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A Guide On The Main Components In a PC
a device and use it from the go.
Hard Disk
This is the main storage device on all PC's. It is capable, now, of holding huge programs and file sizes. When it comes to the Hard Disk the bigger the better. It accomplishes this task by storing data onto a magnetic disk by magnetising each section. Inside the Hard Disk there is a read/write head and this is what, as its name suggests, does all of the reading and writing from the disk. This read/write head magnetises something known as sectors on the Hard Disk, if a sector fills up then the read/write head will move onto another sector, no matter where on the disk and continue writing. The Hard Disk has a special area on it known as the FAT or File Allocation Table, which tells the read/write head where all the pieces of information it needs are. However if a read/write head has to keep moving around the disk to get the information it needs rather than it all being in the one place, then it will slow things down a touch. To counter this programs like Disk Defragmentors are used to put all of the data together and therefore improve access times on the Hard Disk. You will more than likely have to install all programs to the Hard Disk for quick access to them, it is not often nowadays to find a program that will run from a floppy disk.
A Hard Disk can be very important if you plan to store an awful lot on your PC or have large programs you wish to use. However the speed and size are in direct proportion to the tasks you will be performing, Joe Kraynak says 'If you're using the drive to make unattended backups, speed is irrelevant.'
Floppy Disk Drive
A floppy Disk drive is a suitable method of storing data, provided that the data is very small. It can normally only hold a few pictures and/or a few documents. In today's high specification world of computing one would assume that this sort of storage is unacceptable. However it can still be useful for home storage and the like. It works by magnetising the data onto the disk on the inside, this disk is coated with a special magnetic material which allows the magnetisation to take place. Unfortunately, because of this data stored on floppy disks can be lost of corrupt in areas of magnetic interference. When a computer reads from a Floppy Disk it uses a magnetic head that reads the data from the disk as the dick spins. According to Ian Sinclair ' When the drive is used, the drive motor starts to spin the disk at a speed of about 300 revolutions per minute.' In comparison to your hard disk, this is not very fast at all, the reason for this being that the magnetic head of the floppy has to be held further away from the disk than a hard disk read/write head because it could scratch the [next page]