Hardrives: Supporting Hard Drives

Hardrives
Chapter 6
Supporting Hard Drives
Objectives
• Learn about the technologies used inside a hard
drive and how data is organized on the drive
• Learn how a computer communicates with a hard
drive
• Learn how hard drives can work together in a RAID
array
• Learn about floppy drives
• Learn how to select and install a hard drive
• Learn how to solve hard drive problems
2
Inside a Hard Drive
• The hard disk drive is a nonvolatile secondary
storage unit. That means that it does not loose its
stored data when turned off.
• Installed inside a drive bay and there is no access
to the HDD from the front panel as it is
unnecessary.
3
Inside a Hard Drive
• Hard drives are different in :
– Hardware technologies inside the drive
• Solid state or magnetic or hybrid
– Data organization inside a hard drive
– Hard disk drive (HDD) or hard drive sizes
• 2.5" size for laptop computers
• 3.5" size for desktops
• 1.8" size for low-end laptops, other equipment
– Encoding method that determines how data is written to
and read from the hard disk drive.
• MFM (Modified Frequency Modulation)
• RLL (Run Length Limited)
– Interface type
4
Solid State, Magnetic, and Hybrid
Drives
• Solid state drive (SSD) or solid state device (SSD)
– No moving parts
– Built using nonvolatile flash memory
– Expensive technology
• Magnetic hard drive
– One, two, or more platters, or disks
• Stacked together, spinning in unison inside a sealed
metal housing
• Firmware controls data reading, writing and
motherboard communication
• Hybrid hard drives use both technologies
5
Magnetic Drive Components
HDD components:
•Hard drives have two kinds of components: internal and
external.
•External components are located on a printed circuit board
called electronic circuit board.
•Internal components are located in a sealed chamber
called HDA or Hard Disk Assembly.
1.Electronic circuit board
•The electronic circuit board is located on the hard drive it
contains a micro controller, ROM chip, Read/Write bus,
cable connector interface, drive select jumpers and DC
power supply connector.
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Magnetic Drive Components
2. Hard disk assembly
• The hard disk assembly is composed mainly of
disk platters, head arms, and the head actuator.
There are several head arms placed between the
disk platters reading data from above and below.
The head arms move in union, and the head
actuator is the motor that moves them. The heads
do not touch the platters when they are reading
data, but when the HD is turned off some types of
hard drives allow the heads to rest on the platters.
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8
Figure 6-2 Inside a hard drive
Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning
Figure 6-3 A hard drive with two platters

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How Data Is Organized On a Hard
Drive
• Hard drive disk surface divided into concentric circles (tracks)
– Track: a single ring of data on one side of a disk. It is divided into 512-
byte segments (sector, record)
– Sector: the smallest individually-addressable unit of information stored
on a hard disk, and normally holds 512 bytes of data.
– Cylinder
• All tracks are the same distance from platters center
Figure 6-4 A hard drive or floppy disk is divided

into tracks and sectors; several sectors make one
cluster
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Drive (cont’d.)
• Drive housing circuit board firmware responsibilities
– Writing and reading data to tracks and sectors
– Keeping track of data storage on the drive
• BIOS and OS
– Use logical block addressing (LBA) to address all
hard drive sectors
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Figure 6-5 The bottom of a hard drive shows the circuit board that
contains the firmware that controls the drive
12
Drive (cont’d.)
• Hard drive installation
– Windows initializes and identifies drive as a basic
disk
• Writes Master Boot Record (MBR)
– High-level formatting performed
• Specifies partition size and file system used
– Partition can be primary or extended
• Extended can be divided into one or more logical
drives
– File system
• Overall structure OS uses to name, store, organize
files on a drive
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Drive (cont’d.)
• Cluster: smallest unit of disk space for storing a file
– Contains one or more sectors
Figure 6-6 A hard drive with four partitions; the fourth partition is an
extended partition
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Drive (cont’d.)
• Primary and extended partition creation
– When drive or OS is first installed
– After existing partition becomes corrupted
• Disk Management tool
• File system choices
– Windows XP
• FAT32, NTFS
• exFAT if Service Packs 2 & 3 installed with download
– Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 or later
• FAT32, NTFS, exFAT
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Hard Drive Interface Standards
• Current internal hard drives methods
– Parallel ATA (PATA), Serial ATA (SATA), SCSI
• External hard drive methods
– External SATA (eSATA), SCSI, FireWire, USB, Fibre
Channel
Figure 6-9 Timeline of interface standards used by internal drives

16
The ATA Interface Standards
• Define how hard drives and other drives interface
with a computer system
• Standards
– Developed by Technical Committee T13
– Published by American National Standards Institute
(ANSI)
• Categorized into two groups
– PATA: older, slower standard
– SATA: faster, newer standard
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Table 6-1 Summary of ATA interface standards for storage devices
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The ATA Interface Standards (cont’d.)
• Parallel ATA or EIDE drive standards or Integrated
Drive Electronics (IDE)
– Allows one or two IDE connectors on a motherboard
• Each use 40-pin data cable
– Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
• Required by EIDE drives (e.g., CD or DVD)
• Types of PATA ribbon cables
– Older cable
• 40 pins and 40 wires
– 80-conductor IDE cable
• 40 pins and 80 wires
– Maximum recommended length of either is 18 inches
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• Transferring data between hard drive and memory
– Direct memory access (DMA)
• Transfers data directly from drive to memory without
involving the CPU
• Seven DMA modes
– Programmed Input/Output (PIO) mode
• Involves the CPU, slower than DMA mode
• Five PIO modes used by hard drives
– Ultra DMA
• Data transferred twice for each clock beat, at the
beginning and again at the end
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• Startup BIOS
– Autodetects drive and selects fastest mode that
drive and BIOS support
• Independent Device Timing
– Motherboard chipset feature
– Supported by most chipsets today
– Allows two hard drives to share same parallel ATA
cable but use different standards
– Allows two drives to run at different speeds as long
as motherboard supports them
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• Serial ATA standards
– Developed by a consortium of manufacturers
• Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO)
– Uses serial data path rather than traditional parallel
data path
– Advantages
• Faster than PATA interfaces and used by all drive
types
• Multiple connectors are easy to configure
• Supports hot-swapping (hot-plugging)
• Internal cable length: up 1 meter
• Cable does not hinder airflow
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Table 6-2 SATA Standards
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Figure 6-12 A SATA hard drive subsystem uses an internal SATA data cable
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• Serial ATA standards (cont’d.)
– Motherboard or expansion card can provide external
SATA (eSATA) ports for external drives
– External SATA (eSATA)
• Up to six times faster than USB or FireWire
• eSATA drives use special external shielded serial ATA
cable up to 2 meters long
– Purchasing considerations
• SATA standards for the drive and motherboard need to
match for optimum speed
• If no match, system runs at the slower speed
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SCSI Technology
• Small Computer System Interface standards
– System bus to peripheral device communication
– Support either 7 or 15 devices (standard dependent)
– Provides better performance than ATA standards
• SCSI subsystem
– SCSI controller types: embedded or host adapter
– Host adapter supports internal and external devices
– Daisy chain: combination of host adapter and devices
– Each device on bus assigned SCSI ID (0 - 15)
– A physical device can embed multiple logical devices
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Figure 6-14 Using a SCSI bus, a SCSI host adapter card can support
internal and external SCSI devices
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SCSI Technology (cont’d.)
• Terminating resistor
– Plugged into last device at end of the chain
– Reduces electrical noise or interference on the cable
• Various SCSI standards
– SCSI-1, SCSI-2, and SCSI-3
• Also known as regular SCSI, Fast SCSI, Ultra SCSI
– Serial attached SCSI (SAS)
• Allows for more than 15 devices on single chain
• Uses smaller, longer, round cables
• Uses smaller hard drive form factors, larger capacities
• Compatible with serial ATA
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SCSI Technology (cont’d.)
• Fibre channel SCSI technology
• Advantages
– Connects up to 126 devices on a single Fibre
Channel bus
– Faster than other SCSI implementations when more
than five hard drives strung together
• Disadvantage
– Expensive and has too much overhead
• Except when used in high-end server solutions
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RAID: Hard Drives Working Together
• Two or more hard drives work together as an array
of drives
– Improves fault tolerance
– Improves performance
• Most common RAID levels
– RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5
• Spanning or JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks)
– Two hard drives configured as a single volume
• RAID is accomplished using hardware or software
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About Floppy Drives
• Floppy disk drive (FDD)
– Holds only 1.44 MB of data
– Some still used today
– Advantages
• Useful when recovering from a failed BIOS update
• Inexpensive and easy for transferring small amounts
of data
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Floppy Drive Hardware
• Past floppy drives sizes: 5 ¼” and 3 ½”
– 3 ½” floppy disk format
• High density (1.44 MB), extra-high density (2.88 MB),
double density (720 K)
– Floppy drive subsystem
• Floppy drive, ribbon cable, power cable, connections
• Today’s floppy drive cables have a connector at each
end to accommodate a single drive
• Older cables have an extra connector or two in the
middle of the cable for a second floppy drive
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Figure 6-17 Floppy drive subsystem: floppy drive, 34-pin data
cable, and power connector
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Floppy Drive File System
• Similar to hard drive file system
– Tracks and sectors are written to blank surface
Figure 6-19 31⁄2", high-density floppy disk showing tracks and sectors
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Floppy Drive File System (cont’d.)
• 80 tracks on top side, 80 tracks on bottom
(numbered 0 to 79)
– Track has 18 sectors (1-18)
• Total of 1440 sectors on each side
• Each sector holds 512 bytes of data
• 3 ½” high-density floppy disk: 2880 x 512 = 1,474,560
bytes
• Divide 1,474,560 bytes by 1024 to get 1440 KB
• Divide 1440 KB by 1000 get 1.44 MB
• Format with format command or Windows Explorer
– Add tracks, sectors, boot record, two FATs, root
director
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How to Select and Install Hard Drives
and Floppy Drives
• Topics covered
– Selecting a hard drive
– Installation details for serial ATA drive, parallel ATA
drive
– How to install hard drive in a bay too wide for drive
– How to set up a RAID system
– How to install a floppy drive
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Selecting a Hard Drive
• Hard drive must match OS and motherboard
• BIOS uses autodetection to prepare the device
– Drive capacity and configuration selected
– Best possible ATA standard becomes part of
configuration
• Selected device may not be supported by BIOS
– Troubleshooting tasks (if device not recognized)
• Flash the BIOS
• Replace controller card
• Replace motherboard
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Selecting a Hard Drive (cont’d.)
• Considerations:
– Drive capacity
– Spindle speed
– Interface standard
– Cache or buffer size
– Average seek time (time to fetch data)
– Hybrid drive
– Manufacturer warranty (keep receipt)
– Price range
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Steps to Install a Serial ATA Drive
• Step 1: Prepare for installation
• Step 2: Install the drive
– Turn off the computer and unplug it
– Decide which bay will hold the drive
– Slide drive in the bay and secure it (both sides)
– Use correct motherboard serial ATA connector
– Connect a SATA or 4-pin power connector from the
power supply to the drive
– Check all connections and power up the system
– Verify drive recognized correctly
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(cont’d.)
• Step 3: Use Windows to partition and format the
drive
– Boot from Windows setup CD or DVD
• Follow directions on the screen to install Windows on
the new drive
– If installing a second hard drive with Windows
installed on first drive use Windows to partition and
format the second drive
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(cont’d.)
• Installing a SATA drive in a removable bay
– Turn handle on each locking device
counterclockwise to remove it
– Slide the bay to the front and out of the case
– Insert hard drive in the bay
• Use two screws on each side to anchor the drive in
the bay
– Slide the bay back into the case
– Reinstall the locking pins
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Figure 6-31 The removable bay Figure 6-32 Install the hard drive in the
has a fan in front and is anchored bay using two screws on each side of the
to the case with locking pins drive
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Technology/Cengage Learning Learning
42
Steps to Configure and Install a
Parallel ATA Drive
• Configurations for four EIDE devices in a system:
– Primary IDE channel, master device
– Primary IDE channel, slave device
– Secondary IDE channel, master device
– Secondary IDE channel, slave device
Figure 6-33 A motherboard supporting PATA has two IDE channels;

each can support a master and slave drive using a single EIDE cable
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Parallel ATA Drive (cont’d.)
• Master or slave designations are made by:
– Setting jumpers or DIP switches
– Use special cable-select data cable
– Color-coded connectors
• Blue end connects to motherboard; black end connects
to drive
Figure 6-34 80-conductor cable connectors are color-coded

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• Motherboard color-coding
– Primary channel connector: blue
– Secondary channel connector: black
– Ensures ATA/66/100/133 hard drive installed on the
primary IDE channel
Figure 6-35 The primary IDE channel connector is often color-coded as blue
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• Step 1: Open case, decide how to configure drives
• Step 2: Set the jumpers on the drive
Figure 6-36 A PATA drive most

likely will have diagrams of jumper
settings for master and slave
options printed on the drive housing
Courtesy: Course
Technology/Cengage Learning
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Table 6-4 Jumper settings on a parallel ATA hard drive
Figure 6-37 Jumper settings on a hard drive and their meanings

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• Step 3: Mount the drive in the bay
– Remove bay from case and insert hard drive in bay
– Securely mount drive in the bay
– Decide whether to connect data cable before or after
inserting bay inside the computer case
– Place bay back into position, secure bay with screws
– Install a power connection to each drive
– Connect data cable to motherboard IDE connector
– Connect hard drive light wiring if necessary
– Before replacing case cover verify installation
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Installing a Hard Drive in a Wide Bay
• Use universal bay kit to securely fit drive into the bay
Figure 6-45 Use the universal bay kit Figure 6-46 Hard drive installed in a
to make the drive fit the bay wide bay using a universal bay kit
Courtesy: Course adapter
Technology/Cengage Learning Courtesy: Course
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How to Implement Hardware Raid
• Hardware implementation
– Motherboard RAID controller or RAID controller card
• Motherboard does the work, Windows unaware of
hardware RAID implementation
• Software implementation uses operating system
• Best RAID performance
– All hard drives in an array should be identical in
brand, size, speed, other features
• If Windows installed on a RAID hard drive RAID
must be implemented before Windows installed
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Figure 6-47 RAID controller card Figure 6-48 This motherboard
provides four SATA internal supports RAID 0 and RAID 1
connectors Courtesy: Course
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(cont’d.)
• RAID 5 array using three matching SATA drives
– Install drives in the computer case and connect each
to motherboard
– Boot system and enter BIOS setup
• Verify drives recognized, select option to configure
SATA, and select RAID
– Reboot the system
• Press Ctrl and I to enter the RAID configuration utility
– Select option 1 to “Create RAID Volume”
• Select RAID 5 (Parity), stripe size value, volume size
• Create volume
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Figure 6-50 Configure SATA ports on Figure 6-51 BIOS utility to configure a RAID
the motherboard to enable RAID array
Courtesy: Course Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage
Technology/Cengage Learning Learning
53
Figure 6-52 Make your choices for the RAID array
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(cont’d.)
• RAID 5 array using three matching SATA drives
(cont’d.)
– Install Windows
• Boot from Windows setup CD or DVD
• Windows XP: press F6 and insert the RAID driver CD
• Vista: proceed as normal
– Disk Management window
• Displays a single drive
• BIOS manages RAID array without OS’s awareness
– SAN
• Network with primary purpose of providing large
amounts of data storage
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Figure 6-53 Vista Disk Management sees the RAID array as
a single 500 GB hard drive
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Hard Drive Specifications
Hard disk specifications:
The hard drive’s is measured by:
•Storage capacity: it is the total formatted storage ability
measured in GB or even Terabytes (i.e., 300 GB)
•Data transfer rate( Throughput): amount of data
transferred from the read/write heads to the CPU measured
in MBps (i.e., 133 MBps)
•Seek time: Time it takes for the head to move to the rght
track is the seek time typically 8 to 4 ms
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• Rotational latency time: Average time to locate a
specific sector on the drive. The rotational delay is the
time required for the addressed area of the disk (or
cylinder) to rotate into a position where it is accessible
by the read/write head and measured in ms.
• Average access Time: The summations of average
seek time and the latency.
• ACCESS TIME = SEEK TIME (Time to move to the
cylinder) +
ROTATIONAL LATENCY
TIME (Time to wait for sector)
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• Interleave (Rotational Speed): Is the average number
of revolutions per minute (i.e., 7200 rpm). How many
revolutions the platters will rotate under the read/write
heads per minute. Measured in RPM. Range between
4,200rpm to 15,000rpm. Standard IDE hard disk drive
being 7,200 rpm while SCSI hard disk drives being
10,000rpm and now 15,000rpm.
• Arial Density: Measured in bytes/sq. inch. Refers to
how densely packed the information is on the hard disk
drives platters is. Higher densities give greater storage
per size and reduce time to get the data.
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• MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures, measured in
hours, is meant to represent the average amount of time
that will pass between random failures on a drive of a
given type. It is usually in the range of 300,000 to
1,200,000 hours for modern drives today (with the range
increasing every few years) and is specified for almost
every drive. The higher the better. IDE hard disk drives
tend to be lower than SCSI hard disk drives.
• Platter: it is the circular disks on which the magnetic
data are stored. Actual disk of a hard disk drive and
drives can and do have more than one platter.
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Steps to Install a Floppy Drive
• Turn off the computer, unplug power cord, press
power button, and remove cover
• Unplug power cable and data cable from old drive
• Unscrew and dismount drive
• Slide new drive into the bay
– Screw new drive down with the same screws
• Connect floppy drive data cable to motherboard
• Connect data cable and power cord to the drive
• Replace cover, turn on computer, and enter BIOS
setup to verify installation
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Troubleshooting Hard Drives
• Problems:
– With hard drive installations
– Occurring after the installation with hard drives and
floppy drives
– With booting the PC
• Caused by hard drive hardware
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Problems with Hard Drive Installations
• BIOS setup does not reflect new hard drive
– Enable autodetection and reboot system
• “Hard drive not found”
– Reseat data cable and reboot PC
• POST beeped three times and stopped
– Reseat memory modules and boot again
• “No boot device available”
– Insert bootable disk and reboot PC
• “Hard drive not present”
– Restore jumpers to original state
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Problems with Hard Drive Installations
(cont’d.)
• If BIOS setup does not recognize newly installed
hard drive:
– Has BIOS setup been correctly configured for
autodetection?
– Are jumpers on the drive set correctly?
– Power cord and data cable properly connected?
• Verify solid connection both ends
– Check drive manufacturer web site for suggestions
• Look for diagnostic software downloadable from
manufacturer web site
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How to Approach a Hard Drive
Problem after the Installation
• Some post-installation problems
– Corrupted data files
– Corrupted Windows installation
– Hardware issue preventing system from booting
• Preparation steps
– Start with end user: conduct an interview
– Prioritize what has been learned
• Example: make data backup a first priority
– Be aware of available resources
• Documentation, Internet, software tools, technical
support
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Boot Problems Caused By Hard Drive
Hardware
• Causes of problems present during boot:
– Hard drive subsystem
– Partition table
– File system on the drive
– Files required for the OS to boot
• Problems at POST
– Caused by drive, data cable, electrical system,
motherboard, controller card (if one is present), or
loose connection
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Hardware (cont’d.)
• Problems at POST, checks:
– BIOS manufacturer website for error code explanation
– BIOS utility RAID utility
– BIOS setup: ability to disable block mode
– Remove and reattach all drive cables
• Check for correct pin-1 orientation
– Remove and reseat controller card
– Check drive jumper settings
– Inspect drive for damage
– Determine if the hard drive is spinning
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• Problems at POST, checks (cont’d.):
– Check cable for frayed edges or other damage
– Check the installation manual
– Be sure power cable, drive data cable connections
are good
– Check BIOS setup for errors in the hard drive
configuration
– Try booting from another media
– Check drive manufacturer Web site for diagnostic
software
– Create a boot CD with hard drive diagnostic software
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• Problems at POST, checks (cont’d.):
– Exchange three field replaceable units
• Data cable, adapter card (optional), hard drive
– If hard drive refuses to work but its light stays
• Problem might be a faulty controller
– Sometimes older drives refuse to spin at POST
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• Bumps are bad
– A scratched surface may cause a hard drive crash
– Data may be recovered, even if drive is inaccessible
• Invalid drive or drive specification
– System BIOS cannot read partition table information
– Boot from recovery CD and check partition table
• Bad sector errors
– Problem due to fading tracks and sectors
• Replace the drive
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• Solid state drives
– No concerns with bumping the drive while it is in use
– May or may not need formatting
– If drive gives errors:
• Try using manufacturer diagnostic software
• Check manufacturer Web site support section for
troubleshooting tips
– SATA and PATA connections and BIOS settings for
solid state drives
• Look and work the same as for other drives
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Troubleshooting Floppy Drives and
Disks
Table 6-5 Floppy drive and floppy disk errors that can occur during and after the boot
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Periodic Maintenance of HDD
ScanDisk:
•ScanDisk is a Windows®9x utility that checks your hard
drive for physical damage and also fixes file system errors,
such as cross-linked folders, damaged or invalid file names
and disassociated file names. In Windows®XP®, the utility
is called Check Disk.
Accessing ScanDisk
•To access ScanDisk, click Start > Programs > Accessories
>System Tools > ScanDisk. Select the drive that you want
to scan (usually C:) and choose the type of test.
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The test types are:
•Standard - inspects the drive for lost chains/clusters (The
drive's map, which tells it where to find files can't find the
pointer (directions) to the file.) This test typically takes only
a few mintues.
•Thorough - does the same test as the Standard test, and,
in addition, checks the drive for bad sectors. When
ScanDisk finds a bad sector, it will mark the sector as bad,
avoid using it and move data to a good spot on the drive.
You will have to observe the process and follow the
instructions on the screen. The Thorough test takes
considerably longer to complete than the Standard test.
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Before running ScanDisk
•ScanDisk will repeatedly restart, never finishing the hard drive scan, if there is any
disk activity on the drive that it is checking. First, close all open programs before
running ScanDisk. Don't forget to turn your screen saver, if any, off. Temporarily
disable anti-virus software. Unplug network connections, if any, by physically removing
the RJ-45 connector from the network interface card. Next, check for programs
running in the background by bringing up Task Monitor (simultaneously press <Ctrl>
<Alt> <Del> keys), click the Applications tab and close (End Task) all programs,
except Explorer and Systray. Now access ScanDisk and run the utility. An alternative
to using Task Manager to close programs is to start your computer in Safe Mode.
Disable your screen saver, if any. Start or restart your computer and as it starts to boot
immediately tap the <F8> or <Ctrl> key until you see an options screen. Choose Safe
Mode and hit the <Enter> key. Click OK when the dialog box appears advising you
that Windows® is operating in Safe Mode. Don't be alarmed if your desktop looks
different from the normal desktop. (In Safe Mode, Windows® loads a minimal set of
drivers, including a Standard VGA driver that sets your screen resolution to 640 x 480
pixels with low (8-bit) color.) Now access ScanDisk.
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Running Check Disk from Windows Explorer
To run Check Disk:
•Click Start and select a My Computer window for the drive that you want to
examine (usually C).
•Right click the icon for the drive that you want to check (again, usually C) >
select Properties and on the Tools tab click Check Now.
•Unless you just want to see a report of file system errors (no action taken to
correct errors), put a check in one of the following options:
– Automatically Fix File System Errors. This option is straightforward. If it is not
selected, file system errors are reported, but not fixed.
– Scan For And Attempt Recovery Of Bad Sectors. In addition to automatically
repairing file system errors, selecting this option causes the utility to perform a
thorough check of the entire drive, locate bad sectors and try to recover data
stored in bad sectors. If you select this option, you may find that it takes the
utility quite a few hours to complete its work.
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• Click the Start button.
• If the drive that you want to fix is the system drive, there will
be open files on the drive. You will see a dialog box
announcing that the utility needs exclusive access to
operate and can't gain that access unless you re-start your
computer. Click Yes.
• XP will re-start in character mode, meaning that you can't
do anything other than run the utility. Unless you strike any
key within ten seconds of seeing the restricted boot
messsage, Check Disk will run.
• After Check Disk has finished, you will either see Disk
Check Complete (no errors) or a list of errors and repairs.
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• Running Check Disk from command prompt
• To run Check Disk from the command prompt: Start > Run
> type cmd and hit the <Enter> key. At the command
prompt, type chkdsk, then <Enter>. This command does
not fix or repair. If you want to fix, repair or both fix and
repair, you must use a switch for the chddsk command. If
you use a switch, the disk must be locked and the
command with a switch or switches will be run when you
re-start the computer. The two most commonly used
switches are:
• /F - fixes errors.
• /R - marks bad sectors and tries to recover data.
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• Frequency
• It is recommended that you run ScanDisk/Check Disk
every 30 days.
• Using ScanDisk/Check Disk and Disk Defragmenter
• Run ScanDisk/Check Disk first, followed by Disk
Defragmenter.
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Disk Defragmenter:
•Disk Defragmenter is a utility included in all versions of
Windows® after Windows® 95®. Data is written to open
spaces on the hard disk. If the open space is not sufficient
to contain all the data, another open space will be found and
the balance of the data will be written there. If the contents
of a file are written to several sectors on the hard drive, it
will take longer to open the file. Since data is constantly
being written to and deleted from the hard drive, gaps that
impair performance develop. Disk Defragmenter is designed
to reorganize the data on your hard drive so that your
computer runs faster and more efficiently.
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Accessing Disk Defragmenter:
•To access Disk Defragmeter, click Start > Programs >
Accessories >System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.
Before running Disk Defragmeter
•Before running Disk Defragmenter, follow the procedures
listed in the 'Before running ScanDisk' instructions.
•Free space
•You must have at least 15% free space on you hard drive
to successfully run Disk Defragmenter. If you have
insufficient free space, try running the Disk Cleanup utility.
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Time to complete process
•While the time depends on the size of your hard disk and
speed of your processor, it will typically take several hours
(or more) for the hard disk to be defragmented. During the
defragmentaion process, you cannot use your computer for
any other applications.
Frequency
•It is recommended that you run Disk Defragmenter every
30 days.
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Summary
• Hardware technologies inside the drive
– Solid state or magnetic
• Hard drive disk surface divided into concentric
circles (tracks)
– Track divided into 512-byte segments (sector, record)
• Current internal hard drives methods
– Parallel ATA (PATA), Serial ATA (SATA), SCSI
• External hard drive methods
– External SATA (eSATA), SCSI, FireWire, USB, Fibre
Channel
83
Summary (cont’d.)
• RAID: two or more hard drives work together as an
array of drives
– Improves fault tolerance and performance
• Floppy disk drive (FDD) holds only 1.44 MB of data
– Useful when recovering from a failed BIOS update
– Inexpensive, easy transfer of small data amounts
• Hard drive must match OS and motherboard
– BIOS uses autodetection to prepare the device
• Installing a hard drive
– Usually not difficult, keep a cool head
84

Hardrives: Supporting Hard Drives

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Hardrives

Figure 6-3 A hard drive with two platters

Figure 6-4 A hard drive or floppy disk is divided

Figure 6-9 Timeline of interface standards used by internal drives

Figure 6-33 A motherboard supporting PATA has two IDE channels;

Figure 6-34 80-conductor cable connectors are color-coded

Figure 6-36 A PATA drive most

Figure 6-37 Jumper settings on a hard drive and their meanings

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