HARD DISK

WHAT IS HARD DISK

HARD DISKS are the primary online secondry device for most computer systems today . Hard disk are made of rigid metal. The hard disk platters come in many sizes ranging from 1-14 diameter.

It provides relatively quick access to large

amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface. A hard disk/drive unit comes with a set rotation speed varying from 4500 to 7200 rpm.

HISTORY OF HARD DISK

The first HDD was invented by IBM on Dec 14,1954. It was invented by a team led by REY JOHNSON. They have fallen in cost and physical size over the years Hard disks have been the dominant device for secondary storage of data in general purpose computers since the earlier 1960s.

TYPES OF HARD DISK

ZIP DISK

In this type, a single hard disk platter is encased in a plastic cartridge. A commonly used zip disk is 3.5 inch size having a storage capacity of about 100 MB. Its disk drive is called a zip drive. A zip drive may be of portable or fixed type. The zip disks can be easily inserted into or removed from a zip drive just as we insert and remove floppy disks in a floppy disk drive

DISK PACKS

A disk pack consists of multiple hard disk platters mounted on single central shaft.
All the disks of a disk pack revolve together at the same speed. The disk drive of a disk pack has a separate read/write head for each disk surface. They are of removable type in the sense that they have to be mounted on the disk drive before they can be used.

WINCHESTER DISKS

A Winchester disk also consist of multiple (two or more) hard disk platters mounted on a single central shaft.
Winchester disks have limited capacity. Winchester disks can manage to have larger storage capacity than disk packs . Winchester disks were so named after the 30-30 Winchester rifle because the early Winchester disk systems had two 30-MB disks sealed together with the disk drive.

ADVANTAGES OF HARD DISK

1. Hard disk space is relatively cheap, as low as 13p per GB . 2. Large storage capacity . 3. Data is not lost when you switch off the computer.

4. Usually fixed inside the computer so cannot get mislaid.

5. Cheap on a cost per megabyte compared to other storage media.

DISADVANTAGES OF HARD DISK

Hard disks eventually fail which stops the computer from working. The disk is fixed inside the computer and cannot easily be transferred to another computer. Consumes a lot of power and the resistance of shocks is low. The speed of the Hard drive speed (MBS) can regulate the data transfer rate of the computer. loud mechanical noise can be generated, heat can be generated data error rates are frequent, weight ratios are large, the size is large, can be hard to recover data.

Comparison with floppy disk

A floppy disk drive is normally designed to operate with only one floppy disk platter, whereas a hard disk drive normally operates with multiple hard disk platters. Floppy disks normally have 135 tracks per inch, whereas hard disks can easily have more than 1000 tracks per inch. A floppy disk normally spins at 360 rpm, whereas hard disks spin at 3600 rpm, 5400 rpm, or even 7200 rpm. Floppy disks tend to bend at higher speeds due to their flexible construction as compared to hard disk.