JETKING COMPUTER HARDWARE & NETWORKING INSTITUTE

AMEERPET, HYDERABAD.

HARD DISK

PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

AVINASH.S : AP-1011-341

SRIKANTH.B : AP-1011-166

MANUPANIKER : AP-1011-255

Under the Guidance

of

MR. CHANDRA SEKHAR

 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work titled Hard Disk is a bonafide work done by
Avinash.S (AP-1011-341) & his team members in partial fulfillment for the award of the
degree of Hardware Engineering of the Jetking Institute and that this work has not been
submitted for the award of any other degree of this institution.

Guide Head of the Department

(MR.Chadra Shekar) ()

Submitted for the institute Examination held on ……………………

Internal Examiner External Examiner

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thanks to the management and faculty for their kind co-operation and

guidance to successful completion of my project.

A special note of thanks to our faculty MR.CHANDU SIR for providing record

support during this project.

 INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION OF HARD DISK

1.1. HISTORY

2. WORKING

3. TYPES OF HARD DISK

4. TROBLESHOOTING OF HARD DISK

5. CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
A Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a non-volatile, random access device for digital data. It
features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data
is magnetically read and written on the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air
above the platters.

HISTORY
Hard Disk Drives is introduced by IBM in 1956, hard disk drives have fallen in cost
and physical size over the years while dramatically increasing in capacity. Hard disk drives
have been the dominant device for secondary storage of data in general purpose computers
since the early 1960s. They have maintained this position because advances in their areal
recording density have kept pace with the requirements for secondary storage. Today's
HDDs operate on high-speed serial interfaces; i.e., serial ATA (SATA) or serial attached SCSI
(SAS).

FIRST HDD INVENTED BY IBM

Driven by areal density doubling every two to four years since their invention, HDDs
have changed in many ways, a few highlights include:

 Capacity per HDD increasing from 3.75 megabytes to greater than 1 terabyte, a
greater than 270 thousand to 1 improvement.
 Size of HDD decreasing from 87.9 cubic feet to 0.002 cubic feet, a greater than 44
thousand to 1 improvement.
 Price decreasing from about $15,000 per megabyte to less than $0.0001 per
megabyte ($100/1 terabyte), a greater than 150 million to 1 improvement
 Average access time decreasing from greater than 0.1 second to a few thousandths
of a second, a greater than 40 to 1 improvement.
WORKING

HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally. Sequential

changes in the direction of magnetization represent patterns of binary data bits. The data
are read from the disk by detecting the transitions in magnetization and decoding the
originally written data. Different encoding schemes, such as Modified Frequency
Modulation, group code recording, run-length limited encoding, and others are used.

A typical HDD design consists of a spindle that holds flat circular disks called platters,
onto which the data are recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic material,
usually aluminum alloy or glass, and are coated with a shallow layer of magnetic material,
typically 10–20nm in depth for reference, standard copy paper is 0.07–0.18 millimeter
(70,000–180,000 nm) with an outer layer of carbon for protection.

PARTS OF HARD DISK

The platters are spun at speeds varying from 3,000 RPM in energy-efficient portable
devices, to 15,000 RPM for high performance servers. Information is written to, and read
from a platter as it rotates past devices called read-and-write heads that operate very close
over the magnetic surface. The read-and-write head is used to detect and modify the
magnetization of the material immediately under it. In modern drives there is one head for
each magnetic platter surface on the spindle, mounted on a common arm. An actuator arm
moves the heads on an arc across the platters as they spin, allowing each head to access
almost the entire surface of the platter as it spins. The arm is moved using a voice coil
actuator or in some older designs a stepper motor.
HARD DRIVE TYPES

Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA):

These types of drives are also known as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) drives. The labels relate to the type of
interface that is employed to connect the disk drive to the CPU board. These drives utilize
either a 40 or a 80 wire cable with a broad 40-pin connector. 40 wire cables are utilized in
older and slower hard disks, whereas 80 wire cables are used in faster ones. Nowadays,
these types of hard disks are being substituted by SATA hard disks. EIDE hard drives were
introduced after some advancement in IDE hard disks, however, the term IDE refers to both
IDE and EIDE disk drives.
Serial ATA (SATA):
These hard disks use a totally different connector than their PATA counterparts.
Moreover, they also employ a different power adapter than IDE ones, though adapters are
easily attainable. The main difference between a SATA and a PATA hard disk is that the
former is thinner and purportedly have a faster data interface than the latter. Nevertheless,
this speed dissimilarity is not distinguishable in PATA and SATA drives which have the same
rpm rating. SATA drives are more efficient, and use less power than PATA ones.
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI):
These hard disks are similar to IDE hard drives. They also spin at a higher rate in
comparison to IDE and SATA ones. IDE and SATA drives generally spin at 7,200 rpm, whereas
SCSI ones spin at 10,000 to 15,000 rpm. Today, SATA drives featuring a speed of 10,000 rpm
are also manufactured. The higher the rpm, faster is the data access, but it may also lead to
a faster breakdown. SCSI hard disks need a controller that operates the interface between
the drives and the computer motherboard.
Solid State Drives (SSD):
These hard disks, unlike the other types, don't consist of moving components.
Typical hard drives comprise of a spinning magnetic disk that performs the function of data
storage, but SSDs use semiconductors for this purpose. Since there are no moving
components, these hard disks are much faster and less likely to break down than other
drives. However, their price is a bit more than other hard disks.
TROUBLESHOOTING OF HARD DISK

Symptoms

 Drive does not spin up (no drive lights)

 Drive spins but the computer will not boot
 Hard disk controller failure message
 Hard drive runs slow
 Frequent drive failures

Drive does not spin up (no drive lights)

If the hard drive does not spin up and the drive light doesn't illuminate during
power-up, check the following:

 Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
 Swap the hard drive.

Drive spins but the computer will not boot

If the drive spins and drive lights are illuminated, but the computer will not boot
from the hard drive, check the following:

 Make sure that the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
 Run the BIOS setup program
o Make sure the drive and the controller are enabled.
o Make sure the drive has the correct parameters (it is recommended to use
the Auto Detect setting).
 For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).
 For SCSI drives:
o Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
o Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
 Make sure all device drivers have been installed correctly.
 Swap the controller card, cable and hard drive, one at a time.
“Hard disk controller failure” messages
Any of the following error messages indicate the computer cannot communicate
with the hard drive:

 Hard Disk Failure

 Hard Disk Controller Failure
 HDD Controller Failure

Check the following:

 Make sure the hard drive power connector and ribbon cable are connected.
 In BIOS setup, make sure the correct settings are chosen for the drive and make sure
the hard drive and floppy controllers are enabled In BIOS setup, check the boot
order.
 For IDE drives, check the jumper settings of all of the IDE devices (master, slave).

Hard drive runs slow

If the hard drive seems to be running slow, check the following:

 Check for viruses.

 Defrag the hard drive.
 Check to see if you have a slow device on the cable.
 For IDE drives, in BIOS setup, check to see if it is set to Ultra DMA or PIO mode. Ultra
DMA is faster, as long as the drive supports it.
  For SCSI drives:
o Check the jumper settings of all SCSI devices.
o Make sure the primary hard disk is set to SCSI ID 0.
o Enter the SCSI BIOS and check the settings
 Check if anyone did a low-level format on the drive. If they don't use the proper low-
level format program, essential tracking information could have been erased.

Frequent drive failures

If you experience frequent drive failures, check the following:

 Make sure all chassis fans are working properly. The system may be overheating.
 Make sure you are using the proper screws in mounting the drives in the case.
 Check for low-level vibrations.
 Check for power fluctuations. Make sure you have a reliable surge protector.
 Use a voltmeter to verify that each output from the power supply is correct. If any
output is very low (especially the +5 volt output), replace the power supply.
 Check other environment factors such as smoke, heavy dust, high humidity and
anything that may generate a strong electromagnetic field such as heavy machinery
and motors.
CONCLUSION

By doing this project I learn how to troubleshoot some of the problems occurred

while troubleshooting the hard disk. This project is very helpful to increase our strength in

troubleshooting of hard disk to my team & me.