8 Interesting Facts About Hard Disk Drive

A hard drive is a vital component of a computer. It stores all your digital data content; images, videos, music, programs, documents, and all other files and folders. Without a hard drive, you cannot boot up your operating system or download the files from the internet. The four major types of hard drives are PATA, HDD, Serial ATA, and SDD.

The hard disk drive is a rectangular-shaped metallic box, which is placed near the front of the case or close to other drives in the computer. Nowadays, external hard drives are also available in the market. 

Hard disk drives are an electromechanical disc storage device, which consists of moving platters ahead. These are also called hard disk and hard drives. Generally, the rotating platter is made up of aluminum, glass, and ceramic substrate. They come with various storage capacities. Some of the best selling hard disk drives are Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM006), Western Digital 1TB Blue Notebook Internal Hard Drive,  Seagate ST16000NE000 Hard Drive, HGST Corporation 1 TB Laptop Sata Hard Drive, Toshiba 2.5 1TB Internal Hard Drive for Laptop.

Although hard disk drives are present in almost all computers, a handful of people know about the following interesting facts and properties.

• The first-ever hard disk drive was discovered by IBM in 1956 and was called a 350 disk storage unit. The amazing fact about this hard drive is that it was only limited to be used in IBM PC and its weight is around 1 ton and looks like a small refrigerator. In 1958 IBM started shipping this hard drive to other companies and countries. Sadly, due to its heavyweight and large size, this hard drive was discontinued in the second half of 1959. 

• You may not believe it, but the initial cost of a hard drive was indeed very high. It was so expensive that people prefer to rent it instead of buying. The data capacity of the first hard drive was 3.5 MB, and the buyer needs to spend 000 to own it. The annual rental charge for the hard drive was 00. 

• Surprisingly, apart from aluminum and glass, the most expensive element platinum is also used to make hard disc drive platters. This metal boosts the hard drive’s processing power. Also, to increase the magnetic properties, ruthenium is used in this electromechanical device.

• Many people have a myth that hard drives are airtight. But it's not true. Although hard drives do have filters in them to prevent dust from getting inside, they are not fully airtight. Dust is very harmful to the data stored inside the disc. The filters safeguard the hard disk drive from dust and other foreign elements.

• The average cost of an 8TB hard drive today is around 0, which is approximately 300 million times cheaper than the 1st discovered IBM hard drive.

• The world's smallest hard drive was first discovered by a Dutch scientist in 2016. This drive can rewrite the information by manipulating the chlorine atoms. In simple words, with this technology, every book written so far can be on a hard drive of the size of a postage stamp.

• Removing the hard disk from your computer doesn't erase the data from it. Even if you smash it with a hammer, it still contains hundreds of bytes of data which could be readable. The data can be removed from the hard drive either by deleting or formatting. 

• You might not know that a magnet can completely destroy the data stored in a hard drive. If you put the hard disk drive under a powerful magnet, it will completely erase the data. So, it's vital to keep away the hard drive from the magnets. 

The Bottom Line -:

The modern HDD lasts longer than the SSD. Not just that, they provide large data storage capacity at a lower cost than an SSD. Seagate, Toshiba, Samsung, Western Digital are some of the well-known hard drive brands; you can consider these while buying an HDD for your PC.

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esaitech Joined: April 24th, 2020