2
Week 2
(Covers Chapters 7, 8, and 10)
Building Skills
The following exercises will help you understand hard disk storage principles and interfaces.
Exercise 1: Reading Assignment
Read Chapters 10, 7, and 8.
Exercise 2: Identifying Hard Drive Components
If you have the hardware available to you, use your hard drive to identify the requested components. You can purchase an old or broken hard drive, cut the seals, and disassemble it. Fill in the names of the component parts shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1
Exercise 3: Identifying Hard Drive Parameters
What information can you discover about the hard drive? If you have the hardware available to you, examine the hard drive using the SiSoft Sandra utility. Without opening a computer, you can see what size hard drive is installed.
Steps
Check off each step as you complete it.
1. With the computer turned on and Windows running, run the Sandra utility you installed in Chapter 2, "PC Components, Features, and System Design."
Note
If you have questions about using the Sandra utility, see Chapter 2. If you are using Windows 3.x, use the System Analyst for Windows utility that is found on the Student Resource CD-ROM. It is similar to Sandra and can provide the same information.
2. Select the System Summary icon and scroll down to the drive information (see Figure 2.2).
Figure 2.2
Floppy Drive A: _______ M
Floppy Drive B: _______ M
Hard drive C name: _______________________
Hard drive C size: _____________________
Hard drive D name (if applicable): _______________________
Hard drive D size (if applicable): ____________________
CD-ROM drive letter (if applicable): ________
Other removable drive letters and type: ______________________
3. Click OK to return to the main screen. From the File menu, choose Exit to exit the Sandra utility.
Coming to Terms
Using the UPGRADE.HLP file, locate each of the following terms and, in your own words, write a short definition for each.
1. bus mastering
2. DMA
3. automatic head parking
4. cylinder
5. disk caching
6. encoding method
7. head crash
8. head actuator
9. high-level format
10. low-level format
11. partitioning
12. platter
13. Winchester drive
14. ATA IDE
15. daisy chain
16. Enhanced IDE
17. Fast SCSI
18. IDE
19. Wide SCSI
20. auto-detect
21. defect mapping
22. FDISK
23. Ontrack Disk Manager
24. user-definable drives
25. changeline
26. cluster
27. full-height drive
Testing Your Knowledge
True and False
There are usually up to 4 IDE controllers on a motherboard.
A fixed disk is the same as a hard disk.
Hard drives consist of spinning platters.
Heads and cylinders are numbered starting with 1.
Sectors on a track are numbered starting with 1.
Physical formatting is referred to as low-level formatting.
Logical formatting is referred to as low-level formatting.
Most hard drives have air filters.
A drive does not have to be partitioned if it will be the only volume (drive C:).
IDE drives need to be assigned unique bus Ids.
SCSI drives are also known as ATA drives.
IDE drives are desirable for high end servers and RAID systems.
Up to 7 devices can be attached to an IDE bus.
Essay
1. Identify which conditions you would consider SCSI to be a more desirable choice than IDE.
2. Make a "wish list" of features you would look for in a drive.
3. Use the Internet to find price guides, benchmarking software, and user reviews for hard drives.
4. Describe how cluster sizes affect drive performance and when (if at all) large cluster sizes may be more desirable than small ones.
5. Identify and list the features of other disk partitioning software available on the market (for example, Partition Magic, Disk Druid, and so on).
6. Describe under what conditions would low-level formatting an IDE drive may be necessary.
Answers
True and False
1. F
2. T
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. T
7. F
8. T
9. F
10. F
11. F
12. F
13. F