PC Fundamentals

Presentation 15 – The Hard Drive

Copyright © 2007 Heathkit Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 Objectives

At the end of this presentation,

you will be able to:

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 Explain the construction and operation of a
basic hard disk drive.
 Identify the major components inside the
hard drive case.
 Define track, cylinder, sector, cluster, FAT,
format, and partition.
 Explain the difference between low-level
and high-level formatting.
 Explain the purpose of FDISK and
DISKPART.
 Identify the connectors on a typical hard
drive.
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Hard Drive vs. Floppy Drive
Start with a non-magnetic platter.
Floppy Disk – Mylar
Hard Disk – Metal, Ceramic, or Glass

5
Coat with a thin layer of
magnetic material.

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The disk surface is divided
into tracks.

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Track 79

Track 1
Track 0

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 Side 1,
Track 0

Side 2,
Track 0
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 Most Hard Drives Have Multiple Platters.

Platter1, Track1

Platter2, Track1

Platter3, Track1

Platter4, Track1
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The eight track 1’s are referred to
collectively as “Cylinder 1.”

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Read\Write
Head Platter

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Read\Write
Head
Disk

Read/Write
Head

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14
15
One Sector =
512 Bytes

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 17 1 2
16
15 3
14 4

5
13
6
12
11 7
10 9 8
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 1:3 Interleave

6 12 1 7
17 13
11 2
8
5
14
16
10 3
4 15 9
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 1:1 Interleave
17 1 2
16
15 3
14 4

5
13
6
12
11 7
10 9 8
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Cluster
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 Cluster
 The smallest unit of disk space that MS-
DOS could allocate to a file.
 It consists of one or more sectors.
 Cluster size is determined by the OS when
the disk is formatted.
 Generally, the larger the disk drive; the
more sectors per cluster.

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 File Allocation Table (FAT)
 The OS’s road map to the disk drive.
 How DOS (and early versions of Windows) kept
track of which clusters belonged to which files.
 How DOS kept track of bad sectors.
 Two copies maintained and kept up to date by
DOS.
 Still accessible by most operating systems today,
although the more capable NTSC (Windows NT
file system) is preferred by Windows NT/2000/XP.
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 Formatting

 Low Level Formatting - Performed by the

Disk Drive Manufacturer.
 High Level Formatting - Performed by the
PC User via the FORMAT Command.

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 Low-Level Formatting

Blank Disk Sectors and

tracks defined
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 Low Level Formatting
 Performed at the factory.
 Converts the single blank surface into tracks
and sectors.
 Finds and remaps bad spots on the disk so
that the operating system can avoid them.

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 High Level Formatting

 Originally performed by the vendor of the

computer.
 Creates Boot Record, FAT, and the Root
Directory.
 Performed with the FORMAT Command.

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 Partitioning

 Makes the hard disk compatible with the

operating system.
 Prepares the hard disk for high-level format.
 Divides the hard disk into two or more
partitions or makes it all one large partition.
 Performed with the FDISK or DISKPART
command.

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The Hard Drive Case Should Not be
opened.

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Typical Hard Drive Connectors

40-pin 8-pin 4-pin

IDE Cable Jumper Power
Connector Connector Connector
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 PC Fundamentals

End

Copyright © 2007 Heathkit Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved