probably not as qualified as the person you replied to, but that’s my intuition as someone with a passing familiarity with electronics engineering (I have an associates degree in EE).

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#197

Post by nativeit » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 2:41 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #116

jeffrallen wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does not leave SubC in a particularly flattering light...

It survived the pressure, does the rest matter?

In this context? Certainly. This is more examples of their using untested, uncertified equipment. Anyone who’s ever worked in O2-enriched pressurized environments should at least be instantly concerned about whether this device had been properly rated for fire prevention.

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#198

Post by quuxplusone » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 3:38 PM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #187

squigz wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clickbait? Where? How? It's literally in the NTSB report, and it's not like, a crazy concept?

Here; the title focusing on the price is implying that the cheap SD card survived ocean floor environment alone. A surprising amount of stress for its price. Instead, a pressure-proof deep sea camera module was found at the wreckage site. It’s less interesting that an expensive thing rated for ocean depths was intact at ocean depths. Its like “missing child found after 4 days in Alaska temperatures!” gasp! How did th…

I noticed a pattern a few months ago in my phone's newsbait feed of headlines in the format "[Large familiar company] to close 500 stores on [date]" — and then below the fold "because it's [Independence Day, Rosh Hashanah, etc]" or "because they are moving to summer hours" or whatever.

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#199

Post by Forgeties79 » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

ZiiS wrote: post #166

Forgeties79 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth mentioning that I would immediately know if a different SD card was in my camera the moment I turned it on or ejected the card. If somebody knew to buy the same exact model and storage size that would be truly impressive.

Industrial espionage is far far more often done by hard work then being clever. Checking the SD cards you use and buying matching ones before executing a swap isn't noteworthy.

If you look through my case of SD cards I have all sorts of sizes and makes/models. I also have a procedure for dumping and formatting, and someone who is handling this most likely would as well. The moment the storage on screen looks funny or I see the card I don’t recognize, I’ll notice.

I’m not saying it’s impossible or I’m somehow immune to being tricked, but you would be surprised how easy it is to leave evidence of tampering through the simple act of trying to take an SD card, whether you swap it out or not. And people like me who handle them regularly would likely notice it in a split second. Maybe we won’t even catch the perpetrator, but it would not be written off as “oh interesting I guess it didn’t record,” if for no other reason then I would go straight into CYA mode and start looking for any hint that I didn’t make a mistake.

At that point if you have a basic security SoP in place and adhere to it you can start auditing.

Anywho again nothing is airtight and a determined individual could of course get past me. But you would be surprised how many hurdles they have to get over, and it certainly wouldn’t go unnoticed and be brushed off as a read/write quirk, that’s really all I’m saying

Re: Titan submersible’s $62 SanDisk memory card found undamaged at wreckage site

#200

Post by bigstrat2003 » Sun, Oct 19, 2025, 3:49 PM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #187

squigz wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clickbait? Where? How? It's literally in the NTSB report, and it's not like, a crazy concept?

Here; the title focusing on the price is implying that the cheap SD card survived ocean floor environment alone. A surprising amount of stress for its price. Instead, a pressure-proof deep sea camera module was found at the wreckage site. It’s less interesting that an expensive thing rated for ocean depths was intact at ocean depths. Its like “missing child found after 4 days in Alaska temperatures!” gasp! How did th…

> Here; the title focusing on the price is implying that the cheap SD card survived ocean floor environment alone. A surprising amount of stress for its price.

I certainly did not read that implication into the title, so it's entirely possible that the author didn't mean it.