Computer System Hardware

Module 2: Hard Disk Drive

Hard Disk Drive

● Hard disk drive (HDD) systems (hard disks or hard drives

for short) are used for permanent storage and quick
access.

● Hard disks typically reside inside the computer and can

hold more information than other forms of storage. Hard
drives use a magnetic storage medium
● The hard disk drive system contains three critical
components:

○ Controller

○ Hard Disk

○ Host Buss Adapter

Controller

● This component controls the drive.

● The controller chip controls how the drive operates and
how the data is encoded onto the platters.
● It controls how the data sends signals to the various
motors in the drive and receives signals from the sensors
inside the drive.
● Most of today’s hard disk technologies incorporate the
controller and drive into one assembly.
● The most common and well-known of these are PATA and SATA
.Hard disk

● This is the physical storage medium.

● Hard disk drive systems store information on small discs
(from under 1 inch to 5 inches in diameter), also called
platters, stacked together.
Host bus Adapter

● This is the translator, converting signals from the

controller to signals the computer can understand.
● Most motherboards today incorporate the host adapter into
the motherboard’s circuitry, offering headers for drive-
cable connection.
Anatomy of a Hard Drive
Read/Write Head

● Inside the sealed case of the hard drive lie one or more
platters, where the actual data is stored by the
read/write heads.
● The heads are mounted on a mechanism that moves them in
tandem across both surfaces of all platters.
● Older drives used a stepper motor to position the heads
at discrete points along the surface of the platters
● Newer drives use voice coils for a more analog movement
Platters

● A hard disk drive platter (or disk) is the circular disk

on which magnetic data is stored in a hard disk drive
● Hard drives typically have several platters which are
mounted on the same spindle.
● A platter can store information on both sides, requiring
two heads per platter.
● Spindle

○ A spindle is a shaft that holds rotating hard disk

drive platters in place.

○ Spindle speed, measured in rotations per minute

(RPM), is one metric used to gauge disk
drive performance.

● Actuator Arm

○ This holds the heads in place, and moves them

around the platters

○ Each recording head sits at the end of a

moving actuator arm
● Actuator Axis

○ This holds the arm in place

○ actuator rotates the actuator axis,

moving the connected arm.

● Actuator

○ HDD actuator is a device which moves head

arm assembly

○ This is the device used to move the

actuator arm to different positions to
read from the disk.
● Inside the sealed case of the hard drive lie one or more
platters, where the actual data is stored by the
read/write heads.
● The heads are mounted on a mechanism that moves them in
tandem across both surfaces of all platters.
● There are two read-write heads for each platter, one to
read the top surface and one to read the bottom,
● The read-write heads are mounted on an electrically
controlled arm that moves from the center of the drive to
the outer edge and back again.
● To reduce wear and tear, they don't actually touch the
platter: there's a layer of fluid or air between the head
and the platter surface.
● The surface of the platters contains
concentric rings called track.
● Each track is sub divided into sector
[minimum] storage unit
● The sector is the minimum storage unit
of a hard disk.
● Each sector commonly stores only 512
bytes (1⁄2KB) of data
● The controller for the hard drive knows
exactly how the sectors are laid out
within the disk assembly.
● It takes direction from the BIOS when
writing information to and reading
information from the drive
● Hard disk geometry consists of three components

○ No of sectors

○ No of track

○ No of read write head

○ No of cylinders
● CHS (Cylinder Head Sector)
● The number of cylinders is the number of tracks that can
be found on any single surface of any single platter.
● It is called a cylinder because the collection of all
same-number tracks on all writable surfaces of the hard
disk assembly looks like a geometric cylinder when
connected together vertically.
● Each platter has two heads.
● By multiplying the number of cylinders by the number of
heads, you produce the total number of tracks throughout
the disk assembly.
● By multiplying this product by the number of sectors per
track, you discover the total number of sectors
throughout the disk assembly.
● Dividing the result by 2 provides the number of kilobytes
the hard drive can store.
● For example, a drive labelled with the maximum allowed
CHS geometry of 16383/16/63, results in 7.9GB ((16383 X
16 X 63)/2 X 1024 x 1024).
● File systems laid down on the tracks and their sectors
group a configurable number of sectors into equal or
larger sets called clusters or allocation units.
● Clusters can be of different sizes.
● Larger clusters provide larger volumes but result in less
efficient usage of space.
● This is because, no two files are allowed by the
operating system to occupy the same cluster.
● So when the cluster size becomes larger, the space
within the clusters is wasted beyond the available file
size.
● HDD Speed

○ Expressed in rpm [ revolution per minute]

■ 5400 rpm

■ 7200 rpm

■ 10,000 rpm

■ 12,000 rpm

■ 15,000 rpm

○ The lower speeds can be ideal in laptops, where heat production and
battery usage can be issues with the higher-speed drives.
● The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5 MB of data.
Solid State Drives (SSDs)
● Solid state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device
that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to
store data permanently.
● no moving mechanical parts.

 read contents more quickly

 consume less power and produce less heat

 more reliable and less susceptible to damage from physical shock

heat production than their magnetic counterparts

 more expensive per byte

 available in less capacity

● Two Categories

○ Volatile DRAM

■ Very fast access

■ Incorporate either an internal battery or an external AC/DC

adapter

○ Non volatile Flash Based

■ Made with NAND Memory

■ Less power
 Attribute SSD (Solid State Drive) HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
Power Draw / Less power draw, averages 2 – 3 watts, More power draw, averages 6 –
Battery Life resulting in 30+ minute battery boost 7 watts and therefore uses more
battery
Cost Expensive, roughly $0.20 per gigabyte Only around $0.03 per gigabyte,
(based on buying a 1TB drive) very cheap (buying a 4TB model)
Capacity Typically not larger than 1TB for Typically around 500GB and 2TB
notebook size drives; 4TB max for maximum for notebook size
desktops drives; 10TB max for desktops
Operating System Around 10-13 seconds average bootup Around 30-40 seconds average
Boot Time time bootup time
Noise There are no moving parts and as such Audible clicks and spinning can
no sound be heard
Vibration No vibration as there are no moving The spinning of the platters can
parts sometimes result in vibration
 Attribute SSD (Solid State Drive) HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

Heat Produced Lower power draw and no moving HDD doesn’t produce much heat,
parts so little heat is produced but it will have a measurable
amount more heat than an SSD
due to moving parts and higher
power draw
Failure Rate Mean time between failure rate of Mean time between failure rate of
2.0 million hours 1.5 million hours
File Copy / Write Generally above 200 MB/s and up to The range can be anywhere from
Speed 550 MB/s for cutting edge drives 50 – 120MB / s
Encryption Full Disk Encryption Full Disk Encryption (FDE)
(FDE) Supported on some models Supported on some models
File Opening Up to 30% faster than HDD Slower than SSD
Speed
Magnetism An SSD is safe from any effects of Magnets can erase d
Affected? magnetism