Hard Drive
A computer is really an entire system which is made up of a number of components. The modern all-in-one computer houses numerous components that are all hidden behind the monitor. Inside the computer making it function there are components such as a motherboard, power supply, Random-access memory (RAM), a central processing unit, cooling devices, and drives. All of these pieces have to work together in order for the computer to function as it was designed, including the hard drive. Most computer users have minimal knowledge about how the hard drive works and don’t know much beyond spinning disks and heads that can read and write data. Inside the hard drive there is a world of electric parts that work together.
What does the hard drive do?
The computer’s hard drive is used to store information. But it holds enormous amounts of data and is usually the main method of storing information. The hard drive stores all of the data used to run the computer’s programs as well as all of the user’s files. It is located inside the computer system but in some instances, users find that they need increased storage space and an external hard drive is used.
Hard Drive Heads
We are usually aware that the hard drive contains heads that move, but what exactly makes them move? The head has to seek out a magnetic region that is barely a few nanometers across while the disk is spinning thousands of times per minute. Although it is similar to a motor, it is certainly not a normal one. The heads in the hard drive are moved with what is called a “voice coil actuator” in a way that is similar to the way a cone inside speakers moves to produce sound. A Lorentz force is used to apply very small bits of electricity to a wire which causes the hard drive to move precisely and accurately. A Lorentz force is a combination of magnetic and electrical force which acts in response to an electromagnetic field. Inside the hard drive there are no cogs and there is very little wear and tear which means that the hard drive is going to last a lot longer than other similar machines.
How the Head Reads Data
The most basic description of a head in the hard drive is a piece of metal wrapped in wire. When the head moves across the magnetic fields located on a platter, there are changes in magnetism which create a current which is measured and then converted into all 1s and 0s – or a binary value. That sounds simple, but in reality there are different methods for creating hard drive heads and for designing them to encode data on this magnetic surface. Even though there are some differences between hard drives in computers, Faraday’s law of induction is always in use. Faraday’s law of induction is one of the most basic laws of electromagnetism which is used to predict how a magnetic field is going to interact with electric circuits in order to produce an EMF or electromotive force which is also called electromagnetic induction. This is one of the basic operating principles behind many electric parts like transformers, inductors, generators, solenoids and many different kinds of electrical motors.
Floating Heads
Hard drives have a data density of something like 625 billion bits or 78 GB per inch. Because this density is extremely high, the head has to be able to float just slightly above the magnetic regions, ideally only 5 to 10 nanometers over it. Rather than trying to use a fixed head which hangs about 10 nanometers over the platters, the hard drive floats just above the platters on a layer of air. This cushion of air is provided by the rotation of the drive. It has a way of correcting itself and making constant adjustments to remain in the proper place. If the head starts to rise too far it will lose buoyancy and fall back down to its proper “floating height.” If the hard drive increases in density, the floating height will adjust to be lower. Just to get an idea of the type of space that is between the hard drive and the platter, 10 nanometers is three times smaller than transistors that you’ve seen in some of the most modern computer processors.
What does the hard drive do?
The computer’s hard drive is used to store information. But it holds enormous amounts of data and is usually the main method of storing information. The hard drive stores all of the data used to run the computer’s programs as well as all of the user’s files. It is located inside the computer system but in some instances, users find that they need increased storage space and an external hard drive is used.
Hard Drive Heads
We are usually aware that the hard drive contains heads that move, but what exactly makes them move? The head has to seek out a magnetic region that is barely a few nanometers across while the disk is spinning thousands of times per minute. Although it is similar to a motor, it is certainly not a normal one. The heads in the hard drive are moved with what is called a “voice coil actuator” in a way that is similar to the way a cone inside speakers moves to produce sound. A Lorentz force is used to apply very small bits of electricity to a wire which causes the hard drive to move precisely and accurately. A Lorentz force is a combination of magnetic and electrical force which acts in response to an electromagnetic field. Inside the hard drive there are no cogs and there is very little wear and tear which means that the hard drive is going to last a lot longer than other similar machines.
How the Head Reads Data
The most basic description of a head in the hard drive is a piece of metal wrapped in wire. When the head moves across the magnetic fields located on a platter, there are changes in magnetism which create a current which is measured and then converted into all 1s and 0s – or a binary value. That sounds simple, but in reality there are different methods for creating hard drive heads and for designing them to encode data on this magnetic surface. Even though there are some differences between hard drives in computers, Faraday’s law of induction is always in use. Faraday’s law of induction is one of the most basic laws of electromagnetism which is used to predict how a magnetic field is going to interact with electric circuits in order to produce an EMF or electromotive force which is also called electromagnetic induction. This is one of the basic operating principles behind many electric parts like transformers, inductors, generators, solenoids and many different kinds of electrical motors.
Floating Heads
Hard drives have a data density of something like 625 billion bits or 78 GB per inch. Because this density is extremely high, the head has to be able to float just slightly above the magnetic regions, ideally only 5 to 10 nanometers over it. Rather than trying to use a fixed head which hangs about 10 nanometers over the platters, the hard drive floats just above the platters on a layer of air. This cushion of air is provided by the rotation of the drive. It has a way of correcting itself and making constant adjustments to remain in the proper place. If the head starts to rise too far it will lose buoyancy and fall back down to its proper “floating height.” If the hard drive increases in density, the floating height will adjust to be lower. Just to get an idea of the type of space that is between the hard drive and the platter, 10 nanometers is three times smaller than transistors that you’ve seen in some of the most modern computer processors.