To understand the basic workings of hard drives like, you first need to know their main components. The so-called discs are kept inside a kind of metal box. These cases are sealed to prevent external material from entering, as even a speck of dust can damage the discs. This means that if you open a hard drive in an unprepared environment without using the proper equipment and techniques, you have a high chance of causing damage.

Size Of Hdds (2.5 And 3.5 Inches)

Physically, HDs such as Cisco Meraki MX84 for example can have different dimensions, ranging from the size of a matchbox to large pieces. Fortunately, the industry has created sizing standards to make it easier to use hard drives in computers.

The most common dimensions are, in order, 3.5 inches (measurement represented by the character “) and 2.5 inches. These measurements refer to the diameter of the disks. Larger, 3.5-inch drives are commonly used in desktops, workstations, and servers, while 2.5-inch hard drives are common in notebooks, and some discs can be, for example, 1.8 or 1 inch in size. These units are rare and are often used in portable devices such as audio players.

Logic Board

So that you can get an idea of ​​how hard drives work, it’s helpful to know how these devices are organized. The following images help with this task. The figure in the sequence shows an HD seen from below. Note that this part contains chipboard. It is the logic board, an item that brings together components responsible for various tasks. One of them is a chip known as a controller, which manages a series of actions, such as moving disks and read/write heads (shown later), sending and receiving data between disks and the computer, and even safety routines.

Plates And Axis

Here is the most important component. The platters correspond to the disks on which data is stored. They are usually made of aluminum or a type of crystal-covered with magnetic material and a layer of protective material. The denser the magnetic material, the greater the disk’s storage capacity. Note that large-capacity hard drives have more than one platter, one on top of the other. They are positioned on an axis responsible for making them rotate. The most common hard drives spin at 7,200 RPM (revolutions per minute), but some models reach the rate of 10,000 or even 15,000 revolutions. In notebooks, it is conventional to use hard disks with 5,400 RPM.

By Robson