The hard drive is a device that is used for reading/writing digital data. It is a general section of every computer. The HDD keeps all the information we have. The hard drive might basically be separated into 2 general pieces - the mechanic one and the electronic one.
The mechanical part of the hard drive contains the following: plates, heads, spindle, arm and slider. The plates of the hard disk drive are produced from aluminum alloy or from glass. They are very smooth and are manufactured in special areas with no dust. In order to achieve the magnetic covering they are wrapped with cobalt alloy. On the plates is stored all the digital information.
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The plates are being rotated with a very high speed by the spindle. It uses 12 volts. Ordinary hard disks (their plates) are rotating with a pace of 7200 RPM (revolutions per minute).
The plates have numberless very microscopic sectors which include a number of even tinyer bits of data - every bit is 0 or 1. When the digital data is being written or read the small bits are accessed by the also so tiny head. The head is being floated just above the correct bit by an arm and slider which are pretty precise. There are trully complex systems that command this operation and secure the accurate spot.
The read/write operation is very complicated. The most easy explanation is that the head and all the bits of information are magnets. When the head is right overhead a bit, and the data needs to be changed, the microscopic magnet bits shift their direction of their magnetic poles.
The electronic part is getting increasingly complicated with the years. It includes now a its own memory, separate processor and its own software. The electronics of the HDD manage the spinning of the spindle, the movement of the arm and the exact positioning, controlling the write/read process and even others.
The electronics also contain the HDD's cache. This is chip of pretty fast memory that plays the role of a buffer between the information on the plates and the random access memory of the PC.
This is pretty much what the HDD is. There are also portable hard drives (also external hard drive) and they operate by the same rules. They just have divers interface for creating communication with the PC.
How Does the Hard Disk Function?8 port wireless n router