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You
push the power button on your computer. The lights
come on, the monitor screen flashes, the fans whir.
White writing appears on the screen, informing you of
your PC’s startup routine. Suddenly a message
appears, stating: “No operating system found. Please
insert boot disk to continue.”
Ever
had this happen to you? The operating system, or
Windows, as many of you will know it, must be stored
inside the computer, to be available every time you
use it. This storage space inside your computer is
called...
The
Hard Drive
The
hard drive is a rather amazing piece of technology.
The drive is made up of several metal disks, coated on
both sides with magnetic particles, similar to the
particles on cassette and video tapes. These metal
disks are stacked one on top of the other, around a
central spindle, which is driven by a 12 volt motor.
Interspaced between the layers of disks are metal
arms, called fingers, which have at their tips the
heads which read the metal disks. The heads do not
actually touch the disks, but are spaced ever so
closely to them, closer than a hairs width. The 12
volt motor spins the metal disks at either 5400, 7200,
or 10,000 rpm, depending on the type of hard drive.
All these parts are enclosed in an alloy case, which
is sealed to keep out the dust.
Your
hard drive today can hold a massive amount of data.
Depending on the number of disks, and how they are
divided, your hard drive can hold up to 400GB of data.
That is 400,000 MB, or the equivalent of 16,000,000
copies of this article. To achieve this, the magnetic
disks are divided into tracks, which are then divided
into cylinders, then sectors. This is much like how a
town is laid out. The tracks are the streets, the
cylinders are the house blocks, and the sectors are
the buildings on the blocks. There can be different
sized sectors, depending how the magnetic particles
are laid out.
So
how is your Windows operating system stored on the
hard drive? First, your hard drive’s tracks,
cylinders, and sectors must be laid out and
identified. This is called “formatting”. Once the
hard drive’s layout is organized, then the files of
Windows can be slotted into place. This is known as
“installing” Windows. Once this process is
complete, then next time you turn on your computer,
the startup routine will find the first file of
Windows on the hard drive, called the “boot sector”.
Then the other files in the process can be found, and
Windows starts up.
A
hard drive should always be handled carefully. A hard
drive can only handle approximately 85 to 300 grams of
shock, before damage to the heads will result. This is
equivalent to dropping the hard drive onto a hard
surface from 10 cms. If treated well, hard drives run
reliably for several years.
For
any PC questions or problems, please call us on 0419
790 071, or email us at info@mcsyarraman.com.au, or
visit our site.
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