Summary of How do Hard Disk Drives Work? 💻💿🛠

Summary of "How do Hard Disk Drives Work?"

This video provides a comprehensive overview of how hard disk drives (HDDs) function, detailing their components, data storage mechanisms, and recent technological advancements. The speaker emphasizes the compactness of data storage in HDDs and explains the intricate workings of their internal parts.

Main Ideas and Concepts:

• Data Storage Compactness:
  • Data is stored densely on HDDs, allowing a vast amount of information to fit in a small area.
• Components of a Hard Drive:
  • Platter: The disk where data is stored, made of aluminum magnesium alloy with a magnetic layer.
  • Read/Write Head: Positioned just 15 nanometers above the Platter, it reads and writes data.
  • Voice Coil Motor: Moves the Read/Write Head across the Platter.
  • Printed Circuit Board (PCB): Contains the main processor and controls for the drive.
• Data Organization:
  • Data is organized into tracks and sectors on the Platter.
  • Each sector contains a preamble, address, data, and error correcting code (ECC).
• Data Writing and Reading:
  • Writing: Involves magnetizing small domains on the Platter to represent binary data.
  • Reading: Detects changes in magnetic orientation to interpret binary data.
• Technological Advancements:
  • Increased Areal Density: Over 50 million times increase in data storage capacity over 60 years.
  • Vertical Magnetic Recording: Allows for smaller magnetic domains, enhancing storage capacity.
  • Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR): Overlaps tracks to fit more data but can affect performance.
  • Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR): Uses a laser to heat magnetic regions for easier data writing (not yet commercially available).

Methodology/Instructions:

• Components Overview:
  • Identify the Platter, Read/Write Head, Voice Coil Motor, and PCB.
• Data Writing Process:
  • Apply current to the write head to create a magnetic field.
  • Magnetize the cobalt-chromium-tantalum layer on the Platter.
• Data Reading Process:
  • Use the read head's giant magnetoresistance (GMR) to detect changes in magnetic orientation.
• Advancements:
  • Understand the implications of vertical recording, SMR, and HAMR on data storage.

Speakers/Sources Featured:

• The video is produced by Branch Education, which focuses on educational content related to technology.
• The video is sponsored by PCBWay, a company that manufactures printed circuit boards and offers assembly services.

Notable Quotes

— 00:00 — « Imagine every picture you took over the past year, all saved within the area of a single dot of ink from a ballpoint pen. »

— 10:39 — « Just imagine, if we were to time travel this hard drive back to the 1960s, it would be worth over 4 billion dollars, and now in 2022 it costs less than 40 dollars and is far faster and more reliable than the disk drives from the 60s! »

— 12:39 — « By changing the orientation to vertical, the domains or magnetic regions can utilize the depth of the material while continuing to shrink the area on the disk that each domain takes up. »

Category

Educational

Video