Questions tagged [hard-drive]

Anything related to hard disk drives (HDDs), a.k.a. hard-disks or hard-drives (HDs), i.e. electromechanical devices often found inside computers used as secondary storage (mass-storage). They can store information in digital form by magnetizing tiny areas of magnetic material with which the their internal disk-shaped rotating platters are coated.

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What is the name of this type of pinned barrel connector?

This is for an old Seagate/Barracuda disk drive. It is most likely run from a 12 V, 3 A power supply. I am looking for a replacement, but I don't know what connector type to search for.
Thomas Matthew's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
120 views

SATA to USB conversion: is it complex?

Recently I purchased a SATA to USB adapter. To be able to access 2.5-inch (laptop) and 3.5-inch (desktop) hard drives. To my surprise, there is a board to do the conversion. Question Why there ...
Megidd's user avatar
  • 377
1 vote
1 answer
91 views

I need some help to identify this component

I require assistance in locating this component, which bears the designation EK 67, as evident in the accompanying image. The challenge lies in my inability to procure its datasheet, thereby impeding ...
EEIR's user avatar
  • 46
1 vote
1 answer
188 views

Why do hard disks use only one head at a time?

I just came across this 2019 article where the author uses microbenchmarks to map the layout of sectors on harddisks. One of the things discussed is that disks switch to different heads after reading ...
JanKanis's user avatar
  • 273
2 votes
1 answer
610 views

Why do SSDs have a limited lifespan?

Why do solid-state drives even have a limited number of read/write cycles, usually 100,000-300,000 cycles? For hard-disk drives, it is understandable why they wear out. That is because they have ...
CoastCity Lapse 00crashtest's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
220 views

In a disk drive, are tracks and sectors physical or logical implementations?

Given a disk drive that has disk sector and track (as given in diagram in Wikipedia), are the 2 structures physically implemented on the drive or are they logical implementations? I am not asking ...
Prasanjit Rath's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
7k views

Is 3.3 v necessary for basic functionality of any SATA drives ? How to check if a drive uses it?

Am I correct in understanding that no SATA hardrive needs 3.3V for "basic" (identification/read/write) operations? Should a drive have 3.3V specs written on its front along with 5V and 12V ...
Martian2020's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
143 views

Can a device distinguish between USB HDD and flash drive?

I have a smart TV (LG C1) that can "pause" live TV, but demands a USB HDD attached. It will refuse a brand new USB 3.2 flash drive, but will happily use a 2014 mediocre HDD on USB 3.0. I ...
Makotanist's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
2k views

Running 3.5" Hard Drive off USB 3 (900mA / 5V)

I was having a discussion with someone about why 3.5" hard drive adapters don't exist that run solely off USB. Please forgive me but my electrical engineering knowledge is minimal and been a long ...
HTWingNut's user avatar
  • 103
1 vote
2 answers
277 views

What servos are in hard drive write head? How are they so accurate yet so fast?

I just saw this demonstration of a hard drive seeking online. It made me wonder what type of servo motors are used to move the write heads, and how do they move so fast, yet are accurate enough to ...
itisyeetimetoday's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
666 views

Identify component from hard drive PCB

Can someone tell me the value of this component? The component is from a hard drive PCB.
ayoub Kimo's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is it correct that in a hard disk both surfaces of each disk are capable of storing data?

I have read that in a hard disk both surfaces of each disk are capable of storing data except the top and bottom disk where only the inner surface is used. Is it correct if yes then why is are there ...
Anshul Gupta's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

Powering many external 3.5" HDDs (USB) by an ATX PSU

I have many external USB disks like this one, that I would like to power from a single dedicated ATX PSU, instead of one 12V power adapter per disk. Because each power adapter would take one power ...
Blackbird's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
92 views

Is it reliable to use old computer hard disk as an external hard drive to store data? [closed]

I have a hard drive which cannot boot windows but works for even at higher transfer rates also its 6 years old, I found cheap enclosure SATA to USB 3.0 enclosure that works for even 100Mbps transfer ...
oppo's user avatar
  • 547
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

Need Help Identifying [closed]

This is a Board off a 8tb WD Hard Drive. I plug in the wrong power and i believe the little thing with the S on it is bad. I do not know what it is call or where i could find another, any help would ...
Dave Alander's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
37 views

Identification of ribbon sata cable

I have a laptop with HDD. The cable connecting the HDD to the motherboard is torn and thus the HDD doesn't work. I was wondering if I will be able to do the replacement myself. The cable I am looking ...
Zereges's user avatar
  • 101
0 votes
2 answers
91 views

Hard disk erase data

How do hard disk erase data?As far as I know, the hard disk stores data like this: The write head contains a coil of wire with a core of iron.When current passes through, depending on the direction ...
Bright Future's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
43 views

Where does a wire labeled "3G" must be connected in turbo x notebook? [closed]

I got angry and punched my Turbo x notebook and it shutted down. When I opened it again I got the famous error 0xc00000e9. So I thought that possibly a cable is disconnected or the hard drive is ...
BrainTrance's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
701 views

difference between a 5 v 1a and 5v 0.65a hd [closed]

What's the difference in the ampere of a 5v. 1A laptop hard disk and 5VDC 0.65A 12VDC :0.50 A PC hard disk for my laptop.
noob's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
2 answers
3k views

Driving a 4-wire Hard Drive Motor

After reading many contradictory accounts of the "proper" method, I would like to clear it up: what is the correct method for driving a 4-wire, star configuration hard drive motor? What I have ...
Colin Marcus's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
84 views

What is the difference in working of an GMR readhead vs an EMR one?

As I understand it, a GMR readhead works by stacking magnetic and non magnetic layers, passing a current through them and measuring the total resistance. Then a 4 point measurement is used to remove ...
Runge Kutta's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
145 views

Help identifying IC damaged by wrong voltage

I accidentally fried an IC when switching out a power supply; sent 12V instead of 5V. I've been trying to find some information on this drive, a Corsair M500 240GB, (CT240M500SSD1) - maybe a datasheet,...
tripleblep's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
383 views

Hard drive won't power on, is this the reason why? [closed]

I have a somewhat old, but functional (used to be, actually) hard drive, model Samsung HD103SJ, which I use for backup purposes. This means this is not a fixed unit. Since a few weeks ago when I ...
Marc.2377's user avatar
  • 129
2 votes
1 answer
791 views

Why does reading 1 byte from hard disk has the same speed as operation reading 1000 bytes?

Two operations: read 1 byte from disk read 1000 bytes from disk Why exactly will they have approximately the same speed?
syntagma's user avatar
  • 387
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

Is mechanically switching SATA drive signals possible?

Since SATA has made it possible to do all data interfacing to a drive through 4 wires, what I'd like to do is physically route two SATA ports to two drives, through a switch that simply swaps them. ...
Randy's user avatar
  • 3,235
-1 votes
2 answers
338 views

Using HDD as an input device for Arduino

I'm wondering if is it possible to use an old HDD as an input device that would feed some kind of data to Arduino. If you manually positioned the head and platter (the disk is not spinning, so it ...
Kripltronic's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
754 views

does heat kill hard drives? hhd lifespan due to heat [closed]

These days it's hard to buy an external 3.5" hard drive with a fan inside or well heat dissipation design. I have 4 of such hard drives, and two have already failed in first few months. Here is the ...
user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
925 views

Why are hard drives not limited to sizes of a power of 2?

For example, hard drives can be 320GB (between 2^8=256 and 2^9=512) in size, whereas memory appears to be limited to sizes of power of 2.
hbd's user avatar
  • 101
-2 votes
2 answers
176 views

Can photos be printed on the actual disks in magnetic hard drive the same way they are put on CDs [closed]

I've been reading about the Event Horizon Telescope and found the Computer World article Massive telescope array aims for black hole, gets gusher of data. In it they describe what must be the world's ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 3,419
26 votes
3 answers
3k views

How do hotswapping computer parts work?

Computers support hotswapping so that a user can replace a harddrive while the system is running. Is that mostly software just powering off the harddrive or is it some special hardware involved? If ...
Niklas Rosencrantz's user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Are Hard Drive Motors Stepper Motors? [closed]

Can a hard drive motor been controlled by a stepper motor? Like the one shown below? Thanks!
Transistor's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
993 views

Raspberry pi with two USB 2.5 inch Hard drives and powering them in parallel via one 5V PSU [closed]

I'm a hobbyist/tinkerer and want to make sure I don't fry my equipment by doing it wrong. I'm trying to connect two/three 2.5 in USB HDD's to a Raspberry Pi 3. The power supply I have is 5V 2.5A and ...
Curious101's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
7k views

Can hard drive stepper motor can be used for making drones? [closed]

I have some useful hard drive stepper motor can it be used for making drone??
abhijit dhakane's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is it possible to read erased flash memory?

In hard disks, a "quick format" does nothing to the actual data on the disk - just clears the FAT (file allocation table), which then appears as a "blank disk" to the user. Therefore, it is fairly ...
rdtsc's user avatar
  • 16.2k
-2 votes
1 answer
89 views

HDDs after format [closed]

What happen to our hard disks after formatting the partition with quick format option, from the electronics view? Is it possible to recover formatted data, are software solutions good enough to ...
Laki's user avatar
  • 531
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How to get my internal Harddrive to spin externally?

I have a Seagate ST3500620AS Harddrive that's just laying around and not being used. I want to power the motor at full speed (rated to run at 7200rpm) and do some hobby projects with it. Problem is, ...
EclecticallyElectrical's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

RPM v read/write speed

I am a developer using languages like C++ and .NET. I am trying to understand how computers work at a lower level. Say I have a hard disk that is 7400RPM and 150MB read/write speed. My book implies ...
w0051977's user avatar
  • 667
0 votes
1 answer
107 views

Bit persistence on a Hard Disk Drive

I was wondering if there was a time limit to the "persistence" of bits on a hard drive, a classical SATA for example. If I'm correct, bits are written by a magnetizing head in some cells on the hard ...
David's user avatar
  • 3
0 votes
1 answer
126 views

Addressing the cylinders of a Hard Drive

I want to address the cylinders of a Hard Drive but I can't find a good manual of the pinout of the IDE interface. Anyone knows how to do that? I don't want to read/write anything in the disk, just ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
291 views

What natural processes can cause Catastrophic Failure of a Hard Drive?

My understanding of conventional hard drives is they fail slowly. Something breaks and skips along the platters and data begins to be corrupted. I believe this is what the mean-time-between-failures ...
Corey Alix's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
488 views

Can I run this hard drive on 12Vdc 1.25A instead of 1.5? [duplicate]

I have a My Book Essential external hard-drive from WD that ships with a 12Vdc 1.5A 18 Watt adapter. Will I be risking everything by plugging it into a 12Vdc 1.25A adapter?
user41014's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

usb drive EEPROM IC how is memory read-only blocked and unblocked?

I notice ofteen free give-away usb thumb drive come with a certain memory space locked and unwritable so that a 4 GB flash drive for instance has 1GB of advert which cannot be format. Given that thumb ...
dendini's user avatar
  • 133
-3 votes
2 answers
489 views

Effects of a subwoofer on computer components [closed]

Ok so here's a question that I've only seen asked once, what are (if any) the adverse effects of having a subwoofer included in a PC case mod? The Backstory: I've got an OK case. Looks nice, has cool ...
Ben H's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
1 answer
982 views

What is the hardware/device that can switch a 5V and 12V (simultaneously) PC power supply lines?

What I want to do is to switch the power supply lines (5V and 12V) for a hard drive. The 5V line is meant for data transmission, and the 12V is for the spinning disk DC motor. I would like to control ...
return 0's user avatar
  • 113
2 votes
1 answer
398 views

What is the maximum magnetic flux density a HDD can tolerate before data is corrupted?

Does anyone have hard numbers explaining the maximum number of Teslas a hard disk drive can tolerate before data will be corrupted. This forum says "a lot", which isn't super helpful. This one ...
Zach Rattner's user avatar
11 votes
4 answers
62k views

How can I spin an old HDD motor?

I've stripped out an old IDE (40 Pin) HDD from 1998 for use in a POV display project (Gr. 12 Computer Engineering), and I've been trying to spin it up. The problem is that the HDD motor is brushless ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 244
-7 votes
3 answers
376 views

Using a CPU manually [closed]

Ok, I know this may sound dumb but, here is the thing: I recently removed a cpu, ram and hard disk from my 10-ish year old pc. At first, I did that to understand how the pc was built. Now, the next ...
Precision's user avatar
-2 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the function of a Logic board on a Hard disk? [closed]

Since I am planning to troubleshoot my failed hard disk which is not powering up, I am planning to check whether the logic board is working fine or not. Shall be grateful to someone who can tell ...
gpuguy's user avatar
  • 1,638
4 votes
2 answers
975 views

Reliable secondary storage for Raspberry Pi (or other such single-board computers (SBCs))?

Most SD cards have a fairly limited life (as in maximum number of read-write cycles), and in spite of wear-levelling, for relatively frequent disk update applications, would probably fail in a year or ...
bdutta74's user avatar
  • 3,534
4 votes
6 answers
348 views

Hard drive that has the ability to "read" old data while it performs a write?

Is there a hard drive (protocol command, specific model, etc.) that, while writing new data over old data, it "read"/return the old data back to the controller/OS? (Analogous to a simultaneous read-...
eitan27's user avatar
  • 143