HARD DRIVE DISK

WHAT IS A HARD DRIVE DISK (HDD)

• Alternatively referred to as a hard disk drive and

abbreviated as HD or HDD, the hard drive is the
computer's main storage media device that
permanently stores all data on the computer. Most
computer hard drives are in an internal drive bay at
the front of the computer and connect to the
motherboard using either ATA, SCSI, or a SATA
cable and power cable.
 HARD DRIVE

• The desktop hard

drive has six
components: the
head actuator,
read/write
actuator arm,
read/write head,
spindle, and
platter. On the
back of a hard
drive is a circuit
board called the
disk controller.
COMPONENTS OF THE HARD DRIVE

• An actuator is an electronic device controlled by a

motor that moves the hard drive head arm. In the past,
the actuator within a hard drive was controlled by a
stepper motor. However, today the actuator is often
controlled by a servo motor.

• Alternatively referred to as read/write head arm, head

arm, or actuator arm, the access arm is in every
mechanical hard drive; similar in appearance to the arm
of a record player. As the platter spins, the access arm
adjusts the read/write heads to facilitate the reading,
writing, or deletion of information.
COMPONENTS OF THE HARD DRIVE

• A read/write head or RW head is a device found on

the arm of a hard drive that is used to read and
write data from the hard drive's disk platter. Hard
drives usually have one read/write head for each
platter side.

• Spindle is what holds a hard drives platters in place.

With a traditional hard drive there is the need to
have multiple platters. The spindle holds these
platters in a fixed position with enough space for
the read/write arms to get to the data on the disks.
COMPONENTS OF THE HARD DRIVE

• Platter is one or more aluminum, glass, or ceramic

disk that is coated in a magnetic media and is
located within a hard drive to permanently store all
your computer's data. When the computer is turned
on, these platters will begin to rotate at so many
rotations per minute (RPM).

• Printed circuitry that contains the necessary

instructions for diskette drives. The disk controller is
responsible for such drives as the hard drive, floppy
disk drive, CD-ROM drive, and any other drive.
Today, most disk controllers are found on the
motherboard.
EXTERNAL & INTERNAL HARD DRIVE

• Although most hard drives are internal hard drives,

many users also use external hard drives to backup
data on their computer and expand the total
amount of space available to them. External drives
are often stored in an enclosure that helps protect
the drive and allow it to interface with the
computer, usually over USB or eSATA.
 SOLID STATE DRIVE (SSD)

• Solid-State Drive or Solid-State Disk,

SSD is a drive that uses non-volatile
memory as a means of storing and
accessing data, much like computer
RAM. Unlike other storage devices
such as hard drives, an SSD has no
moving parts, which gives it
advantages such as accessing
stored information faster, produces
no noise, often more reliable, and
consume much less power than the
traditional hard drive (HDD) found in
computers
 SOLID STATE DRIVE

• Solid State Drives (SSDs) are starting to replace hard

disk drives (HDDs) in many computers because of
the clear advantages these drives have over HDD
TOPIC SSD HDD
Access time An SSD has access speeds of A typical HDD takes
35 to 100 micro-seconds, about 5,000 to 10,000
which is nearly 100 times micro-seconds to
faster. access data.
reliability The SSD drive has no moving The HDD has moving
parts. It uses flash memory to parts and magnetic
store data, which provides platters, meaning the
better performance and more use they get, the
reliability over an HDD faster they wear down
and fail.
 TOPIC SSD HDD
capacity Although there are large Several terabyte hard disk drives
SSDs realistically for most are available for very
people's budgets anything reasonable prices.
over 512GB SSD is beyond
their price range.

power The SSD uses less power With all the parts and
than a standard HDD, requirements to spin the platters
which means a lower the HDD uses more power than
energy bill over time and an SSD.
for laptops an increase of
battery life.
heat Because there are no With moving parts comes
moving parts ,the SSD added heat, which is why the
generates less heat HDD generates more heat
magnetism SSD is not affected by Because a hard drive relies off
magnetism. magnetism to write information
to the platter information could
be erased from an HDD using
strong magnets.
 HARD DRIVE INTERFACE

There are a few ways in which a hard disk can

connect/interface with:

1. (A)dvanced (T)echnology (A)ttachment (Also

known as IDE, ATAPI and Parallel ATA)
2. (S)erial ATA
3. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
HARD DRIVE INTERFACE- PATA/IDE

Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA)

• These types of drives are also known as Integrated
Drive Electronics (IDE) and Enhanced Integrated
Drive Electronics (EIDE) drives. The labels relate to
the type of interface that is employed to connect
the disk drive to the CPU board. These drives utilize
either a 40 or a 80 wire cable with a broad 40-pin
connector.
 PROS & CONS OF PATA

Disadvantages

• Older ATA adapters will limit transfer rates according to

the slower attached device (debatable)
• Only ONE device on the ATA cable is able to read/write
at one time
• Limited standard for cable length (up to 18inches/46cm)

Advantages

• Low costs
• Large capacity
 HARD DRIVE INTERFACE- SATA

Serial ATA (SATA)

• These hard disks use a totally different connector
than their PATA counterparts. Moreover, they also
employ a different power adapter than IDE ones,
though adapters are easily attainable. The main
difference between a SATA and a PATA hard disk is
that the former is thinner and purportedly have a
faster data interface than the latter.
 PROS & CONS OF SATA

Disadvantages

• Slower transfer rates compared to SCSI

• Not supported in older systems without the use of
additional components
Advantages

• Low costs
• Large capacity
• Faster transfer rates compared to ATA (difference is
marginal at times though)
• Smaller cables for better heat dissipation
PATA VS SATA
 HARD DRIVE INTERFACE- SCSI

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)

• These hard disks are similar to IDE hard drives. They
also spin at a higher rate in comparison to IDE and
SATA ones. IDE and SATA drives generally spin at
7,200 rpm, whereas SCSI ones spin at 10,000 to
15,000 rpm. SCSI hard disks need a controller that
operates the interface between the drives and the
computer motherboard.
 DISADVANTAGES OF SCSI

SCSI is commonly used in servers, and more in

industrial applications than home uses.

Disadvantages

• Costs
• Not widely supported
• Many, many different kinds of SCSI interfaces
• SCSI drives have a higher RPM, creating more noise
and heat
 ADVANTAGES OF SCSI

Advantages

• Faster
• Wide range of applications
• Better scalability and flexibility in Arrays (RAID)
• Backward compatible with older SCSI devices
• Better for storing and moving large amounts of data
• Reliability
 PIO MODE VERSUS DMA MODE

• ATA defines two classes of transfer mode, called

PIO Mode (Programmed I/O Mode) and DMA Mode
(Direct Memory Access Mode). PIO mode transfers
are much slower and require the processor to
arbitrate transfers between the device and
memory. DMA mode transfers are much faster and
occur without processor intervention.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

• Depending on what level of DMA your hard disk

and interface support, enabling DMA transfers may
or may not increase disk performance noticeably,
but enabling DMA is always worthwhile, because it
greatly reduces the burden that PIO transfers place
on the processor. Eg If a computer has 75% CPU
utilization using PIO transfers, that same computer
using DMA transfers may provide the same or better
disk performance at perhaps 1.5% CPU utilization.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

• When you install a second hard drive and restart

the system, immediately check the current DMA
status of that drive and enable DMA if it is not
currently enabled. To do so, take the following
steps:

1. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties to

display the System Properties dialog.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

2. Click the Hardware tab and then Device

Manager button to display the Device Manager
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

3. Locate and expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

item. On a standard system with both ATA
controllers enabled, there are three items listed.
The first describes the ATA controller itself and may
be ignored. The other two items are the Primary
IDE Channel and Secondary IDE Channel.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

4. Right-click the
channel to which
the device for
which you want
to enable DMA is
connected,
choose
Properties, and
then click the
Advanced
Settings tab.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

5. This dialog displays the Device Type and Current

Transfer Mode for Device 0 (master) and Device 1
(slave) on the selected ATA channel. The Current
Transfer Mode field shows the transfer mode
currently in use, and may be changed as follows:
DMA Mode x or Ultra DMA Mode x
1. Windows is using the indicated MDA or UDMA
mode, which is the fastest mode supported by the
interface, cable, and device
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

PIO Mode or PIO Mode x

2. Windows is using the fastest PIO mode supported
by the interface and device, typically PIO-4 (16.7
MB/s). If Transfer Mode is currently set to PIO Only,
you may be able to enable DMA by setting
Transfer Mode to "DMA if available" and restarting
the system. If the Current Transfer Mode for the
device still shows PIO Mode after the system is
restarted, that device cannot be used in DMA
mode. Replace the device with one that supports
DMA.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

Not Applicable
3. No device is installed. All recent versions of
Windows automatically disable DMA transfers at
boot and revert to PIO transfers if they detect an
obvious DMA problem. A DMA checkbox that
won't stay checked when you restart the system is
a good indication that your computer does not
support DMA properly. Unfortunately, this method
of determining support is not full proof.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

DMA may appear to install successfully, but may

have intermittent problems anyway. Any of the
following symptoms may (or may not) indicate a
DMA problem:

You cannot access the hard disk at all, or you

notice corrupt or missing files.

The drive sometimes hangs briefly or seems to

speed up and slow down during file access.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

The keyboard or the foreground application

sometimes stops responding for short periods, or the
mouse becomes jerky or nonresponsive.

Windows locks up during the Plug and Play

detection phase of Setup.

Windows will start only in Safe Mode.

Windows shutdown takes a lot longer than before

you enabled DMA.
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

If any of those problems occur, it does not necessarily

mean that you cannot use DMA with your computer.
The following are likely causes of the problems:

Cable -According to the ATA standard, cables can

be no longer than 18"(0.45 m), but we often see
PATA cables of 24" and even 36“

Drive-All current drives support DMA properly, but

some early UltraATA-33 drives did not implement
DMA modes correctly
ENABLING DMA MODE TRANSFERS

Bios- Some early BIOS implementations that

nominally provide DMA support do not do so
correctly. If a more recent BIOS revision is available
for your computer, downloading it and installing it
may resolve intermittent DMA problems
 CHOOSING HARD DRIVE

Western Digital - Western Digital Corporation is the

current leader in hard drive manufacturing for
desktop and laptop drives.
Seagate Technology- second big name brand
Toshiba - Toshiba is proving to be a major
competitor in the game as they keep their focus on
there line of Solid State hard drives
Fujitsu
Hitachi
 CHOOSING HARD DRIVE

• G-Technology - Is a newer product marketed for

Macintosh
• EMC Corporation - focuses mainly on cloud backup
technologies
• Maxtor
• Quantum
• Samsung Electronics
• Iomega
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

1. Power down the computer. Shut

off the power supply in the back

2. Remove the case panels. You

may need a Phillip’s head
screwdriver, but most newer
computers have thumbscrews.

3. Make sure you are grounded. If

your computer is still plugged in
(but the power supply is
switched off),
 INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

4. Remove the old drive (if applicable). If you are

removing an old hard drive, make sure all of the
cables are disconnected from both the
motherboard and the power supply. Unscrew all the
screws on both sides of the hard drive, and then
slide it out of the housing.
You may need to remove more cables or cards in
order to access the hard drives in a tight case.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

5. Insert your new drive. Remove it from the antistatic

packaging and slide it into an open space in the
hard drive housing. The drive should slide directly
in, and the holes on the side of the drive should
line up to the screw guides on the housing.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

6. Secure the hard drive. Once the hard drive has

been inserted, use the screws that came with it to
secure the hard drive in the housing. Ideally you
should use two screws on each side of the hard
drive. If the hard drive is loose, it can rattle and
cause more noise and lead to physical damage.
Tighten the screws to a firm tightness, but don’t
over tighten as that may cause damage as well.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

7. Connect a SATA hard drive to the motherboard.

Newer hard drives will use SATA cables, which are
thin and resemble USB cables. Use a SATA cable
to connect the hard drive to the motherboard.
SATA cables can be connected in either direction.

If you are connecting your primary hard drive, the

SATA cable should be plugged into the first SATA
channel. This may be labelled SATA0 or SATA1.

Secondary drives should be connected to the next

available SATA channel.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

8. Connect a PATA (IDE) hard drive to the

motherboard. IDE drives are older model hard
drives that can be identified by the long rows of
pins on the back. IDE Drives are connected via an
IDE cable, which is wide and flat. The cable is
usually grey in colour.
The blue end of the cable plugs into the
motherboard. The black connector plugs into your
primary (Master) drive, while the black connector
plugs into the secondary (Slave) drive if applicable.
Set the jumper for your primary drive to Master. The
jumper diagram should be printed onto the hard
drive.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE
 INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

9. Connect the power supply to the hard

drive. Most newer power supplies have
SATA power connectors, though older
power supplies typically only have Molex
(4 pin) connectors. If this is the case, and
you are installing a SATA drive, you will
need a Molex-to-SATA adapter. IDE
drives will use the Molex connector

10. Close up your computer. Replace the

case sides and reconnect your cables if
you had to move the case to work on the
inside.
INSTALLING A DESKTOP HARD DRIVE

11. Finish the installation. Once you’ve got everything

connected and the computer turned back on,
you’ll need to finish the installation of the hard
drive from your computer. If you are replacing
your primary drive, you’ll have to reinstall your
operating system. If you are adding a new drive,
you’ll need to format the drive before you can use
it.
 INSTALLING A LAPTOP HARD DRIVE

1. Power down your laptop. Shut your

laptop down completely (don’t put it
in Sleep mode). Turn it over and
remove the battery from the back of
the laptop. This will help prevent the
possibility of electrocution.

2. Open the hard disk panel. This panel is

located on the bottom of the laptop.
You will need a small Phillip’s head
screwdriver in order to remove the
screws and the panel.
 INSTALLING A LAPTOP HARD DRIVE

3. Unscrew the hard drive. Depending on

the laptop, you may have to remove a
screw or two before you can remove
the hard drive.
4. Pull the ribbon to release the hard drive.
The hard drive will pop back about half
an inch, allowing you to remove it from
its housing.
5. Ensure that you insert it with the correct
side facing out. Once you’ve placed
the hard drive in the housing, press it
firmly into the connectors.
 INSTALLING A LAPTOP HARD DRIVE

6. Close up the laptop. Once the hard drive is

installed, close up the panel and reinsert the
battery. Make sure the panel is securely closed.
 REFERENCE

• http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/h/harddriv.
htm
• http://www.wikihow.com/Install-a-Hard-Drive
• https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Enabling_DMA_Mode_Tr
ansfers
• http://forums.vso-software.fr/how-to-check-enable-
dma-transfers-in-windows-xp-t2796.html
• http://www.adrc.com/interfaces.html
• http://www.southjerseydata.com/hard-drive-
manufacturers.html