Hard Disk Drive

Introduction
Hard Disk Drive is a nonvolatile data storage device, it means that the storage device retains the data even when no power is supplied to the computer. Some of the profound changes in PC hard disk storage are its capacity, data transfer rates from the media.

Hard Disk Drive

Topics Covered in this Topic
Features Geometry of Hard Drive Hard Disk Drive Components Hard Disk Drive Interface Data Organization in Hard Disk Data Read and Write Operation Hard Disk Drive Configuration Hard Disk Drive Setup File Systems Sector Organization Disk Maintenance Utilities Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Topic 1 - Features
Storage Capacity
The storage capacity of the hard disk refers to the amount of disk space that can be used to store the user data.

Data Transfer Speed There are two ways to measure the speed of the disk drive

Average seek time

Transfer rate

Stability
It has been measured by Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF).

Topic 2 - Geometry of Hard Drive

Cylinders

It is a set of all platters.

It is used to read data from the hard disk drives disk platters A track is a one ring of data on single side Tracks are divided into many sectors.

Heads

Sectors per Track

Write pre-compensation
Used to adjust the smaller tracks

Topic 2 - Geometry of Hard Drive

Landing-Zone
When the system is turned off, the BIOS should send the
heads of hard disk to the cylinder where there is no data.

Modes Three methods available for data addressing

CHS (Cylinder Head Sector) LBA (Logical Block Address)

ECHS (Extended Cylinder Head Sector)

Topic 3 - Hard Disk Drive Components

A flat, round disk called platters is used in a hard disk The platters are loaded on a spindle. Spindle motor spins the platters. Electromagnetic read/write devices called heads are mounted onto sliders. Each platter has two heads

Topic 3 - Hard Disk Drive Components

Platters
This platter is made up of substrate material, which gives structure and rigidity Platters are physically connected in the middle and driven by the spindle motor.

Hard Disk Read/Write Heads

The hard disk drive read/write heads act like an interface between the magnetic media and the part of the hard disk. Heads are joined to the head actuator move across the disk.

Topic 3 - Hard Disk Drive Components

Types of Read or Write Heads
Ferrite Head It is used for magnetic recording. Metal in Gap Head (MIG) - A metal substance has been filled in the gap, and increases the resistance of magnetic saturation. Thin Film Head - This head floats closer to the disk than the other heads. Magneto Resistive Head - The MR head can change resistance.

Topic 3 - Hard Disk Drive Components

Giant Magneto Resistive Head (GMR) - It will work on multilayer of materials dumped in it. Head Actuator Mechanism
Stepper motor actuators It is an electrical motor that can step from location to other, with click-stop positions
It is used to shift the head arms in and out . It has a special guidance system

Voice Coil Actuator

Topic 3 - Hard Disk Drive Components

Spindle Assemble
The spindle motors are directly connected to the hard disk platter spindle

Spindle Motor
The motor that spins the platters is called the spindle motor.

Logic Board (s)

The logic boards have electronics that control the drives spindle and head actuator systems.

Topic 4 - Hard drive Interface

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)/EIDE

It is used to attach Mass Storage media devices to the computer. The next generations of IDE interface is Enhanced IDE (EIDE)

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)

It is capable of supporting up to 7 to 15 devices.

It is an internal or inside-the-box interface technology. External SATA is commonly known as ESATA.

Serial ATA (SATA)

Topic 5 - Data Organization in Hard Disk

The data is recorded on the magnetic tracks of a

hard disk drive.

Each track is divided into number of sectors. Data is pressed on each sector.

Microcomputers hard disk drives are following the

soft sector format. In the latest soft sector format, the track number, head number and sector number is written on each sectors ID field.

Topic 6 - Data Read and Write Operation

Hard disk heads convert electrical signals to magnetic signals and magnetic signals to electrical signals. By using encoding method, the stored data has been recorded onto the hard disk. This encoding method translates zeros and ones into patterns of magnetic flux reversals.

Topic 7 - Hard Disk Drive Configuration

Cable (Data and Power)

Power Cable
Interface Cable

Jumper Settings (Master/ Slave/ Cable Select)

They are sets of pins with caps placed in various
arrangements. In some drives manufacturers have cryptic MS, SL, CS initials

BIOS settings
The BIOS made after 1996 will support a drive larger than 4GB.

Topic 7 - Hard Disk Drive Configuration

IO Address

Devices use memory location for interfacing with the computer. A typical hard disk controller uses 1F0-1F7h I/O port.

Interrupt Request Line (IRQ)

It permits a hardware device to look inside the computer.

When the device need attention, IRQ makes direct line to the microprocessor

DMA Channel
Without CPU interference, the DMA controller transfers data from a drive to the computers memory.

Topic 8 - Hard Disk Drive Setup

Low level formatting

The disks tracks are divided into a specific number of sectors.

LLF is most important for the proper operation of the drive.

Partitioning
The hard disk drive can support separate file systems by creating a partition on a hard disk drive.

High level formatting

The operating system marks the structures essential for managing files . High-level formatting is the creation of a table of contents for the disk

Topic 8 - Hard Disk Drive Setup

FDISK For example: 4 gig hard drives, divided it into 4 partitions. The four independent drives are C, D, E, and F.
'C' partition = 2 Giga Bytes 'D' partition = 1 Giga Bytes 'E' partition = 500MB 'F' partition = 500MB

Topic 9- File System

The file system decides the manner in which data is

accurately arranged on a hard disk drive.

The main function of the FAT is to give the mapping between clusters and the physical location of data in terms of cylinders, tracks, and sectors.
FAT 12 FAT 16 FAT 32

NTFS

Topic 10 - Sector Organization

Cluster
Grouping sectors into larger blocks are called clusters .

Master Boot Record (MBR)

The location of the master boot record is cylinder 0, head 0, and sector 1.

DOS Boot Record (DBR)

In the beginning of the boot drive the DOS boot record will load .

Boot Sector
The two tasks of boot sector is to load in the operating system and to inform the user information about the disk.

Topic 10 - Sector Organization

File Allocation Table
The FAT has entry for each cluster, which describes how the file has been used, and which files are free for use.

Root Directory
FAT file system uses root directory to format disk.

Data Area
The content of the files are stored in data area.

Topic 11- Common Errors & Troubleshooting