Understanding Hard Disks &

File Systems
Md. Al Imran, CISA, CEH
Disk Drive
Disk Drive
• Magnetic storage drive
• Store data using magnets to read and write data by manipulating magnetic
fields
• Disks inside media rotate at high speed and heads in the disk drive read and
write data
• Floppy disk, magnetic tapes
• Optical storage drive
• Electronic storage media that store and read the data in the form of binary
values using a laser beam
• Uses lights of different densities to store and read the data
• CD, DVD
Disk Drive
• Flash memory drive
• Non volatile electronically erasable and reprogrammable storage medium
that is capable of retaining data even in the absence of power
• It is a type of Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only
Memory(EEPROM)
• Cheap and more efficient compared to other storage device
• USB, MP3 Players, digital camera
Physical structure of HDD
Structure of HDD
Logical structure of HDD
HDD interfaces
Tracks
Sector
Clusters
Slack spaces
Bad sectors
Bit, Nibble and Byte
HDD performance
HDD partitions
Master Boot Record(MBR)
Windows File System
File Allocation Table(FAT)
New Technology File Systems(NTFS)