Back when the first hard disk drives were produced they were large and bulky drives unlike today. The only thing that I will be talking about in the description of the hard disk drive is the internal hard disk drive. The general hard disk drive form factor is 3.5″ long and is generally 4″ wide and use 3.74″ platters. The hard disk drive consists of five major components; the platter(s), the read/write head(s), the actuator arm, the actuator, and the spindle. The hard disk drive stores data from the user written input, whether that is making a new folder, writing a document or installing a program like the operating system like Microsoft Windows. The input is stored on the platters. There can be many platters inside a hard disk drive. These platters consist of a chain of metal floppy disks with read and write heads that hover over the platters and read and write the data when necessary. The data that is written on the hard drive is permanent. If the computer is turned off the data will still be stored on the hard drive until deleted.

The deletion of the data is not actually “deleted” but a little bit of information that points to the data is erased. You can delete a file (which you can send it to the recycle bin and empty it) and then that data is placed in a “bin” of sorts that can be overwritten. This data is then converted to overwritten data and then stored data on the hard drive. So this process happens many times over all the time whenever you write and re-write data.

In fig 1.1 to the right you can see the internal mechanics of a hard drive:

  • A – Platter/s
  • B – Read/Write Head/s (and slider)
  • C – Actuator Arm/s
  • D – Actuator
  • E – Spindle

 

Source: http://www.helpwithpcs.com/courses/hard-drive-mechanics.htm

The storage data comes into the hard drive in the form of 0 and 1’s and is stored that way on the platters. First the data comes in and is “transported” through the actuator. The actuator then transfers the data to the actuator arm where the actuator decides where to put the information on the platter via the read/write heads. The read/write heads put the data on the platter which can be stored on tracks and sectors. “Tracks are concentric circles, and sectors are pie-shaped wedges on a track.” A typical track is shown in yellow; a typical sector is shown in blue. The spindle spins the platter(s) to a specified section to store the data.

Source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/hard-disk7.htm.

In order to store more data the HDD will have more than one platter (left). So these days the hard disk drives are better than the ones in the past. Since this technology has surpassed the drives in the past the amount of information that can be installed on a HDD has increased tremendously since the beginning of the hard disk drive.

 

 

Source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/hard-disk6.htm

    Since the hard disk drive is an integral part of the computer system we need to make sure that the HDD has the best and most updated virus and spy ware protection software available.

 

Instructions to Remove and Replace a Hard Disk Drive

Tools Needed:

  1. Grounding strap
  2. Phillips head screwdriver
  3. New operating system disk to load on new hard drive (Windows, Tiger OSX etc.)
  4. CD-R, DVD-R or external HDD (See step 2 for description for what kind of storage needed)

Instructions:

  1. First check what information you would like to be on the new hard drive, whether that is programs, picture files, music files, etc.
  2. If you don’t want to keep anything proceed to Step number 4.
    1. If you do continue here:
    2. Get all of the files that you want to keep and organize them to get transferred to another drive.
    3. First put all of them into a file folder much like I did so that can be accessed easily (put on desktop)
    4. Check to see how much space you need for accommodation by doing steps below.
      1. Right click the file folder.
      2. Click properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Property window pops up.
  2. Check the disk size needed by looking at size on the properties page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: If you have less than 700 MB (typical CD-R size) use a CD-R to transfer the information to the disk.

If you have between 700 MB and 4.5GB (typical DVD-R size) use a DVD-R to transfer the information to the disk.

If you have more than 4.5 GB of information you might want to purchase an external HDD because they have a higher capacity.

So since mine is 1.81 GB I would use a DVD-R to transfer my information.

  1. Now that we know what we want to keep we can put the files on the disk.
    1. So plug the disk into the disk drive and put the files on the disk.
  2. We know the information we wanted and backed-up our existing hard-drive. The following will be broken down into three major steps, removal, installation and installation of pertinent software for proper function of the HDD. We now start the HDD removal.
    1. Turn off the computer by unplugging the cord in the back and turning off the actual switch. Then lay the computer on it s side.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Unscrew two screws in the back of the case to expose the interior of the computer. NOTE: make sure to ground yourself with a grounding strap so that no static electricity will damage the inner workings of the computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Disconnect the wires leading the HDD by pulling gently on wires not to damage them.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. There are normally four screws that attach the HDD to the case. So remove them. (two others on the other side of the case)

 

 

 

 

 

  1. You now have the HDD in hand so remove and set to the side.
  1. Now we start the new HDD installation phase:
    1. Make sure you are still grounded by the grounding strap.
    2. Follow the pictures in the removal section to make sure that you are doing the correct sequence.
    3. Take the HDD out of the box and use the four screws that you uninstalled from the previous HDD to install it.
    4. Attach the wires to the HDD.
    5. Install case cover in the reverse order as before.
  2. Turn the system on and put the operating system disk to into the disk drive.
    1. Note: you might have to go into BIOS to change the boot order to the disk drive because most desktop computers boot order is prioritized with the floppy disk drive instead. You can find these instructions if you do a search for change boot order. Much like this one: http://www.whitecanyon.com/how-to-change-boot-order.php
  3. The operating disk will give you the option to either continue the installation of the OS or not. Continue the installation by the instructions on the screen.
  4. Check to make sure that the hard disk drive installed has the correct size on you computer.
    1. Go to drive that you installed on the computer and right click and go to properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    In my case I have a 73.1 GB HDD.

  1. Once the OS disk is done you will have to install virus protection software and spy ware protection software. This will make your HDD healthy for years to come as long as you do a routine scan twice a week.
  2. Now you want to make sure that the drive that you installed is not infected with any viruses or spyware. Run a virus and spy ware check to make sure nothing is wrong.

Now that is the final step and now you have enough storage on you computer for all your extra files or for whatever you need.



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