What are the parts of a hard drive?
Table of contents:
- What components is a hard drive built with?
- Mechanical actuator
- Read / Write Arm
- Tray or plate
- Connectors
- Flexible connector
- Arm motor
- Disc motor (center axis)
- Read / Write heads
- Printed circuit board
Just a few days ago we launched the best guide to hard drives on the net. On this occasion, and after receiving several emails, we want to explain what the parts of a hard drive are and how it works. Prepared? We explain it to you now!
Index of contents
What components is a hard drive built with?
A hard drive has only a few basic parts. There is one or more shiny silver trays, where the information is stored magnetically.
There is also an arm mechanism that moves a small magnet called a read / write head back and forth on the discs to record or store information, and there is an electronic circuit to control everything and act as a link between the hard drive and the rest of the pc.
Let's look at each part in more detail. These are the parts that you can find if you open a hard drive:
Mechanical actuator
Move the read / write arm. On older hard drives, the actuators were stepper motors. In most modern hard drives, voice coils are used. As the name suggests, these are simple electromagnets, which function like voice coils that produce sounds in the speakers. They position the read / write arm faster, more accurately and more reliably than stepper motors and are less sensitive to problems such as temperature variations.
Read / Write Arm
Move the read / write head back and forth through each tray. In reality, this arm also supports each head, so they cannot touch the tray and move freely.
Tray or plate
It is a metal disc mounted inside the hard drive casing. All the data that you saved on your hard disk is mainly written on this plate that is made of aluminum or glass substrate, covered with a thin layer of ferric oxide or cobalt alloy. Stores information in binary form.
Connectors
They link the hard drive to the circuit board in the computer.
Flexible connector
Transports data from the printed circuit board to the read / write head and tray.
Arm motor
Allows the read / write arm to swing through the tray.
Disc motor (center axis)
Wikipedia image
It is a motor attached to the trays and plays a very important role in spinning the disc as fast as you can spin the disc under proper rotating conditions to help the head read and write the disc correctly. A motor can provide stable, reliable and constant turning power for many hours of continuous use.
Read / Write heads
It is a small magnet at the end of the arm of a hard drive that is primarily responsible for the entire process of reading and writing data.
Printed circuit board
It is located on the back of the hard drive casing. The entire read and write process is controlled by this board, and that is the part of a hard drive that mainly connects the hard drive to the motherboard of the computer by using a single interface cable. Controls the flow of data to and from the disk.
This ends our article on the parts of a hard drive. Has it been useful for you? We are waiting your comments!
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