List characteristics of a hard disk. Define platter. What are the factors that affect a drive’s speed? Define form factor. Explain how a hard disk works. Define read/write head and cylinder. Note the speed at which hard disks rotate. Explain revolutions per minute (rpm). Illustrate the distance between the hard disk read/write head and the disk surface. What is the distance between a floppy disk read/write head and the disk surface? Define head crash. What is a backup and what is its purpose? Explain why access time is faster for a hard disk than for a floppy disk. Define disk cache. How does disk cache improve access time? Hard disks sometimes are partitioned, or divided into separate areas that each function as if it was a separate hard disk drive. Why might a user want to partition a hard drive?
List characteristics of a hard disk. Define platter. What are the factors that affect a
drive’s speed? Define form factor. Explain how a hard disk works. Define read/write head
and cylinder. Note the speed at which hard disks rotate. Explain revolutions per minute
(rpm). Illustrate the distance between the hard disk read/write head and the disk surface.
What is the distance between a floppy disk read/write head and the disk surface? Define
head crash. What is a backup and what is its purpose? Explain why access time is faster for
a hard disk than for a floppy disk. Define disk cache. How does disk cache improve access
time? Hard disks sometimes are partitioned, or divided into separate areas that each
function as if it was a separate hard disk drive. Why might a user want to partition a hard
drive?
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