

They allow you to divide the space on your hard drive into sections that behave like individual disks. Partitioning divides different parts of your hard drive into separate areas. There are ways to make the best use of this critical component of your computer. In recent years, modern PCs have slowly replaced hard disk drives (HDD) with SSDs. Though they are different, the above explanation shows what components make up hard disk drives and how they work. However, it is important to note that people sometimes refer to solid-state drives (SSDs) as hard drives. Therefore, a hard drive's capacity is directly proportional to the number of metal platters in it.

So, to increase storage capacity, manufacturers stack many platters in a hard drive. Related: How to Recover Data From an External Hard DriveĮach metal platter can only hold minimal data. The drives are sealed in the hard drive casing to protect the platters from exposure to microscopic dust. On each plate is a head that rapidly moves back and forth across it while using magnets both to read and write data as required. Traditionally, hard drives consist of several spinning metal platters (or plates). Although it's also the computer component that is most prone to failure, it provides optimum performance for the price. Your hard drive is a crucial component of your computer-it stores all your data whether it's turned on or off.
