How do hard disks work?

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
hl2_linux

hl2_linux

kiwifarms.net
Joined
Nov 1, 2023
They're weird spinning disks that make funny noises when "writing" data to them, WTF is this sorcery?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
A little magnet moves over a rapidly spinning disk and either notes the polarity of tiny sections of it (read), or tweaks the polarity of that section itself (write).
Pretty much all innovation on that concept over the last 70 years is making the tiny sections tinier and making it so the overall unit moving doesn't break the magnet or disk.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The technology is essentially the same as a record player - the needle of the hard drive's reading arm vibrates horizontally and vertically as it passes through the grooves of a spinning disk, and that motion is translated into 1s and 0s by the drive's circuitry. Of course, there are multiple disks and arms in each drive, the tip of each needle is only a few atoms wide, and if the data stream were played back as sound the frequency would be far above ultrasound.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Absolutego said:
A little magnet moves over a rapidly spinning disk and either notes the polarity of tiny sections of it (read), or tweaks the polarity of that section itself (write).
Pretty much all innovation on that concept over the last 70 years is making the tiny sections tinier and making it so the overall unit moving doesn't break the magnet or disk.
Click to expand...
We’ll go on, give him the answer.

Finger Pistols said:
Only the lost tribes of autistic repairmen lead by Luis Rossman still carry that knowledge or so I'm told.
Click to expand...
I hear they worship terry Davis, is this true?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Absolutego said:
A little magnet moves over a rapidly spinning disk and either notes the polarity of tiny sections of it (read), or tweaks the polarity of that section itself (write).
Pretty much all innovation on that concept over the last 70 years is making the tiny sections tinier and making it so the overall unit moving doesn't break the magnet or disk.
Click to expand...
This dosen't explain why they make funny noises.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Absolutego said:
Usually it's the engine for the head seeking too fast when doing heavy writes. The little gizmo modern heads use to re-magnetize parts of the disk has a tendency to be chatty when working too hard.
Click to expand...
How modern are we talking? Because I have a few hard drives from 2004-2008 and they're all very loud compared to the ones in my current computer.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
hl2_linux said:
How modern are we talking? Because I have a few hard drives from 2004-2008 and they're all very loud compared to the ones in my current computer.
Click to expand...
You're still storing data on a mid 00's disk? All 400GBs of it?
I mean 00's disks were definitely where seeking noise peaked but if you're noticing chatter on regular use of a drive that old it might just be the damn thing dying.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Absolutego said:
You're still storing data on a mid 00's disk? All 400GBs of it?
I mean 00's disks were definitely where seeking noise peaked but if you're noticing chatter on regular use of a drive that old it might just be the damn thing dying.
Click to expand...
I'm not using those disks from all those years back. I just have them from my old computers and spin them up once in a while to see if they still work.
My loudest disk by far is the one in my original xbox, it sounds like a marble rolling around in a teacup.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom