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Hard Drives - How Do They Work - Techbytes
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HARDWARE < HTTPS://BLOGS.UMASS.EDU/TECHBYTES/CATEGORY/HARDWARE/>
OPERATING SYSTEM < HTTPS://BLOGS.UMASS.EDU/TECHBYTES/CATEGORY/OPERATING-
SYSTEM/>
What’s a HDD?
A Hard Disk Drive (HDD for short) is a type of storage commonly used
as the primary storage system both laptop and desktop computers. It
functions like any other type of digital storage device by writing bits of
data and then recalling them later. It stands to mention that an HDD is
what’s referred to as “non-volatile”, which simply means that it can
save data without a source of power. This feature, coupled with their
large storage capacity and their relatively low cost are the reasons
why HDDs are used so frequently in home computers. While HDDs
have come a long way from when they were first invented, the basic
way that they operate has stayed the same.
How does a HDD physically store info?
As HDDs have been developed, one key factor that has changed is the
orientation of the sectors on the platter. Hard Drives were first
designed for “Longitudinal Recording” – meaning the longer side of
the platter is oriented horizontally – and since then have utilized a
different method called “Perpendicular Recording” where the sectors
are stacked on end. This change was made as hard drive
manufacturers were hitting a limit on how small they could make
each sector due to the “Superparamagnetic Effect.” Essentially, the
superparamagnetic effect means that hard drive sectors smaller than
a certain size will flip magnetic charge randomly based on
temperature. This phenomenon would result in inaccurate data
storage, especially given the heat that an operating hard drive emits.
Recording layer
Perpendicular recording
Recording layer
Additional layer
Disk Fragmentation
Windows:
Mac OSX:
OSX and Linux are both Unix based operating systems. However their
file system are different; Mac uses the HFS+ (Hierarchical File System
Plus) protocol, which replaced the hold HFS method. HFS+ differs in
that it can handle a larger amount of data at a given time, being 32bit
and not 16bit. Mac OSX doesn’t need a dedicated tool for
defragmentation like Windows does OSX avoids the issue by not using
space on the HDD that has recently been freed up – by deleting a file
for example – and instead searches the disk for larger free sectors to
store new data. Doing so increases the space older files will have
closer to them for updates. HFS+ also has a built in tool called HFC, or
Hot File adaptive Clustering, which relocates frequently accessed data
to specials sectors on the disk called a “Hot Zone” in order to speed up
performance. This process, however, can only take place if the drive is
less than 90% full, otherwise issues in reallocation occur. These
processes coupled together make fragmentation a non-issue for Mac
users.
Linux:
While the process of having data pile on top of itself, and needing to
put files for one program in different place is still present, it doesn’t
matter with solid states as there is no delay caused by the read/write
arm of a hard drive moving back and forth between the different
sectors. Fragmentation does not decrease performance the way it does
with hard drives, but it does affect the life of the drive. Solid states
that have scattered data can have a reduced lifespan. The way that
solid states work cause the extra write cycles caused by
defragmenting to decrease the overall lifespan of the drive, and is
therefore avoided for the most part given its small impact. That being
said a file system can still reach a point on a solid state where
defragmentation is necessary. It would be logical for a hard drive to
be defragmented automatically every day or week, while a solid state
might require only a few defragmentations, if any, throughout its
lifetime.
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