Hard Disk / HDD (abbreviation) / Hard Drive / Fixed Drive / Fixed Disk / Fixed Disk Drive is a storage device used in computers. It is one of the best solutions or probably the most used device for storing data safely. Numerous companies including Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, etc. manufacturing hard disks in different forms and sizes. For the laptops, the hard drives are manufactured in a smaller size, but is available in almost all storage variations as a desktop HDD.
There are numerous storage variants of the hard drives are available. Few of them are given below.
- 256 GB
- 512 GB
- 1 TB (1024 GB)
- 2 TB
- 5 TB
Usually in Windows operating system, the C: drive is where the system files occupy. So, it is the most important partition which will affect the stability of the PC on altering. Users can also create different partitions by allocating specific storage spaces for each one of them. This allows to organize the files and to get ease in accessing particular files.
Usually, the hard disks will be sized 3.5-inches which could be attached to the casing of the PC. Larger variations are also available. The HDD should be connected to the motherboard using a SATA or IDE connector. These two are the most common connectors used in the modern computers. In addition, power supply (SMPS) should provide power to the hard disk in order to make it function.
Also, have a look at the following diagram to get a basic idea about the hard drive structure. The rectangular structure that you see has something complicated inside including few rotating disks and other movable parts.
So, they are also prone to damages even on small accidents like drops or high pressure. The disks can be scratched even upon a rough movement which will later result in data corruption or non-readable files. So, be extremely careful while handling hard disk drives.