Everything on your computer, from the files within folders and even the operating system itself is stored on a large magnetic disk called the Hard Drive. In this column I am going to talk a little about how a hard drive works, proper maintenance, and different things to look for when shopping for a replacement hard drive.

The Hard Drive is a 3.5 hard casing that houses magnetic copper disks. These disks store your files and folders even when your computer isn't on, and loads them into RAM when you want to access them. Reading and writing to a hard drive is done in the background. When you move, delete, or create, or download something an arm inside the drive records the changes onto the copper disks. The speed at which a this arm can read and write is called revolutions per minute (RPMs).

The most common one among desktop computers is the 7,200 RPM drives. Speeds vary, as Western Digital's Raptor has RPMs in the 10,000 mark and other drives as high as 18,000.

In my opinion, and it is shared with many others in the IT industry, is that high numbers on storage devices are a huge selling point. When someone sees a large number they think “better”. This is not necessarily the case. While the Hard Drive might be faster, it might not be noticeably faster. Also, you are going to pay more for Gigabyte than you would on a slightly “slower” drive like a 7200 RPM drive.

Storage

The modern unit of storage on EVERYTHING from RAM, Flash Drives, and Hard Drives is the Gigabyte. The more Gigabytes on the Hard Drives package, the more stuff it will hold, period. That's the meat and taders easy part.

Now let me complicate that by telling you just how your information is stored on a Hard Drive.

It is written to the disk with the arm I mentioned above, true, but it does so on a number of different sectors. Sectors are like bookmarks on the disk so that the RAM can find a given place on the Hard Drive. Over time, your hard drive might write over, relocate, or separate files on the hard drive. Think of your hard drive like a very messy file cabinet. While the hard drive will store things, its a very bad house keeper. This means that when it goes to retrieve a file it might run slow or “lag” because it is putting it together from two different sectors on the Hard Disk.

The Solution: Defrag.

Defraging your hard drive can be a long process but its almost completely automated and can be done over night. Defrag tools basically go over every sector of your drive and straiten out your files, and even attempting to repair bad sectors.

Interface

Your hard drives interface is the means it connects to the motherboard. Older trives connected with a ribbon type cable called an IED cable, these drives were IED drives. In server environments SCSI is still implemented for its RAID technology but that is another topic entirely. If you bought your computer in the last several years you probably have a SATA drive.

The interface has nothing to do really with how a hard drive works, it is simply how it talks to the mother board. The SATA being the fastest. It is important that when picking out a Hard Drive that you select one that your motherboard is set up for.

I am in my morning class this week, and an older gentleman approaches me with a question I have gotten more than once. It involved his laptop screen busting and he wanted to know how much it would be to repair it. I kinda cringed, while I would have been more than happy to switch out an LCD for him at my usual 25 dollars an hour, I really did not want to see him throw money at this problem because I deemed it a lost cause after asking him a few questions.

How Old Is This Laptop?

I ask this because first it tells me how old the hardware is and if I think it is even worth throwing money at. In most cases they are not because a decent laptop only runs about 400 bucks these days, though I can honestly say they are NOT built like they used to be. Second if I find out it isn't even a year old and they should have some kind of warranty through the company, then I advise them to take the company up on it because me touching the screws could break a seal and void any warranty.

What is Wrong With The Laptop?

This guy in my class had a busted display. Those are expensive depending on the model. Also a drop that can break the display could also break a number of other things. I asked the guy to try hooking it up to an external monitor and see if it would boot and we would take it from their. If it does boot up I will be more than happy to back up his files and stuff but have already steered him in the direction of getting a new one because this one was 6 or more years old.

How Much Are The Parts?

The part cost is also a determining factor. A laptop as old as this gentleman could probably be found on ebay for about $100 to $200 and in varying stages of function. However all we would need would be an LCD. This would be an acceptable repair cost for a new laptop that I felt had some years ahead of it, but not in the case of something that's over 5 years old, just not worth sinking any money into.

A Word on Upgrades

Earlier this year I did some work for another guy I work with. He wanted his laptop pimped out. The laptop was a gateway model, 2 or 3 years old. Still in good shape, built very well. So I advised him to go through with it. I doubled his Hard Drive compacity and maxed out the RAM all for about $140 (parts and labor).

I have to say this gentlemen got a good trade off, because that money improved his laptop's specs to be on par with just about anything I could find online.

So all-in-all its a tough call to make, in very few cases its worth sinking money into an already broken laptop, but if a few hundred means you don't have to shell out $400 or more for another 2 to three years then go for it.

Still alive. This week I will be completing a long time goal and finishing up my first semester of college. Due to hustle and bustle of work and school I have been forced to neglect this blog. However I am hoping that I will be just a little more adjusted next semester and be able to start posting columns again on a semi-regular bases. During my break I will also try to post some essays I wrote.

Anyway, to all who care to read my humble little blog I just want to say thanks for subscribing and have a Merry Christmas. God Bless.