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.
61 questions
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45Dell LA08A011 HDD Driver Board Replacement
I've inherited what I believe is a Dell LA08A011 disk drive with scans of good ol' fashioned paper family photos from ~20 years ago. I'd like to get the files off it but I'm not keen on paying >£...
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0 votes
1 answer
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What is name of this component?
I have several obsolete IDE SV1021h harddrive but one of them is not able to power on with molex cable. I compared PCB of this broken SV1021h harddrive with working PCB by checking ohm value of most ...
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4 votes
1 answer
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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.
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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 should ...
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1 answer
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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 ...
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3 votes
1 answer
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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 ...
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2 votes
1 answer
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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 ...
0 votes
2 answers
357 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 ...
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1 vote
1 answer
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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 ...
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1 vote
1 answer
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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 ...
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1 vote
4 answers
3k 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 ...
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1 vote
2 answers
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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 ...
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1 answer
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Identify component from hard drive PCB
Can someone tell me the value of this component? The component is from a hard drive PCB.
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9 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 ...
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1 answer
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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 ...
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