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Hard Disk Drive

A hard disk stores data magnetically on rigid metal platters coated with magnetic material. Each platter contains narrow concentric tracks further divided into sectors, which are the smallest unit of storage. Read/write heads precisely position over tracks to write data by magnetizing sections, and read data by sensing the magnetic polarity. A controller communicates between the computer and hard disk, giving instructions and transferring data as it is encoded, separated, and converted between serial and parallel formats for processing.

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109 views3 pages

Hard Disk Drive

A hard disk stores data magnetically on rigid metal platters coated with magnetic material. Each platter contains narrow concentric tracks further divided into sectors, which are the smallest unit of storage. Read/write heads precisely position over tracks to write data by magnetizing sections, and read data by sensing the magnetic polarity. A controller communicates between the computer and hard disk, giving instructions and transferring data as it is encoded, separated, and converted between serial and parallel formats for processing.

Uploaded by

katonyo
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is a hard disk?

A hard disk usually consists of two or more rigid metal platters enclosed in
a hermitically sealed case. Like a floppy disk or cassette tape, a hard disk stores
data as magnetic patterns. A hard disk contains two or more platters (rigid disks)
coated with iron oxide or special metal plating. Each platter has two sides or
surface and has its own read/write head.

Physical portions of hard disk


1. tracks – narrow concentric circles
2. sectors – segments or division of tracks
3. sides

How a hard disk works?


The main element of a standard read/write head is a tiny magnet. One
design is made of one or more turns of copper wire on a ring of ferrite; the ferrite
core has a hairline gap facing the disk. When the current is passed through the
coil, the disk surface under the gap is magnetized, and a bit is written to the disk.
The direction of the magnetization, from north to south or from south to
north, depends on the polarity of the current. The disk controller is in charge of
rapidly

Changing the polarity in order to write either 0s or 1s.


To read information from the disk, the device’s electronic sense the
current caused by the passage of the magnetized sections of the disk as it spins
beneath the gap. The electronic sense the change in polarity to the decode the
difference between a 1 and 0.
The signal pulses are amplified the converted from analog waves detected
by the read/write head, and then converted to precise digital pulses of 0 and 1.
The next step is to separate the data pulses from the clock pulses. A clock signal
is a string of precisely spaced pulses that serve as timing references for other
signals including drive control and positioning.
The disk controller examines the sector address, and if it matches the
address the computer is looking for, the processing continues. If not, the data is
ignored.
If the data is found to be okay, the stream of data bits must be converted
from serial form-one bit behind the other-to the parallel form in which it will move
across the computer’s bus. On IDE and SCSI drives this conversion is performed
by the drive’s integrated electronics in a circuit called a data separator; on most
other designs, the data moves form the drive to the controller as serial
information and is converted by the controller.
Hard disk controller
Hard disk controllers perform two functions:
1. giving instructions to the hard disk
2. transferring data between the computer system and the hard
disk
Types of hard disk controllers
1.
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) - ideal for network servers,
workstations, and other high performance system.
2.
Integrated Drive Electronic (IDE) - an extension of ST506/412
interface, has controller circuitry mounted on the drive itself and does
not require a controller card.
3. ST506/412- earliest and the most common controller.
4.
Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI) - does not require separate
controller card.
5.
Serial Advance Technology Attachment
6.
Parallel Advance Technology Attachment (PATA)

Data storage encoding schemes


1. Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM)- typical access time is 28 ms.
2. Run Length Limited (RLL) – converts hard disk capacity by 50% of the
original capacity.
3. Extended Run Length Limited (ERLL) – creates greater storage than
RLL.

Interleave
Tells how many sectors fall between two sectors that the hard disk reads
or writes consecutively on a track. Eg. 4:1, 3:1

Hard disk type


1. half-height 5 ¼ inches (20 mb – 400mb)
2. Full-height 5 ¼ inches (60-2gb)
3. Half-height 3 ½ inches (500mb plus)
4. Full-height 3 ½ inches (1gb)
5. Non-standard size (1.8, 2, and 2.5 inches)
6. Hard disk cards- 3 ½ inch hard disk drive directly mounted on its
controller card.

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