Hard Disk

Hard Disk

The hard disk drive is the main, and usually largest, data storage hardware device in a computer. The operating system, software titles, and most other files are stored in the hard disk drive.

The hard drive is sometimes referred to as the "C drive" due to the fact that Microsoft Windows, by default, designates the "C" drive letter to the primary  partition on the primary hard drive in a computer.

A few of the most popular hard drive manufacturers include Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, and Toshiba.

Hard Disk Drive Physical Description

A hard drive is usually the size of a paperback book, but much heavier.

The sides of the hard drive have pre-drilled, threaded holes for easy mounting in the 3.5-inch drive bay in the computer case

The back end of the hard drive contains a port for a cable that connects to the motherboard. The type of cable used (SATA or PATA) depends on the type of drive but is almost always included with a hard drive purchase. Also here is a connection for power from the power supply.

Most hard drives also have jumper settings on the back end that define how the motherboard is to recognize the drive when more than one is present. 

How a Hard Drive Works

Unlike volatile storage like RAM, a hard drive keeps a hold of its data even when powered off. This is why you can restart a computer, which powers down the HDD, but still have access to all the data when it's back on.

Storage Capacity

The hard disk drive capacity is a huge factor in determining whether someone will buy a particular device like a laptop or phone. If the storage capacity is rather small, it means it will fill up with files faster, whereas a drive that has lots and lots of storage can handle much more data.

Common Hard Disk Drive Tasks

One simple task that you can do with a hard drive is change the drive letter. Doing this lets you refer to the drive using a different letter. 

The hard drive in your computer is used over and over, each time you're doing something that involves reading or writing data to the disk. It's normal, then, to eventually run into a problem with the device.

One of the most common issues is a hard drive that’s making noise, and the best first step in troubleshooting a hard drive malfunction of any kind is to run a hard drive test.

Windows includes a built-in tool called chkdsk that helps identify and maybe even correct various hard drive errors. You can run the graphical version of this tool in most versions of windows.