Hard Disk Role in Computer System
The hard disk possesses a major role in the various aspects relative to the operation of a computer system that includes:
• Performance – hard disk is important in determining overall computer system performance because the speed of boot up and loading of software applications are directly affected by the speed of the hard disk. It is equally vital during multi-tasking operations or processing large amounts of data;
• Storage Capacity – obviously, being the main storage device, a higher capacity allows for storage of more data and programs;
• Software Support – with inflated operating system files and software applications, the hard disk provides critical support to their stable performance;
• Reliability – good quality coupled with smart maintenance and back up will help protect your data.
Secure Erase
Identity theft and data loss may leave the company at stake being liable under federal law. HIPPA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Graham-Leach-Bliley and other state laws are example of the federal laws. Penalties include fines and imprison of 20 years plus results of civil suits if any.
Secure Erase makes it safe to avoid the crimes. It is a set of command mostly incorporated in ATA drives. This technology is available since 2001. But it was disabled by most of motherboard BIOS. That’s why many of users don’t know it besides Murphy’s Law was still enforced. Secure Erase is a gun aimed right to all of the data in the PC.
How Much is Enough
The ability to connect a specific hard drive is generally limited but he architecture of the motherboard and bios as a matter of fact with most today limited to 500GB in capacity. Attach a larger drive and you may not be able to utilize the full capacity of the drive which you may find out in the detected drive displayed within the BIOS setup screen. Though most motherboards now use auto detect, detecting and getting the information about the hard drive from the internal electronics, there was actually a time when you had to know the parameters of the drive for one to mount it and use it properly. IDE today has become an older standard, replaced by SATA which has faster transfer rates and other speedy attributes. They also have a slimmer connector that lessens the restrictive effect the former 80-wire flat cable had on the overall computer system. Continue reading »
Hard Drive – Size does matter
Hard drives come in many forms and shapes, the most common are the 5 1/4″ and the 2 1/2″ the first appearing on desktops and the later on laptops. As of this year, the highest capacity hard drive has topped the 2TB capacity and is set to improve further as data storage technologies improve. The smallest hard drive ever made was a 0.85″ hard drive developed by Toshiba for use as if it were an SD/MMC card for data storage on a computer or mobile devices. The two forms of hard drives have stood the test of time due to the fact that flash memory has experienced such a boom prices have fallen making them a more viable storage solution for smaller needs. The speed at which these drives spin can range from 5,400 to 7,200 rpm the later of which was the long standing standard for server-type SCSI hard drives that were very expensive. Most mobile computers (laptops) come with a 5,400 rpm drive due to the sound considerations when using the device, the faster the device the louder the sound (the spinning sound or hum you hear). You can in theory use faster hard drives on mobile computers but they would reduce battery life and make it noisier defeating the overall design of the laptop. Continue reading »
S.M.A.R.T. – Saving your data before you know it!
SMART is a monitoring technology build into the electronics of hard drives as a way of the computer monitoring it’s performance and may give warning of pending failure. Though the system is generally one that works without a hitch, it cannot protect you from sudden hardware failure which leaves the drive non-operational. Sudden hardware failure is estimated to account for 60% of all drive failures, and is attributed to rough handling or drops and knocks say a laptop falling onto the floor from your desk. They are designed to withstand specific amount of impact force (measured in G’s) that means a hard drive may survive a fall from a 3-foot desk. Continue reading »
MTBF – Meaure of Reliability
Mean-Time-Between-Failure or MTBF is a term used to describe the reliability of the parts of a computer system from a technical standpoint describing reliability and is measured in hours. The higher this number the more reliable a computer part is. with respect to hard disk drives, particularly IDE drives this denotes the number of hours before it fails or parts of the electronics, motors and bearings can last without any failure. This is an older measure used by the computing industry when hard drives were still quite steeply priced with the best ones reserved fro use on servers and other high demand uses. Ide has long been replaced by the SATA standard which eliminates the thick IDE cable that blocks airflow within a computer’s casing preventing proper cooling.
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The IDE Hardisk
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Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disks have been around for quite a few years. Prior to these drives, hard disks were interfaced to a PC motherboard via an extension board known as a hard disk controller. The drive did most of the mechanical stuff and performed essential electronic/servo functions; the controller told it in detail what to do. The development of the IDE hard moved most of the electronics and firmware (low-level software on a chip) from the controller to a printed circuit board on the drive itself. In the process, a buffer/cache’ memory was added to the electronics to speed-up the process of reading and writing hard disk drive data. The drive got “smarter.” Overall costs went down and performance went up.
A much simpler board, usually identified as an IDE Controller, interfaced the IDE hard disk to the motherboard bus. The term IDE Controller is a misnomer. It is really nothing more than a bus interface and an interface and connector for the IDE cable going to the drive. The actual controller is on the drive. Â
Secure Erase Program
If the user is smart enough to go through the Storage Bits it is safe to them to play along with the Secure Erase program safe. In this program, secure erase, it overwrites ivery single block on the hard drive. Even those data on the bad blocks are being overwritten. The information left at the end is partly overwritten directories and blocks. Remember there is no data recovery from Secure Erase!
The National Security Agency together with the National Institue for Standards and Testing gave the Secure Erase, complying with legal requirements, a higher Security rating than external block overwrite software that is available anywhere in the market.
Know the Measurement Jargon
Somebody once told me that a man’s thing is proportional to the size of his hard disk. That’s totally untrue but it is definitely true that size does matter. Sometimes, during some intellectual boastful conversation, one may actually say a quarter of terabyte instead of 250 gigabytes to make it sound more size-monster.
The capacity of early hard disks is quoted as megabytes. A megabyte can store up to 1,048,576 or 220 bytes. Today, hard disks are commonly in gigabytes. Gigabytes is equal to 1,073,741,824 or 230 bytes of computer storage. Byte, on the other hand is equal to eight bits. A bit is a binary digit, taking up the values of either 1 or 0.
Formatting Hard Drive Myths part 1
Formatting the hard drive of the PC will not diminish its lifespan. It was said that formatting is the most commonly myth to reduce the hard disk’s lifespan.
Formatting is not a hectic job for your hard disks because the read and write heads of the hard disk do not make contact to the platter surface. Platter may only be damaged once there it as strike during the operation.
In contrast, it is allowed to format the hard drive approximately twenty times a day the whole year and it will not likely to fail compare to a hard drive that hasn’t formatted at all.