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Questions tagged [hard-drive]

A hard disk drive (or HDD) is a non-volatile, random access device for storing digital data.

A hard disk drive (HDD, often just called "hard drive") is a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information. An HDD retains its data even when powered off. Data is read in a random-access manner, meaning individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order rather than just sequentially. An HDD consists of one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating discs (platters) with magnetic heads arranged on a moving actuator arm to read and write data to the surfaces.

The HDD is one of the core components that make up a modern PC. The hard disk capacity determines the amount of files and programs that can be stored and the disk speed and type have a great influence on the overall performance of the computer.

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What is the purpose of the holes marked "Do Not Cover" on hard drives?

On many hard drives, there's a text warning to "not cover this hole", sometimes adding that doing so will void the warranty. What is the purpose of this hole and why would covering it cause damage or increase the likelihood of drive failure? (Image…
oKtosiTe
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Which kind of hard disk is this? (7 cm × 9,5 cm, 48 pins)

My girlfriend has an old laptop-drive she wants me to grab data from. I want to buy a usb-adapter for it, but I have no clue as to which kind of disk this is. There are no text printed on the drive except from "Made in China" and "F4". The hard…
OleDid
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How vibration sensitive are hard disk drives?

I've gotten my hands on a seriously cheap laptop grade 2.5 inch drive. I'm intending to use one on a desktop that doesn't have 2.5 inch bays as a boot drive. While I know there are adapters available, I know its fairly common with SSDs to simply…
Journeyman Geek
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What is the origin of the hard drive light?

In practically every computer I've had, there's always been a light to display hard drive activity. What's its origin and original use?
RCIX
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What is this 48-pin laptop hard drive connector?

I'm trying to get data off a 2.5 inch hard drive from an old laptop (a Macintosh PowerBook Duo 230), the drive is model: WDS-2120 It looks like a standard mini-IDE hard drive, except it only has 40 pins then a break and 8 additional pins -I would…
digarch
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3.5" Hard Drives with 'bumps' on the side. Is this normal?

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but here goes .. I recently bought 2x WD Red Plus 8TB NAS hard drives, and while unboxing them I noticed that they have bumps on their sides, of varying intensities. Please take a look at the pictures…
Ahmad
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Hazardous materials in a hard drive

I have an old laptop at my disposal that has a malfunctioning HDD in it. I would really enjoy taking the drive apart and looking at it. However, I would like to ensure that I am not going to end up with lead poisoning or any thing like that. So,…
L.B.
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Hard drives and types -- what makes them so different?

7200 RPM Western Digital Blacks are designed to be faster than Western Digital Blues/Greens. They are the same speed, same cache, etc. What really makes them actually faster? Does it have to do with spin up/down speeds or what?
Jason
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How much does a gigabyte worth of data physically weigh on a hard disk?

What is the physical weight of one gigabyte of memory/storage? Lets say this is on a hard disk. What is the weight associated with the atoms that are actually storing the data on the disk? How has this value changed as densities of disks have…
Callum
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Why are hard drives never as large as advertised?

From all the hard drives I have bought, they never seem to be as large as the advertised size; from 320 GB down to 290 GB, from 500 GB down to 450 GB, etc. Is there a technical reason for this?
Sam Becker
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What is the lifetime of a typical hard disk?

What lifetime can be expected of the typical hard disk? Or are there big differences between different types? And does it make a difference if it is used heavily instead of never being connected to system (for example serving as a backup medium)?
Dimitri C.
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Dynamic vs Basic Disk - Hard Drives

I have bought a removable hard drive enclosure and a 1TB hard drive to fit in it. Its pretty cool; it has a little handle at the front of the caddy that allows you to take out the hard drive and stick into another caddy - or swap it for another…
Vidar
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Just received a quote to repair an HDD that went bad on my old laptop 5-6 years ago. Was quoted ~$1750 to retrieve data, really? Is this a rip off?

About 5 or 6 years ago I had a laptop HDD go bad on me (wouldn't boot anymore). I removed the HDD and have had it stored away since then because it has almost all of our pictures/videos of my son's very early years. It is very important to my wife…
Ken
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4K sectors transition: Why are hard drives moving to 4096 byte sectors, vs. 512 byte sectors?

I've noticed that some Western Digital hard drives are now sporting 4K sectors, that is, the sectors are larger: 4096 bytes vs. the long-standing standard of 512 bytes. So: What's the big deal with 4K sectors? Is it marketing hype, or a real…
Chris W. Rea
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What do you call the area on a hard disk smaller than a sector?

So I know about tracks and sectors, but what do you call the "area" on a hard disk that makes up the sector? I'm talking about the spot that stores 1 bit of data, the tiny little area that stores either a 1 or a 0 magnetically. Nowhere seems to go…
ollimpia
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