A hard drive is the part of a computer that basically does nothing else than holding and storing all the data and gives it back when you decide you need it. A 1tb hard drive is a storage that can hold up to a terabyte of data, but more on teras and bytes later.
Conventional hard drives store data on a metal platter, a disc that is coated with a special powder that can be set to a specific magnetic state. These discs spin at 4200, 5400 or 7200 times a minute depending on the model, and a hand every side of a disc hovers above it just a few microns above the surface.
These hands are called heads and they can read the actual state of the spot called block passing under it while the disk spins away. According to the state in which the block is the drive passes data to the motherboard which is then taken by the processor. This way the operating system without any knowledge about what’s going on in the hard drive can request or send data to it.
A terabyte is a magnitude of a byte. Means 10 on the 12th byte or 1000 on the 4th. That is equal to 1000 gigabytes or one million megabytes. Pretty scary eh? You don’t have to worry about it though, all you need to know that a terabyte is a lot. It’s around 220 DVDs, you can store the whole content of a 8 gbyte ipod 125 times on it, or keep 285,000 good quality mp3 tracks on it.
There are two kinds of connectors inside the normal desktop computers to connect hard drives. A good 1tb hard drive now uses SATA instead of the old PATA, but don’t be scared by the technical gibberish, it’s all simple. PATA uses a wide cable with 80 wires and transfers lots of stuff all at once while SATA uses a cable with 7 wires and transfers one thing at once. You would think PATA should be faster then.
The answer is a clear no, mainly because serial connectivity is much much more simple to work with, troubleshoot and transfer in other words it can be faster, you just have to have a fast serial chip on both ends of it. Sata is also cheaper to produce, 7 threads of copper is cheaper than 80 to manufacture.
When buying a hard drive always read forums, articles and reviews on the unit you are about to write, because knowing more about a matter you are paying for is always good, try not to overdo it though. Find a good cheap hard drive and buy it.
Related Article:
USB Hard Drive – Basic Concept
Laptop Hard Drive Basics
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