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General discussion

how do hard drives work, anyway?

Mar 10, 2007 2:02AM PST

I know the physical layout of hard drives. The case, of course, the board on the bottom that provides the power & data pins; the platters inside, with the arm & read/write heads, and some other stuff - like a couple COOL rare earth magnets. Grin

Anyway, how are hard drives able to handle downloading apps, playing music, saving documents, look at pictures, etc - ALL AT ONCE?

It would seem that the hard drive would really only be able to do one thing at once, though it can do many.

So, care to help me out in understanding this quandry? Hehe, well thanks ... peace out.

Discussion is locked

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Links.
Mar 10, 2007 2:17AM PST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk

"Anyway, how are hard drives able to handle downloading apps, playing music, saving documents, look at pictures, etc - ALL AT ONCE?"

Sorry that's a little muddled. Try think about the Operating System that handles this, the hard disk does not provide this feature.

Bob
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Super interesting article. . .
Mar 10, 2007 7:37AM PST

I've read it before, and great links and pictures.

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thanks, but ...
Mar 10, 2007 9:23AM PST

it doesn't really seem to answer my question ... but I guess maybe what you're saying under your link is that the hard drive spins so fast, that the software can manipulate the hard drive to multitask?

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Sorry, you may have to take some class.
Mar 10, 2007 9:30AM PST

The OS (I'm going to use acronyms here) arbitrates all disk i/o. The disk is not the limiting factor or such here.

Then again I did run in someone that called the box that held the computer a hard disk so maybe it's all in what we call things.

The answer is. The OS does this.

Bob

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The hard drive. . .
Mar 10, 2007 10:14AM PST

is a storage device only. It loads the various programs and utilities into the system RAM (only what is needed at the moment) and the Operating System does the rest. The OS may call for more data for each running program from the drive and the HD then accesses the data needed. The HD does not run the programs.

HTH

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re: hard drive
Mar 10, 2007 3:19PM PST

yeah, I've known many people to call the tower a "CPU," and it drives me crazy.

anyway, I was just curious, but not curious enough for a class.

anyway, cory makes a bit more sense ... I guess with everything being loaded into RAM, it'd make it a lot easier on the hard drive.
I know certain things are automatically loaded into RAM - instant messenger conversations, browser sessions, etc, so these don't need much access to the drive.

I guess I didn't realize how much was loaded into RAM.

but yes, cory, I know that the hard drive doesn't actually run the programs, or anything for that matter. it is merely a storage device, after all.

anyway, thanks