Presentation on Hard Disks

By-Satyam Jhawar
 Contents
●
What is Hard Disk
●
History of Hard Disk
●
Internal Structure of Hard Disk
●
Working of Hard Disk
●
Types of Hard Disk
●
Evolution of Hard Disk
●
Conclusion
 What is Hard Disk?
When we save some sort of data or install any programs on our computer, the
information is typically written to our hard disk. The hard disk is a spindle of
magnetic disks, called platters, that record and store information. Because the
data is stored magnetically, information recorded to the hard disk remains intact
after the computer is turned off. This is an important distinction between the hard
disk and RAM, or memory, which is reset when the computer's power is turned off.

The hard disk is housed inside the hard drive, which reads and writes data to the
disk. The hard drive also transmits data back and forth between the CPU and the
disk. When you save data on your hard disk, the hard drive has to write
thousands, if not millions, of ones and zeros to the hard disk. It is an amazing
process to think about, but may also be a good incentive to keep a backup of your
data.
How Does a Hard Disk Look Like?
 History of Hard Disk
In 1953, IBM recognized the immediate application for what it termed a "Random
Access File" having high capacity and rapid random access at a relatively low cost.
After considering technologies such as wire matrices, rod arrays, drums, drum
arrays, etc., the engineers at IBM's San Jose California laboratory invented the hard
disk drive. The disk drive created a new level in the computer data hierarchy, then
termed Random Access Storage but today known as secondary storage, less
expensive and slower than main memory but faster and more expensive than tape
drives.
The first hard drive was developed by IBM's Reynold B. Johnson and announced on
September 4, 1956 as the IBM 350 Disk Storage Unit.
The commercial usage of hard disk drives (HDD) began in 1957, with the shipment
of a production IBM 305 RAMAC system including IBM Model 350 disk storage.US
Patent 3,503,060 issued March 24, 1970, and arising from the IBM RAMAC
program is generally considered to be the fundamental patent for disk drives.
 History of Hard Disk(contd.)
Each generation of disk drives replaced larger, more sensitive and
more cumbersome devices. The earliest drives were usable only in the
protected environment of a data center. Later generations progressively
reached factories, offices and homes, eventually becoming ubiquitous.

The capacity of hard drives has grown exponentially over time. When
hard drives became available for personal computers, they offered 5-
megabyte capacity. During the mid-1990s the typical hard disk drive for
a PC had a capacity of about 1 gigabyte. As of December 2019,
desktop hard disk drives typically had a capacity of 1 to 6 terabytes,
with the largest-capacity drives reaching 16 terabytes.
 Dimensions of the first Hard Disk
Disk media diameter was initially
24 inches in diameter, but over
time it has been reduced to
today's 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch
standard sizes. Drives with the
larger 24-inch- and 14-inch-
diameter media were typically
mounted in standalone boxes
(resembling washing machines) or
large equipment rack enclosures.
Individual drives often required
high-current AC power due to the
large motors required to spin the
large disks. Drives with smaller
media generally conformed to de
facto standard form factors.
Internal Architecture of a Hard Disk
 Internal Architecture of a Hard
Disk(contd.)
Platter
●
A platter is a circular, metal disk that is
mounted inside a hard disk drive. Several
platters are mounted on a fixed spindle motor
to create more data storage surfaces in a
smaller area. The platter has a core made up
of aluminium or glass substrate, covered with
a thin layer of Ferric oxide or cobalt alloy. On
both sides of the substrate material, a thin
coating is deposited by a special
manufacturing technique. This, thin coating
where actual data is stored is the media layer.
When the magnetic media is applied to the
surface of the substrate material, a thin
lubricating layer is applied to protect the
material.
 Internal Architecture of a Hard
Disk(contd.)
●
Spindle
●
Spindle motor plays an
important role in hard drive
operation by turning the hard
disk platters. A spindle motor
must provide stable, reliable,
and consistent turning power for
many hours of continuous use.
Many hard drive failures occur
due to spindle motor not
functioning properly
 Internal Architecture of a Hard
Disk(contd.)
●
The Read/Write Arm
●
The read/write arm controls the
movement of the read/write heads, which
do the actual reading and writing on the
disk platters by converting the magnetic
surface into an electric current. The arm
makes sure the heads are in the right
position based on the data that needs to
be accessed or written; it's also known as
the head arm or actuator arm. There is
typically one read/write head for every
platter side, which floats 3 to 20 millionths
of an inch above the platter surface.
 Internal Architecture of a Hard
Disk(contd.)
●
Actuator
●
The actuator or head actuator
is a small motor that takes
instructions from the drive's
circuit board to control the
movement of the read/write
arm and supervise the
transfer of data to and from
the platters. It's responsible
for ensuring the read/write
heads are in exactly the right
place at all times.
 Internal Architecture of a Hard
Disk(contd.)
●
Other Components of a Hard Drive
●
As well as the casing on the outside of the hard
disk that holds all of the components together,
the front-end circuit board controls input and
output signals in tandem with the ports at the
end of the drive. No matter what the type of
drive, it has one port for a power supply and
one port for transferring data and instructions to
and from the rest of the system.
 How does a Hard Drive Work?
In your computer's hard drive, there aren't really any iron
nails. There's just a large shiny, circular "plate" of magnetic
material called a platter, divided into billions of tiny areas.
Each one of those areas can be independently magnetized (to
store a 1) or demagnetized (to store a 0). Magnetism is used
in computer storage because it goes on storing information
even when the power is switched off. If you magnetize a nail,
it stays magnetized until you demagnetize it. In much the
same way, the computerized information (or data) stored in
your PC hard drive or iPod stays there even when you switch
the power off.
 How does a Hard Drive Work?
(contd.)
The platters are the most important parts of a hard drive.
A small hard drive typically has only one platter, but each side of it has a
magnetic coating. Bigger drives have a series of platters stacked on a
central spindle, with a small gap in between them. The platters rotate at
up to 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) so the read-write heads can
access any part of them.There are two read-write heads for each platter,
one to read the top surface and one to read the bottom, so a hard drive
that has five platters (say) would need ten separate read-write heads.
The read-write heads are mounted on an electrically controlled arm that
moves from the center of the drive to the outer edge and back again. To
reduce wear and tear, they don't actually touch the platter: there's a layer
of fluid or air between the head and the platter surface.
 Types of Hard Disks
In the present Generation we have 4 types of hard
disks:
1) Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment
(PATA)
2) Serial ATA (SATA)
3) Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
4) Solid State Drives (SSD)
 PATA Hard Disks
These were the first types of hard disk drives
and they made use of the Parallel ATA interface
standard to connect to computers. These types
of drives are the ones we refer to as Integrated
Drive Electronics (IDE) and Enhanced
Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) drives.
These PATA drives were introduced by Western
Digital back in 1986. They provided a common
drive interface technology for connecting hard
drives and other devices to computers. Data
transfer rate can go up to 133MB/s and a
maximum of 2 devices can be connected to a
drive channel. Most of the motherboards have a
provision of two channels, thus a total of 4 EIDE
devices can be connected internally.
 SATA Hard Disks
These hard drives have replaced the
PATA drives in desktop and laptop
computers. The main physical
difference between the two is the
interface, although their method of
connecting to a computer is the
same. Here are some advantages of
SATA Hard Disk Drives. Worth noting
is that their capacities vary a lot and
so does the prices. When buying a
disk drive, you need to know its
storage capacity and how much
storage you want.
 Advantages of SATA over PATA
●
SATA drives can transfer data faster than PATA
types by using serial signaling technology.
●
SATA cables are thinner and more flexible than
PATA cables.
●
They have a 7-pin data connection, with cable limit
of 1 meter.
●
Disks do not share bandwidth because there is only
one disk drive allowed per SATA controller chip on the
computer motherboard.
●
They consume less power. They only require 250
mV as opposed to 5V for PATA.
 SCSI Hard Disks
These are quite similar to IDE hard drives but
they make use of the Small Computer
System Interface to connect to the computer.
SCSI drives can be connected internally or
externally. Devices that are connected in a
SCSI have to be terminated at the end. Here
are some of their advantages.
●
They are faster.
●
They are very reliable.
●
Good for 24/7 operations.
●
Have a better scalability and flexibility in
arrays.
●
Well-adapted for storing and moving
large amounts of data.
 SSD Hard Disks
These are the latest in drive
technology that we have in the
computer industry. They are totally
different from the other drives in
that they do not consist of moving
parts. They also do not store data
using magnetism. Instead, they
make use of flash memory
technology. They make use of
integrated circuits or semiconductor
devices to store data permanently,
at least until they are erased.
 Evolution of hard disks
Improvement of HDD characteristics over time
Started with (1957) Developed to (2019 Improvement
Parameter )
Capacity 3.7 16 terabytes 4-million-to-one
(formatted)
Physical volume 68 cubic feet 2.1 cubic inches 56,000-to-one
(1.9 metre cube) (34 centi metre
cube)
Weight 2,000 pounds 2.2 ounces 15,000-to-one
(910 kg)[6] (62 g)[19]
Average access approx. 2.5 ms to 10 ms; about
time 600 milliseconds RW RAM 200-to-one
dependent
Price US$9,200 per US$0.032 per 300-million-to-one
megabyte (1961) gigabyte by 2015
Data density 2,000 bits per 1.3 terabits per 650-million-to-one
square inch square inch in 2015
Average lifespan c. 2000 hrs c. 2,500,000 hrs 1250-to-one
MTBF[citation (~285 years) MTBF
needed]
 Conclusion
So hereby, I conclude my PPT.

Henceforth I would like to say that without the

invention of Hard Disks, it would have been too
difficult for the modern day life to store such large
amount of data in such a small room.