A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk, is an electro-mechanical data

storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or
more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. The platters are
paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write
data to the platter surfaces.[2] Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that
individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. HDDs
are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data even when powered off.

Hard drive physical components

PLATTERS:
Platter is a circular, metal disk that is mounted inside a hard disk drive. Several platters are
mounted on a fixed spindle motor to create more data storage surfaces in a smaller area. The
platter has a core made up of aluminium or glass substrate, covered with a thin layer of Ferric
oxide or cobalt alloy. On both sides of the substrate material, a thin coating is deposited by a
special manufacturing technique. This, thin coating where actual data is stored is the media layer.
Hard drive platters

When the magnetic media is applied to the surface of the substrate material, a thin lubricating
layer is applied to protect the material. This complex three layered media is discussed in detail as
follows:

THE SUBSTRATE MATERIAL:

The bulk material of which platters are made up, forms the base on which media layer is
deposited. The substrate has no specific function but to support the media layer. The most
commonly used material for making this physical layer is an Aluminium alloy. This alloy is
rigid, lightweight, stable, inexpensive, easy to work with and is readily available. Earlier, since
the gap between the heads and the platter was relatively high, the platter surface being smooth
and flat was less of an issue. However, as technology advances, the gap between heads and
platters is decreasing and the speed that the platters spin at is increasing. For this reason demand
for alternatives on the platter material are increasing. Glass platters are replacing aluminium
platters because they provide improved rigidity, better quality, thinner platters, and thermal
stability.

MEDIA LAYER:
The substrate material forms the base upon which actual recording media is deposited. The
media layer is a thin coating of magnetic material applied to the surface of the platters and where
the actual data is stored. Its thickness is only a few millionths of an inch.

Special techniques are employed for the deposition of magnetic material on the substrate
material. A thin coating is deposited on both sides of the substrate, mostly by vacuum deposition
process called magnetron sputtering. Another such method is electroplating, using a process
similar to that used in electroplating jewelry.

PROTECTIVE LAYER:
On the top of the magnetic media, is applied a super-thin, protective, lubricating layer. This layer
is called the protective layer because it protects the disk from damage caused by accidental
contact from the heads, “head crash” or other foreign material from entering the drive

PLATTER DIVISIONS:
In order to get maintain the organized storage and retrieval of data the platters are organized into
specific structures. These specific structures include tracks, sectors, and clusters.

TRACKS:
Each platter is broken into thousands of tightly packed concentric circles, known as tracks. These
tracks resemble the structure of annual rings of a tree. All the information stored on the hard disk
is recorded in tracks. Starting from zero at the outer side of the platter, the number of tracks goes
on increasing to the inner side. Each track can hold a large amount of data counting to thousands
of bytes.

SECTORS:
Each track is further broken down into smaller units called sectors. As sector is the basic unit of
data storage on a hard disk. A single track typically can have thousands of sectors and each
sector can hold more than 512 bytes of data. A few additional bytes are required for control
structures and error detection and correction.

CLUSTERS:
Sectors are often grouped together to form Clusters.

READ/WRITE HEADS:
The heads are an interface between the magnetic media where the data is stored and electronic
components in the hard disk. The heads convert the information, which is in the form of bits to
magnetic pulses when it is to be stored on the platter and reverses the process while reading.

Hard disk heards

Hard disk heards

The heads are the most sophisticated part of the hard disk. Each platter has two read/write heads,
one mounted on the top and the other one at the bottom. These heads are mounted on head
sliders, which are suspended at the ends of head arms. The head arms are all fused into a singular
structure called actuator, which is responsible for their movement.

THE SPINDLE MOTOR:

Spindle motor plays an important role in hard drive operation by turning the hard disk platters. A
spindle motor must provide stable, reliable, and consistent turning power for many hours of
continuous use. Many hard drive failures occur due to spindle motor not functioning properly
 Spindle motorparts

HARD DISK LOGIC BOARD:

Hard disk is made with an intelligent circuit board integrated into the hard disk unit. It is
mounted on the bottom of the base casting exposed to the outer side. The read/write heads are
linked to the logic board through a flexible ribbon cable.

Hard disk logic board

DRIVE BAY:
The entire hard disk is mounted in an enclosure designed to protect it from the outside air. It is
necessary to keep the internal environment of the hard disk free of dust and other contaminants.
These contaminants may get accumulated in the gap between the read/write heads and the
platters, which usually leads to head crashes.
 Hard disk drive bay

The bottom of the disk is also called base casting. The drive mechanics are placed in the base
casting and a cover, usually made up of aluminium is placed on top to enclose heads and platters.
The entire contents placed on the base and cover chamber are collectively known as the head-
disk assembly. Once this assembly is opened, it would instantly contaminate the contents and
eventually ruin the drive.
On the bottom of the base casting is present the logic board, which is separated from the base
casting using a cushioning material.

Hard drive sizes

Hard drives come in two basic physical sizes: 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch. These sizes refer to the size
of the data platters, not the size of the hard drive mechanism. Traditionally, 2.5-inch drives are
used for laptops while 3.5-inch drives are used for desktop computers. Some compact desktops
also use the smaller drives to enable a smaller form factor for the computer.
hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD) is a logical or physical storage device that
combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard
disk drive (HDD). The intent is adding some of the speed of SSDs to the cost-effective storage
capacity of traditional HDDs. The purpose of the SSD in a hybrid drive is to act as a cache for the
data stored on the HDD, improving the overall performance by keeping copies of the most
frequently used data on the faster SSD.

TYPES:

1. Dual-drive hybrid systems

Dual-drive hybrid systems combine the usage of separate SSD and HDD devices installed in the
same computer. Overall performance optimizations are managed in one of three ways:

1. By the computer user, who manually places more frequently accessed data onto the faster
drive.
2. By the computer's operating system software, which combines SSD and HDD into a single hybrid
volume, providing an easier experience to the end-user. Examples of hybrid volumes
implementations in operating systems are ZFS' "hybrid storage pools", bcache and dm-cache on
Linux, and Apple's Fusion Drive and other Logical Volume Management based implementations]
on OS X.
3. By chipsets external to the individual storage drives. An example is the use of flash cache
modules (FCMs). FCMs combine the use of separate SSD (usually an mSATA SSD module) and
HDD components, while managing performance optimizations via host software, device drivers,
or a combination of both. One example is Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT), which is
implemented through a combination of certain Intel chipsets and Intel storage drivers, is the
most common implementation of FCM hybrid systems today. What distinguished this dual-drive
system from an SSHD system is that each drive maintains its ability to be addressed
independently by the operating system if desired.

SSD (solid-state drive)

An SSD (solid-state drive) is a type of nonvolatile storage media that stores persistent data on
solid-state flash memory. Two key components make up an SSD: a flash controller and NAND
flash memory chips. The architectural configuration of the SSD controller is optimized to deliver
high read and write performance for both sequential and random data requests. SSDs are
sometimes referred to as flash drives or solid-state disks.

Unlike a hard disk drive (HDD), an SSD has no moving parts to break or spin up or down. A
traditional HDD consists of a spinning disk with a read/write head on a mechanical arm called an
actuator. The HDD mechanism and hard disk are packaged as an integrated unit. Businesses and
computer manufacturers have used spinning disk historically, owing to their lower unit cost and
higher average durability, although SSDs are now common in desktop and laptop PCs.

A spinning HDD reads and writes data magnetically, which is one of the oldest storage media in
continuous use. The magnetic properties, however, can lead to mechanical breakdowns. An SSD,
conversely, reads and writes the data to a substrate of interconnected flash memory chips, which
are fabricated out of silicon. Manufacturers build SSDs by stacking chips in a grid to achieve
varying densities.

To prevent volatility, SSD manufacturers design the devices with floating gate transistors
(FGRs) to hold the electrical charge. This allows an SSD to retain stored data even when it is not
connected to a power source. Each FGR contains a single bit of data, designated either as a 1 for
a charged cell or a 0 if the cell has no electrical charge.

SSD history, emergence in enterprise storage

The earliest solid-state drives generally were designed for consumer devices. The debut of the
Apple iPod in 2005 marked the first notable flash-based device to broadly penetrate the
consumer market.

EMC -- now known as Dell EMC -- is credited with being the first vendor to include SSDs in
enterprise storage hardware when it added the technology to its Symmetrix disk arrays in 2008.
That spawned the advent of hybrid flash arrays that combine flash drives and HDDs. For the
most part, enterprise SSDs in hybrid arrays are used for caching reads in flash. This is due to the
higher cost and lower endurance of SSDs when compared to HDDs.

The earliest commercially designed SSDs were made with enterprise multi-level cell (enterprise
MLC) flash technology, which has enhanced write cycles compared to consumer-grade MLC.
Newer enterprise SSDs are being marketed that use triple-level cell (TLC). SSDs made with 3D
NAND represent the next evolution. IBM, Samsung and Toshiba have produced and marketed
SSDs with 3D NAND, in which flash memory cells are stacked atop one another in vertical
layers. Toshiba sold off its flash chip business in 2017.

Enterprise adoption of flash is on the rise as a result of improvements in solid-state wear

performance and falling flash prices, although tightening global flash supplies have stalled the
price drop. Experts contend SSDs are starting to supplant traditional disk in some use cases,
although flash drives and HDDs are expected to coexist in many enterprises for the foreseeable
future. For example, SSDs are geared for high-performance storage, but less so for long-term
archiving and backup, which typically use fixed disk.

The following video offers advice on the most important things to consider before installing an
SSD in your organization.
Dual-drive hybrid systems
Dual-drive hybrid systems combine the usage of separate SSD and HDD devices installed in the same
computer. Overall performance optimizations are managed in one of three ways:

By the computer user, who manually places more frequently accessed data onto the faster
drive.

By the computer's operating system software, which combines SSD and HDD into a single hybrid
volume, providing an easier experience to the end-user. Examples of hybrid volumes
implementations in operating systems are ZFS' "hybrid storage pools",[1] bcache and dm-cache on
Linux,[2] and Apple's Fusion Drive and other Logical Volume Management based implementations[3]
on OS X.[4]

By chipsets external to the individual storage drives. An example is the use of flash cache
modules (FCMs). FCMs combine the use of separate SSD (usually an mSATA SSD module) and HDD
components, while managing performance optimizations via host software, device drivers, or a
combination of both. One example is Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT), which is implemented
through a combination of certain Intel chipsets and Intel storage drivers, is the most common
implementation of FCM hybrid systems today. What distinguished this dual-drive system from an SSHD
system is that each drive maintains its ability to be addressed independently by the operating system if
desired.
M.2,
formerly known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), is a specification for internally
mounted computer expansion cards and associated connectors. It replaces the mSATA
standard, which uses the PCI Express Mini Card physical card layout and connectors. A key but
subtle and confusing aspect of M.2 specification is that it can run an SSD over SATA (different
than mSATA) or PCIe. The difference between M.2 SATA and M.2 PCIe can be discerned by their
key notches. SATA M.2 cards (not to be confused with mSATA, which has two connector keys)
have three connector notches while PCIe M.2 cards have only two. M.2's more flexible physical
specification allows different module widths and lengths, and, paired with the availability of
more advanced interfacing features, makes the M.2 more suitable than mSATA for solid-state
storage applications in general and particularly for the use in small devices such as ultrabooks
or tablets