Hard drives are the primary storage devices for personal computers. They are capable of quickly storing a large amount of information for long periods of time. The inner workings of a hard drive resemble a turntable with a number of records called platters. Data is written to these platters via magnetism by an access arm.
Giant hard drives first appeared on the scene in 1956 and were stored in dedicated equipment racks or on the floor. It wasn't until the '80's that drives were small enough to be taken into the home. The first of these personal hard drives was about five inches across and stored the equivalent of one song file. It the last thirty years, drives have shrunken to three inches across while being able to store about 100,000 song files. The storage space of hard drives continues to grow exponentially every year.
Even the largest hard drives available don't offer enough storage space for some power users and most businesses. Because of this, a technology known as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) was created to combine multiple drives into one large storage space. This tool also allows for the instant creation of data backups. Two similar drives can be set up so that one is a mirror of the other. If one of them were to stop working, the other drive would continue to work as an exact copy of all the data.
Hard drives are showing up in devices other than personal computers. MP3 players, laptops and smart phones all contain drives now. These portable devices require large amounts of storage especially when it comes to saving photos and music files. Because traditional hard drives are easily damaged by being dropped, portable hard drives are now manufactured with shock-protection and fewer moving parts.
There is a growing trend to make devices that use less power to make computers more environmentally friendly. Hard drives have naturally changed to use less power as they have become smaller; the parts inside simply do not have to move as much. Manufacturers have also created smarter methods for reading and writing information to minimize the amount of movement. Companies with a large number of hard drives also tend to invest a lot of power into cooling the computers. Newer components, including hard drives, have been designed to produce less heat.
The average expected life span for hard drives is about three years. This will vary based on use and environment, but most hard drives now contain built-in tools for detecting when a hard drive might be damaged. S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) tools will alert the user when the drive is starting to fail or lose data. This allows for a chance to make a copy of the data before complete failure occurs.
External hard drives are available to create backups or move large amounts of data from one computer to another. This type of drive is usually mechanically identical to those inside of a personal computer but comes with an enclosure to make it portable. The closures are typically designed to protect the drive from spilled liquids and being dropped.
Giant hard drives first appeared on the scene in 1956 and were stored in dedicated equipment racks or on the floor. It wasn't until the '80's that drives were small enough to be taken into the home. The first of these personal hard drives was about five inches across and stored the equivalent of one song file. It the last thirty years, drives have shrunken to three inches across while being able to store about 100,000 song files. The storage space of hard drives continues to grow exponentially every year.
Even the largest hard drives available don't offer enough storage space for some power users and most businesses. Because of this, a technology known as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) was created to combine multiple drives into one large storage space. This tool also allows for the instant creation of data backups. Two similar drives can be set up so that one is a mirror of the other. If one of them were to stop working, the other drive would continue to work as an exact copy of all the data.
Hard drives are showing up in devices other than personal computers. MP3 players, laptops and smart phones all contain drives now. These portable devices require large amounts of storage especially when it comes to saving photos and music files. Because traditional hard drives are easily damaged by being dropped, portable hard drives are now manufactured with shock-protection and fewer moving parts.
There is a growing trend to make devices that use less power to make computers more environmentally friendly. Hard drives have naturally changed to use less power as they have become smaller; the parts inside simply do not have to move as much. Manufacturers have also created smarter methods for reading and writing information to minimize the amount of movement. Companies with a large number of hard drives also tend to invest a lot of power into cooling the computers. Newer components, including hard drives, have been designed to produce less heat.
The average expected life span for hard drives is about three years. This will vary based on use and environment, but most hard drives now contain built-in tools for detecting when a hard drive might be damaged. S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) tools will alert the user when the drive is starting to fail or lose data. This allows for a chance to make a copy of the data before complete failure occurs.
External hard drives are available to create backups or move large amounts of data from one computer to another. This type of drive is usually mechanically identical to those inside of a personal computer but comes with an enclosure to make it portable. The closures are typically designed to protect the drive from spilled liquids and being dropped.
About the Author:
Craig Stephenson is an expert in hard drives. With in depth technical expertise he is a trusted expertwithin the digital industry. For more information regarding hard drives please visit http://www.ebuyer.com
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