A hard drive is a metal plate with magnetic surfaces and is a component of a hard drive. The hard drive computer reads and writes to the disk surface. This type of drive is common in most personal computers, as well as other large devices that include data storage.
A hard drive is common in personal computers.
On a hard drive, an actuator arm assembly positions the cylinders on the platter so they can read and write to the drive. The read and write heads act as agents for these functions. The whole set fits in a rectangular metal container. In traditional computing, the hard drive was the internal structure for storing data on a workstation or personal computer. External drives were called “floppies” because they had flexible internal media. The advent of new types of drives has made floppy disk technology largely obsolete.
A hard drive.
Today, a hard drive can be part of an internal or external hard drive that connects to a computer. Internal and external drives provide a common method of storing many executable programs. They also provide a stable way to store many gigabytes of data on a separate drive that can be detached from a laptop or desktop computer. An innovation called Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) is increasing the amount of data a hard drive can store.
Hard drive without casing to show platters and read/write head.
Hard drives are facing competition from other new technologies, including the flash drive. A flash drive is a solid state drive, where a new form of data storage replaces circular hard drive technology. The hard drive and solid state drive often share the same USB connections with the computer, but the way data is recorded and stored is different.
Periodically, a hard drive needs to be defragmented, where the computer rearranges everything written to the disk’s surface for optimal performance. Since an SSD does not write to a disk, it does not need to be defragmented. Solid state drives can be more expensive than hard drives, but they are becoming a more common way to store and deliver data. Many manufacturers use solid-state drive technology for smaller electronic devices, as well as rugged computers and some netbooks.
External drives were once called “floppy disks” because they had flexible internal media.
