What is a hard drive on a computer? How many types are there, which one should I choose?

Hard drive is an indispensable part of a computer that helps to read and store personal data. Let’s find out with Tnhelearning.edu.vn what is a hard drive on a computer, how many types are there and which one to choose!

What is a hard drive?

A computer hard drive, also known as a hard drive (Hard Disk Drive, abbreviated: HDD) is a device used to store data in your computer. With the rapid development of technology, today’s hard drives are thin, compact, and light, but the capacity is increasing.

Uses of hard drives

The hard drive, in addition to being in charge of storing data, is also directly related to important issues when using a computer such as: boot speed, speed of copying and exporting data of the machine, safety of personal data kernel on the machine.

Any software operations on your computer such as copying, pasting, starting software, etc., fast or slow depend on the hardware structure of the hard drive is good or not.

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The development history of the hard drive

The first hard drive was the IBM 350 RAMAC hard drive born in 1956 with an electric rotary motor system that weighed a ton and could only store up to 3.75MB. In 1976, the inventors replaced the magnetic disks with magnetic ferrite memory that provided faster speeds and better response times.

In 1980 , the first floppy disk drive was born, with a size of 5.25 inches, a very simple structure, weighing about 3.2 kg . The hard drive could be installed neatly and provided a high and stable data transfer rate, creating a technology craze at the time.

In 1988 , to meet the needs of businesses, a 2.4-inch hard drive was born with a capacity of 20MB and a short read and write speed of only 23MB/s . In 1995 , hard drives using NAND Flash memory were born, providing extremely fast, extremely stable connection speeds.

In the 21st century , hard drives have been born with many different capacities, the size has been reduced to a minimum. Today, the world has popularized hard drives with a very small size of only 2.5 inches , weighing less than 100g , but delivering extremely fast speeds with read and write speeds that can reach more than 540Mb/s .

Components of a hard drive

Magnetic disc

A magnetic disk is a circular metal disk mounted inside a hard drive. Some disks are mounted on a spindle motor to create multiple data storage surfaces in a smaller space.

To maintain organized data storage and retrieval, magnetic disks are arranged into specific structures. These specific structures include tracks (tracks), sectors, and clusters.

• Track : Each magnetic disk is divided into thousands of tightly packed concentric circles, called tracks. All information stored on the hard drive is recorded on the track.
• Sector: Each track is broken down into smaller units called sectors. Sector is the basic unit of data storage on the hard drive.
• Cluster : Sectors are often grouped together to form clusters.

Read/write head

The reader is the part between the magnetic media where the data is stored and the electronic components in the hard disk. The reader converts information in the form of bits into magnetic pulses when stored on the magnetic disk and reverses the process during reading.

Spindle motor

The spindle motor plays an important role in the operation of the hard drive by spinning the hard disk . A spindle motor must provide stable, reliable and consistent rotational power for many hours of continuous use.

Data processing circuit

The hard disk is made of a smart circuit board integrated into the hard disk unit. It is mounted on the bottom of the hard drive. The read and write heads are linked to the data processing circuit board via a flexible ribbon cable.

Hard drive slot

The entire hard disk is mounted in a sealed enclosure designed to protect it from outside air . Below the drive is called the base. The drive mechanisms are located in the base and cover, which are placed on top to ensure the tightness of the reader and magnetic disc.

Where is the hard drive installed on the computer?

Most computer hard drives are mounted inside the computer body and attached to the computer motherboard using an ATA, SCSI, or SATA cable.

What is hard drive capacity?

Hard drive capacity is the storage space, the space on the drive can store data for the operation of the computer. Depending on the storage space of each different type of drive, the drive capacity can range from a few hundred MB to several GB or several TB.

Important parameters on the hard drive

• Communication ports : Currently, on the Vietnamese market, users can choose from the following 4 communication ports: SATA2, SATA3, PCI-Express, USB 3.0.
• Maximum Sequential Read/Write Speed (Max Sequential Read/Writes): For example 550MB/s, 520MB/s
• Random Read/Write speed : Larger IPOS parameters mean higher SSD hard drive’s reading speed of small files.
• Standard storage memory : Currently, there are standard hard drive technologies including MLC, TLC, QLC. Usually, SSDs for personal use on the market use MLC – Multi level cell, while those for business use. then use SLC – Single level cell.
• Power consumption : Usually SSD hard drives (SATA2, SATA3) have a power consumption of about 3W.
• Included features : All SSDs today support the TRIM command , which helps the operating system proactively review and delete data that is no longer in use. This helps the hard drive work smoother , increasing the life of the hard drive.

How does the hard drive read and write data?

A hard drive is a sealed device that contains a number of stacked magnetic platters . Hard disks can be mounted vertically or horizontally . Electromagnetic read/write heads are located above and below each magnetic disk. As the platters rotate, the drive head moves toward the center surface and toward the edge. This way, the drive reader can reach the entire surface of each platter.

Popular types of hard drives

Compare SSD and HDD

As known, the use of both types is used to store data. But each type of hard drive will bring its own advantages and disadvantages.

• Price : SSD is much more expensive than HDD. For example: 1 HDD with 1TB capacity, you only lose about 1 million VND, but with 1TB SSD hard drive will be 10 million VND, 10 times more.
• Performance and popularity : SSDs are much more stable than HDDs. Besides, SSD has extremely good shock resistance compared to HDD. However, HDD is still more commonly used because of its low cost and large capacity.
• Speed : Is the absolute advantage of SSD when compared to HDD. SSD only takes a few seconds to boot the computer, HDD takes up to 1 minute or more, this speed is also true in programs on the machine, playing games or using graphics.
• Durability: The durability of SSD is much better than HDD because the physical structure of SSD is fixed. The HDD will have to work continuously with the rotating shaft and the magnetic disk.
• Noise: HDD will be quite vibrating and noisy when saving / exporting data, the new generation HDD will reduce some of the noise. Meanwhile, SSD hard drive works extremely smooth and quiet.
• Data fragmentation: Large and centralized data will be easier to save and access on HDD, if small data is easier to fragment and take more time, this does not appear on SSD due to chip structure removable memory and partitioned data on it.
• Appearance : SSD is appreciated for its form as well as design flexibility much more than HDD (required magnetic disk and must have a rotating shaft).

Compare internal hard drive (Internal Hard Drive) and external hard drive (External Hard Drive)

• Portability : If you compare the portability, of course the external hard drive has a much better advantage. With a compact design, the external hard drive is extremely convenient to put in a bag or suitcase.
• Read and write data speed : The internal hard drive has a data read and write speed about 30 MB/s faster than most conventional external hard drives.
• Weight, size : Most external hard drives today are about 2.5 inches and weigh 150g , powered via USB or Thunderbolt connections. The internal hard drives are about 3.5 inches in size.
• Bearing capacity : In general, external hard drives are often more at risk than internal hard drives, due to more direct impact from external forces. Although they have a better bearing design than computer hard drives, because they are external, problems are more common.
• Capacity : Most 2.5-inch external hard drives have a maximum capacity of 2 TB . Desktop drives are twice as large as 4 TB . However, the external hard drive market is increasingly diverse , with many specially designed with very large storage capacity such as Backup Plus Desktop with capacities up to 5 TB .
• Price: With the richness and variety of types, the price of external hard drives also fluctuates quite widely, meeting the needs of many people. In general, the internal hard drive is still more affordable than the portable hard drive.

Above is information about the hard drive on the computer that Tnhelearning.edu.vn shares with you. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below the article.