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Understanding Hard Disk Drives (HDD)

Hard disk drives (HDD) are non-volatile storage devices that can be internal or external, consisting of platters that store data magnetically. The read-write head accesses data by moving across the spinning platters, with performance measured by access time, which includes seek time and latency. HDDs typically spin at 5,400 to 7,200 rpm, with some high-performance models reaching up to 15,000 rpm.

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3 views2 pages

Understanding Hard Disk Drives (HDD)

Hard disk drives (HDD) are non-volatile storage devices that can be internal or external, consisting of platters that store data magnetically. The read-write head accesses data by moving across the spinning platters, with performance measured by access time, which includes seek time and latency. HDDs typically spin at 5,400 to 7,200 rpm, with some high-performance models reaching up to 15,000 rpm.

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Raymond Johnson

Ioannis Seretis

CIS - 100

14 December 2014

Hard Disk Drives

Hard disk drives (HDD) are permanent or non-volatile storage devices. There are

two different types off HDDs based on their location, internal or external. Internal HDDs

reside within the system and external ones are outside and use a port to connect to the

computer.

HDDs are composed of several coated, round, thin metal plates or platters stacked

on a spindle and an actuator that moves the read-write head. The platter has a special

magnetic coating that enables data to be written to it in the form of ones and zeros. The

read-write head does this by magnetizing for a one and demagnetizing for a zero. These

ones or zeros get written to specific areas of the platter called sector. The sectors are

created by formatting, which separates each platter into concentric circular paths called

tracks and then separates them into tiny pie shaped wedges called sectors. Several

continuous sectors are called a cluster.

The platters inside an HDD can spin up to 15,000 revolutions per minute (rpm)

although most spin at 5,400 rpm or 7,200 rpm. The read-write head can move from the

outside edge to the middle of the spinning platter up to fifty times per second. Access

time is the amount of time on average it takes for the read-write head to locate data and

return it to the CPU for processing. Access time can be broken down into two things; seek

time, which is how long it takes the read-write head to get to the correct track and latency
or rotational delay, which is how long it takes the platter to spin the correct sector to the

read-write head.

Works Cited

Evans, Alan, Kendall Martin, and Mary A. Poatsy. Technology in Action. 11th ed.

Boston: Pearson, 2014. 54-234. Print.

Woodford, Chris. (2006) Hard drives. Retrieved from

[Link] 15 December 2014.

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