Exhausive information on mehanical HDDs- Includes SMART and Raid

[Blazing fire]

I would like to share this tutorial with you all. I sincerely hope it would be beneficial. Perhaps add this link to one of the stickies?

"Reference Guide - Hard Disk Drives (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/index.html)" by "The PC Guide (http://www.pcguide.com/)"

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/hist.html

A Brief History of the Hard Disk Drive (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/hist.html)

Life Without Hard Disk Drives (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/histWithout.html)
Early Disk Drives (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/histEarly.html)
Key Technological Firsts (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/histFirsts.html)
Hard Disk Trends (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/histTrends.html)


Construction and Operation of the Hard Disk Drive (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/index.html)

Hard Disk Operational Overview (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/over.html)
Hard Disk Platters and Media (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/media.html)
Hard Disk Read/Write Heads (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/heads/index.html)
Hard Disk Head Sliders, Arms and Actuator (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/act.html)
Hard Disk Spindle Motor (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/spin.html)
Hard Disk Connectors and Jumpers (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/jump.html)
Hard Disk Logic Board (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/logic.html)
Hard Disk Cache and Cache Circuitry (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/cache.html)
Hard Disk Form Factors (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/form.html)
Hard Disk Packaging and Mounting (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/pack.html)


Hard Disk Geometry and Low-Level Data Structures (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/index.html)

Data Encoding and Decoding (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/data.html)
Tracks, Cylinders and Sectors (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/tracks.html)
Formatting and Capacity (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/format.html)
Geometry Specifications and Translation (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/geom.html)
Error Management and Recovery (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/error.html)


Hard Disk Performance, Quality and Reliability (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/perf/index.html)

Hard Disk Performance (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/perf/perf/index.html)
Hard Disk Quality and Reliability (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/perf/qual/index.html)
Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/perf/raid/index.html)


Hard Disk BIOS and Capacity Factors (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/index.html)

BIOS and the Hard Disk (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/bios.html)
Hard Disk Size Barriers (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/size.html)
BIOS Translation Modes (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/modes.html)
Overcoming BIOS Disk Size Barriers (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/over.html)


Hard Disk Interfaces and Configuration (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/index.html)

Hard Disk General Interface Factors (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/gen.html)
Obsolete Hard Disk Interfaces (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/obso.html)
Specialty and Future Hard Disk Interfaces (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/sf.html)
Integrated Drive Electronics / AT Attachment (IDE/ATA) Interface (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/ide/index.html)
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/scsi/index.html)
IDE/ATA vs. SCSI: Interface Comparison (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/if/comp.html)


Hard Disk Logical Structures and File Systems (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/index.html)

Operating Systems and File Systems (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/os.html)
PC File Systems (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/file.html)
Major Disk Structures and the Boot Process (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/struct.html)
FAT File System Disk Volume Structures (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/fat.html)
Clusters and File Allocation (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/clust.html)
Partitioning, Partition Sizes and Drive Lettering (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/part.html)
Disk Partitioning and Formatting Programs (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/prog.html)
Disk Compression (http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/file/compr.html)

[shawy14]

This is awesome, thanks so much for this.

STICKY!

[splat]

i wouldn't sticky this since it's not really original content

[cw823]

i wouldn't sticky this since it's not really original content

+1

[Audioaficionado]

A link in a master sticky that links to retired stickies wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Blazing fire]

@mods, I don't mind if this thread is not sticked, as long as it's available for all to view. My main intent is to share with the community what I find.

Audio's idea is excleent :D

[MassiveOverkill]

I see nothing about partition alignment, and somewhat contradictory information about File Allocation Unit Size (recommendation to use smaller size to maximize space, but another section recommends larger size to improve performance............both statements should be in the same section or both statements should be in both sections together), but otherwise a good compilation.