Storage Concepts

Parts of the hard drive:

Platters—discs where data is written to. Most hard drives have multiple platters. When a platter is formatted so it can store data, it is organized into:

• Tracks—rings
• Sectors—pieces of each ring (track)

Spindle—holds the platters and attaches them to the drive which causes them to spin.

Read-write heads—move across the platters using magnetic fields to read data from and write data to the platters.

When you install an application or save a file, you are writing data to your computer’s hard drive. A hard drive has three main components—the platters, the spindle, and the read-write heads. The platters are the discs on which the data is written. Platters look similar to a CD-ROM, and most hard drives contain multiple platters. When a drive is formatted so that it can hold data, the platters are organized into tracks (or rings). Each track is then further divided into sectors. The spindle holds the platter and connects them to the drive which causes them to spin. The read-write heads move across the platters using magnetic fields to read data from and write data to the platters.