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HARD DRIVES
The hard-disk drive (HDD) evolved to answer the incessant demands for permanent
high-volume file and data storage in the PC. Early floppy disks provided simple and
inexpensive storage, but they were slow and programs quickly became far too large to
store adequately on diskettes. Switching between multiple diskettes also proved to be
a cumbersome proposition. By the early 1980s, hard drives had become an important
part of PC architecture and helped to fuel further OS and applications development.
Today, the hard drive is an indispensable element of the modern PC. The hard drive
holds the operating system, which boots the system, stores the multi-megabyte
applications and files that we rely on, and even provides “virtual memory” for
systems lean on RAM. Hard-drive performance also has a profound effect on overall
system performance. As you might imagine, hard-drive problems can easily cripple a
system.

In principle, a hard-disk drive is very similar to a floppy drive—a magnetic recording

media is applied to a substrate material, which is then spun at a high rate of speed.
Magnetic read/write heads in close proximity to the media can step rapidly across the
spinning media to detect or create flux transitions, as required. When you look
closely, however, you can see that there are some major physical differences between
floppy and hard drives.

IBM introduced the first hard disk in 1957, when data usually was stored on tapes.
The first 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control)
consisted of 50 platters, 24-inch diameter, with a total capacity of 5 MB, a huge
storage medium for its time.

The first model to use "float on air" technology for the read/write heads was named
Winchester 3030 of 1973. So named because it was developed in Winchester,
England and had two sides, each of which could store 30 MB. To some people, this
designation was reminiscent of the famous Winchester 3030 repeating rifle.

PLATTERS AND MEDIA

Where floppy disks use magnetic material applied over a thin, flexible substrate of
mylar (or some other plastic), hard drives use rugged, solid substrates, called platters.
You can clearly view the platters of a hard drive in Fig. 17-2. A platter is traditionally
made of aluminum.
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because aluminum is a light material, it is easy to machine to desired tolerances, and it

holds its shape under the high centrifugal forces that occur at high rotation rates. But
today, most platters are made from materials like glass or ceramic composites, which
have very low thermal expansion rates (so there are fewer media problems and can
withstand higher centrifugal forces than aluminum. Because a major advantage of a
hard drive is speed, platters are rotated from about 7600 RPM to as much as 10,000
RPM (compared to older hard drives, which ran at 3600 to 5200 RPM). A hard drive
generally uses two or more platters, although extremely small drive assemblies might
use only one platter. Hard drives must be capable of tremendous recording densities—
well over 10,000 Bits Per Inch (BPI). To achieve such substantial recording densities,
platter media is far superior to the oxide media used for floppy disks. First, the media
must possess a high coercitivity so that each flux transition is well defined and easily
discernible from every other flux transition. Coercitivity of hard drive media typically
exceeds 1,400 oersteds. Second, the media must be extremely flat across the entire
platter surface to within just a few micro inches. Hard-drive R/W heads do not
actually contact their platters, but ride within a few micro inches over the platter
surfaces. A surface defect of only a few micro inches can collide with a head and
destroy it. Such a “head crash” is often a catastrophic defect that requires hard-drive
replacement. Floppy drive heads do contact the media; so minor surface defects are
not a major concern. Media today is a “thin-film,” which has long since replaced
magnetic oxides. Thin-film media is a microscopic layer of pure metal (or a metal
compound), which is bonded to the substrate surface through an interim layer. The
media is then coated with a protective layer to help survive head crashing. Thin-film
media also tends to be very flat, so R/W heads can be run at microscopic distances
from the platter surfaces.
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Read/write heads

All hard disks consist of thin platters with a magnetic coating. They rotate quite fast
inside a metal container. Data are written and read by read/write heads, which are
designed to ride on a microscopic cushion of air, without touching the platter. They
register bits from the magnetic coating, which races past them. On the illustration
below, you see a hard disk with three platters. It has 6 read/write heads, which move
synchronously.

The arms, which guide the movement of the read/write heads, move in and out almost
like the pick-up arm in an old fashioned phonograph. As illustrated below, there will
typically be 6 arms, each with read/write heads. The synchronous movement of these
arms is performed by an electro-mechanical system called the head actuator. The hard
disk data can only be attained via one head at a time.
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AIR FLOW AND HEAD FLIGHT

Read/write heads in a hard-disk drive must travel extremely close to the surface of
each platter, but can never actually contact the media while the drive is running. The
heads could be mechanically fixed, but fixed-altitude flight does not allow for shock
or natural vibration that is always present in a drive assembly. Instead, R/W heads are
made to float within micro inches of a platter surface by suspending the heads on a
layer of moving air.

Disk (platter) rotation creates a slight cushion that elevates the heads. You might also
notice that some air is channeled through a fine filter that helps to remove any
particles from the drive’s enclosure. It is important that all hard drives seal their
platter assemblies into an airtight chamber. The reason for such a seal is to prevent
contamination from dust, dirt, spills, or strands of hair. Contamination that lands on a
platter’s surface can easily result in a head crash. A head crash can damage the head,
the media, or both—and any physical damage can result in an unusable drive. During
normal operation, a hard drive’s R/W head flies above the media at a distance of only
about 10 microns (micro inches).

With such proportions, you can understand why it is critically important that the
platter compartment remain sealed at all times. The platter compartment can only be
opened in a clean room environment. A clean room is a small, enclosed room where
the air is filtered to remove any contaminants larger than 3 microns. Hard-drive
assemblers wear gloves and clean room suits that cover all but their faces—masks
cover their mouth and nose to prevent breath vapor from contaminating the platters.
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DATA-DENSITY CHARACTERISTICS

The aerial density of a media describes this maximum amount of capacity in terms of
megabytes per square inch (sometimes noted MBSI or MB/in2). Today’s hard drives
used in most computers use media supporting 1500 MBSI or more (several years ago,
this figure was more like 400 to 800 MBSI). As you might imagine, physically
smaller platters must hold media with a higher aerial density to offer storage
capacities similar to larger drives.

Several major factors affect aerial density. First, the actual size of magnetic particles
in the media places an upper barrier on aerial density—smaller particles allow higher
aerial densities. Larger coercitivity of the media and smaller R/W heads with tighter
magnetization fields allow higher aerial densities. Finally, head height—the altitude
of a R/W head over the platter surface—controls density. The closer a R/W head
passes to its media, the higher aerial densities can be. As heads fly further away,
magnetic fields spread out, resulting in lower densities. Surface smoothness is then a
major limiting factor in aerial density because smoother surfaces allow R/W heads to
fly closer to the media.

Other factors define the way that data can be packed onto a drive—most of which are
related to aerial density. Track density indicates the number of Tracks Per Inch (TPI).
Current hard drives commonly run faster than 7000 TPI. The track density is also
influenced by the precision of the R/W head-positioning system—finer precision
allows more tracks to be defined. Flux density highlights the number of individual
magnetic flux transitions per linear inch of track space rated as flux changes per inch
(FCI, or KFCI for “thousands of FCI”). Typical hard drives now offer flux densities
between 160 and more than 210 KFCI. Finally, you’ll probably see references to
recording density, which is basically the number of bits per linear inch of track space
listed as bits per inch (BPI, or KBPI for “thousands of BPI”). Current recording
densities range from 150 to 200 KBPI.

LATENCY

As fast as a hard drive is, it cannot work instantaneously. A finite period of delay
occurs between the moment that a read or write command is initiated over the drive’s
physical interface and the moment that desired information is available (or placed).
This delay is known as latency.
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There are two types of latency in hard disk drives:

1.) Rotational Latency -

It refers to the time it takes for needed bytes to pass under a R/W head. If the head
has not quite reached the desired location yet, latency can be quite short. If the head
has just missed the desired location, the head must wait almost a full rotation before
the needed bits are available again, so latency can be rather long. In general, a disk
drive is specified with average latency, which (statistically) is time for the spindle to
make half of a full rotation. For a disk rotating at 3600 RPM (60 rotations per
second), a full rotation is completed in (1/60) = 16.7 ms. Average latency would then
be (16.7/2) = 8.3 ms. Disks spinning at 5200 RPM offer an average latency of 5.8 ms,
etc. As a rule, the faster a disk spins, the lower its latency will be. Ultimately, disk
speed is limited by centrifugal forces acting on the platters.

2.) Seek Latency -

Once a R/W head finishes reading one track, the head must be stepped to another
(usually adjacent) track. This stepping process, no matter how rapid, does require
some finite amount of time. This is called seek time and it is often less than 1 ms for
track-to-track seeks. When the head tries to step directly from the end of one track to
the beginning of another, the head will arrive too late to catch the new track’s index
pulse(s), so the drive will have to wait almost an entire rotation to synchronize with
the track index pulse.

TRACKS, SECTORS, AND CYLINDERS

As with floppy drives, you cannot simply place data anywhere on a hard-drive
platter—the drive would have no idea where to look for data, or if the data is even
valid. The information on each platter must be sorted and organized into a series of
known, standard locations. Each platter side can be considered as a two-dimensional
field possessing length and width. With this sort of geometry, data is recorded in sets
of concentric circles running from the disk spindle to the platter edge. A drive can
move its R/W heads over the spinning media to locate needed data or programs in a
matter of milliseconds. Every concentric circle on a platter is known as a track. A
current platter generally contains 2048 to more than 16278 tracks. You can see a
comparison of tracks vs. drive capacity for several current Maxtor hard drives
outlined. Figure below shows data organization on a simple platter assembly. Notice
that only one side of the three platters is shown.
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Tracks are broken down even further into small segments called sectors. As with DOS
floppy disks, a sector holds 512 bytes of data, along with error-checking and
housekeeping data that identifies the sector, track, and results calculated by Cyclical
Redundancy Checking (CRC). The location and ID information for each sector is
developed when the drive is low-level formatted at the factory. After formatting, only
sector data and CRC bytes are updated during writing. If sector ID information is
accidentally overwritten or corrupted, the data recorded in the afflicted sector
becomes unreadable. The start of every sector is marked with a pulse. The pulse
signaling the first sector of a track is called the index pulse. Every sector has two
portions: an address area and data area. The address area is used to identify the sector.
This is critically important because the drive must be able to identify precisely which
cylinder, head, and sector is about to be read or written. This location information is
recorded in the “address field,” and is followed by two bytes of Cyclical Redundancy
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Check (CRC) data. When a drive identifies a location, it generates a CRC code, which
it compares to the CRC code recorded on the disk. If the two CRC codes match, the
address is assumed to be valid, and disk operation can continue. Otherwise, an error
has occurred and the entire sector is considered invalid. This failure usually
precipitates a catastrophic DOS error message. After a number of bytes are
encountered for drive timing and synchronization, up to 512 bytes can be read or
written to the “data field.” The data is processed to derive 11 bytes of ECC error
checking code using Reed Solomon encoding. If data is being read, the derived ECC
is compared to the recorded ECC. When the codes match, data is assumed to be valid
and drive operation continues. Otherwise, a data read error is assumed. During
writing, the old ECC data is replaced with the new ECC data derived for the current
data. It is interesting that only the data and ECC fields of a sector are written after
formatting. All other sector data remains untouched until the drive is reformatted. If a
retentivity problem should eventually allow one or more bits to become corrupt in the
address area, the sector will fail.

ZONED RECORDING

In the early days of hard drives, every track had the same number of sectors (i.e., 64,
or 0 through 63). This worked well, but designers realized that for a Constant Angular
Velocity (CAV) drive, the data was recorded more densely on the inner tracks, where
the circumference is lower, and less densely on the outer tracks, where the
circumference is higher. A feature known as zoned recording was added to the drive,
which allows a variable number of tracks. The total number of tracks is divided up
into a number of “zones” (i.e., 16 zones). All of the tracks within a zone use the same
number of sectors, but inner zones use fewer sectors, and outer zones use more
sectors. Zoned recording lets hard drives make the most efficient use of their storage
space. Zoned recording is managed by the drive itself, so you might still be able to
enter a fixed number in the “Sectors per Track” entry under the CMOS Setup. Current
hard drives can run from 195 to 312 physical sectors per track.

SECTOR SPARING (DEFECT MANAGEMENT)

Not all sectors on a hard drive are usable. When a drive is formatted, bad sectors must
be removed from normal use. The sparing process works to ensure that each track has
access to the appropriate number of working sectors. When sparing is performed in-
line (as a drive is being formatted), faulty sectors cause all subsequent sectors to be
shifted up one sector. In-line sparing is not widely used. Field-defect sparing (after
the format process is complete) assigns (or “remaps”) faulty sectors to other working
sectors located in spare disk tracks that are reserved for that purpose. For example,
most EIDE hard drives use field-defect sparing. It reserves a full 16 tracks for spare
sectors (often referred to as the defect management zone). Faulty sectors are typically
marked for reallocation when the disk is formatted. The only place where faulty
sectors are absolutely not permitted is on track 00. Track 00 is used to hold a hard
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drive’s partition and FAT information. If a drive cannot read or write to track 00, the
entire drive is rendered unusable. If a sector in track 00 should fail during operation,
reformatting the drive to lockout the bad sector will not necessarily recover the
drive’s operation. Track 00 failures usually necessitate reformatting the drive from
scratch or replacing it entirely.

LANDING ZONE

The R/W heads of a hard drive fly within micro inches of their respective platter
surfaces held aloft with air currents produced by the spinning platters. When the drive
is turned off, however, the platters slow to a halt. During this spin down period, air
flow falls rapidly, and heads can literally “crash” into the platter surfaces. Whenever a
head touches a platter surface, data can be irretrievably destroyed. Even during
normal operation, a sudden shock or bump can cause one or more heads to skid across
their surfaces. Although a drive can usually be reformatted after a head crash, data
and programs would have to be reloaded from scratch. To avoid a head crash during
normal spin down, a cylinder is reserved (either the innermost or outermost cylinder)
as a Landing Zone (LZ). No data is stored on the landing zone, so any surface
problems caused by head landings are harmless. Virtually all hard drives
today will automatically move the head assembly over the landing zone before spin
down, then gently lock the heads into place until power is restored. Locking helps to
ensure that random shocks and vibrations do not shake the heads onto adjacent data-
carrying tracks and cause damage while the power is off. Older hard drives required a
specific “landing zone” entry in the CMOS setup. But today, the process is automatic,
so you can usually just enter “0” for the LZ, or allow the system to auto-detect the LZ.

INTERLEAVE
Interleave of a hard drive refers to the order in which sectors are numbered on a
platter. Interleave was a critical factor in older desktop computer systems, where the
core logic (i.e., CPU and memory) was relatively slow compared to drive
performance. It was necessary to create artificial delays in the drive to allow core
logic to catch up. Delays were accomplished by physically separating the sectors
(numbering contiguous sectors out of order). This ordering forced the drive to read a
sector, and then skip one or more sectors (1, 2, 3, or more) to reach the next
subsequent sector. Effectively, the “interleaved” drive would have to make several
rotations before all sectors on a track could be read. The ratio of a sector’s length
versus the distance between two subsequent sectors is known as the interleave factor.
For example, if a drive reads a sector and skips a sector to reach the next sequential
sector, interleave factor would be 1:3, etc. The greater the interleave, the more
rotations that would be needed to read all the sectors on a track, and the slower the
 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

drive would be. To achieve highest disk performance, interleave should be eliminated.
Because drive and interface logic today is so much faster than even the fastest hard
drive, the issue of interleave is largely irrelevant now. Drives no longer interleave
their sectors, so all sectors are in sequential order around the track, and the interleave
factor is 1:1—all data on a track can be read in one disk rotation (minus latency). An
interleave factor of 1:1 yields optimal drive performance.

WRITE PRECOMPENSATION

As you have already seen, a hard drive spins its platter(s) at a constant rate. This is
known as Constant Angular Velocity (CAV). Although constant rotation requires only
a very simple motor circuit, extra demands are placed on the media. Tracks closer to
the spindle are physically shorter than tracks toward the platter’s outer edge. Shorter
tracks result in shorter sectors. For inner sectors to hold the same amount of data, as
outer sectors data must be packed more densely on the inner sectors—each magnetic
flux reversal is actually closer together. Unfortunately, smaller flux reversals produce
weaker magnetic fields in the R/W heads during reading. If the inner sectors are
written with a stronger magnetic field, flux transitions stored in the media will be
stronger. When the inner sectors are then read, a clearer, better-defined signal will
result. The use of increased writing current to compensate for diminished disk
response is known as Write Precompensation (WP). The track where write
precompensation is expected to begin is specified in the drive’s parameter table in
CMOS setup. Write precompensation filled an important role in early drives that used
older, oxide-based media. Today’s thin-film media and very small drive geometries
(combined with Zoned Recording techniques) result in low signal differences across
the platter area, so write precompensation (although still specified) is rarely
meaningful anymore. In most cases, you can enter “0” for WP or allow the system to
auto-detect the WP.

DRIVE PARAMETERS AND TRANSLATION

A host computer must know the key parameters of its installed hard drive before the
drive can be used. A system must know six parameters: the number of cylinders,
heads, and sectors; the track where write precompensation begins; what track the
landing zone is on; and the drive’s total formatted capacity. These parameters are
stored in the computer’s CMOS RAM and configured with the CMOS setup utility. If
a new drive is installed, the CMOS setup can easily be updated to show the changes.
You can tell a lot about a drive by reviewing its parameters. With 16 heads, 63 sectors
per track, and 16278 tracks (cylinders), the capacity works out as (16278 × 16 × 63
× 512) = 8,401,010,688 bytes (or 8.4GB). The drive parameters you are entering into
CMOS are “translation parameters.” the electronics on the drive itself actually
converts (or translates) those parameters into actual physical drive locations.
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POWER-MODE DEFINITIONS

Modern hard drives are not simply “on” or “off.” They operate in any one of several
modes, and each mode makes different power demands on the host system. This is
particularly important because today’s PCs are becoming ever-more power conscious,
so the ability to control drive power is an integral part of PC power-conservation
systems. Typical hard drives operate in any of five different power modes:

Spin-up The drive is spinning up following initial application of power and

has not yet reached full speed. This demands about 14 W and is particularly
demanding of the power supply (if the supply is marginal or overloaded, the
hard drive might not spin-up properly).

Seek This is a random-access operation by the disk drive as it tries to locate

the required track for reading or writing. This demands about 8.5- to 9.0 W. n
Read/write A seek has been completed, and data is being read from or written
to the drive. This uses about 5.0 W.

Idle This is a basic power-conservation mode, where the drive is spinning and
all other circuitry is powered on, but the head actuator is parked and powered
off. This drops power demands to about 4 W, yet the drive is capable of
responding to read commands within 40 ms.

Standby The spindle motor is not running (the drive “spins down”). This is
the main power-conservation mode, and it requires just 1 W. It might require
up to several seconds for the drive will leave this mode (or spin-up) upon
receipt of a command that requires disk access.

SMART COMMAND SET

Some of the newest hard drives use the Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting
Technology (SMART) command set. SMART-compliant drives improve the data
integrity and data availability of hard-disk drives by regularly checking for potential
drive problems. In some cases, a SMART-compliant device will predict an impending
failure with sufficient time to allow users to backup their data and replace the drive
before data loss occurs.
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IDE/EIDE HARD-DRIVE CONCEPTS

IDE hard drives have come a long way since their introduction in the late 1980s. In
fact, IDE technology has come so far that it’s difficult to keep all of the concepts
straight. This part of the chapter recaps the important concepts and attributes of IDE
and its successors. IDE/ATA Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and AT Attachment
(ATA) are basically one and the same thing—a disk-drive scheme designed to
integrate the controller onto the drive itself, instead of relying on a stand-alone
controller board. This approach reduces interface costs and makes drive firmware
implementations easier. IDE proved to be a low cost, easily configured system—so
much so that it created a boom in the disk-drive industry. Although IDE and ATA are
sometimes used interchangeably, ATA is the formal standard that defines the drive
and how it operates, but IDE is really the “trade name” that refers to the 40-pin
interface and drive-controller architecture designed to implement the ATA standard.
ATAPI One of the major disadvantages of ATA is that it was designed for hard drives
only. With the broad introduction of CD-ROM drives, designers needed a means of
attaching CD-ROMs (and other devices, such as tape drives) to the existing ATA
(IDE) interface, rather than using a stand-alone controller card. The ATA Packet
Interface (ATAPI) is a standard based on the ATA (IDE) interface designed to allow
non-hard drive devices to plug into an ordinary ATA (IDE) port. Hard drives enjoy
ATA (IDE) support through BIOS, but ATAPI devices require a device driver to
support them. Booting from an ATAPI CD-ROM is only possible with an “El Torito”
CD-ROM and the latest BIOS.

ATA-2, Fast-ATA, and EIDE By the early 1990s, it became clear that ATA
architecture would soon be overwhelmed by advances in hard-drive technology. The
hard-drive industry responded by developing the ATA-2 standard as an extension of
ATA. ATA-2 is largely regarded as a significant improvement to ATA. It defines
faster PIO and DMA data-transfer modes, adds more powerful drive commands (such
as the Identify drive command to support auto-identification in CMOS), adds support
for a second drive channel, handles block data transfers (Block transfer mode), and
defines a new means of addressing sectors on the hard drive using Logical Block
Addressing (LBA). LBA has proven to be a very effective vehicle for overcoming the
traditional 528MB hard-drive size limit. Yet ATA-2 continues to use the same 40-pin
physical interface used by ATA and is backward compatible with ATA (IDE) drives.
Along with ATA-2, you’ll probably find two additional terms: Enhanced IDE (EIDE)
and Fast-ATA. These are not standards—merely different implementations of the
ATA-2 standard. EIDE represents the Western Digital implementation of ATA-2,
which builds upon both the ATA-2 and ATAPI standards. This has been so effective
that EIDE has become the “generic” term. Seagate and Quantum have thrown their
support behind the Fast-ATA implementation of the ATA-2 standard. However, Fast-
ATA builds on ATA-2 only. For all practical purposes, there is no significant
difference between ATA-2, EIDE, and Fast-ATA, and you’ll probably see these three
terms used interchangeably (although this is not technically correct).
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ATA-3 The latest official implementation of the ATA standard is ATA-3. It does not
define any new data-transfer modes, but it does improve the reliability of PIO Mode
4. It also offers a simple password-based security scheme, more sophisticated power-
management features, and Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology
(SMART). ATA- 3 is also backward compatible with ATA-2, ATAPI, and ATA
devices. Because no new data-transfer modes are defined by ATA-3, you might also
see the generic term “EIDE” used interchangeably (although this is also not
technically correct).

Ultra-ATA The push for ever-faster data-transfer rates is never-ending, and the Ultra-
ATA standard represents an extension to ATA-3 by providing a high-performance
33MB/s DMA data-transfer rate. The implementation of Ultra-ATA is usually called
Ultra- DMA/33. You’ll need an Ultra-ATA drive, controller, and BIOS to support an
Ultra-ATA drive system, but it is fully backward compatible with previous ATA
standards. ATA-4 the next generation of ATA standards is still on the drawing boards.
The most important issue with ATA-4 will be to effectively merge ATA-3, Ultra-
ATA, and ATAPI all into one coherent standard, and probably add some even faster
data-transfer rates. Unfortunately, ATA-4 has met with some resistance in its present
form, and is not complete as of this writing.

DATA-TRANSFER RATES

Data-transfer rates play a major role in drive performance. In operation, the two
measures of data transfer are: the rate at which data is taken from the platters, and the
rate at which data is passed between the drive and controller. The internal data
transfer between the platters and drive buffer is typically the slower rate. Older drives
could run at about 5MB/sec, but newer Ultra-ATA drives (such as the Maxtor
Diamond Max 2160) runs at 14MB/s. The external data transfer between the drive and
controller (the interface rate) is often the faster rate. Older drives provided between 5
and 8MB/sec, but ATA-2 (EIDE) drives can operate up to 16MB/sec. Ultra-ATA
drives can run at 33MB/s. The modern standards of IDE/EIDE external data transfer
are listed as Programmed I/O (PIO) and Direct Memory Access (DMA) modes. When
choosing an EIDE drive and controller, always be sure to check that the IORDY line
is being used. DMA data transfers mean that the data is transferred directly between
the drive and memory without using the CPU as an intermediary (as is the case with
PIO). In true multitasking operating systems (such as OS/2, Windows NT, or Linux),
DMA leaves the CPU free to do something useful during disk transfers. In a DOS or
Windows environment, the CPU will have to wait for the transfer to finish anyway. In
these cases, DMA transfers don’t offer that much of a multitasking advantage. The
two distinct types of direct memory access are ordinary DMA and bus-mastering
DMA. Ordinary DMA uses the DMA controller on the system’s motherboard to
perform the complex task of arbitration, grabbing the system bus, and transferring the
data. With bus-mastering DMA, all this is done by logic on the drive-controller card
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itself (this adds considerably to the complexity and the price of a bus-mastering
interface).

BLOCK-MODE TRANSFERS

Traditionally, an interrupt (IRQ) is generated each time that a read or write command
is passed to the drive. This causes a certain amount of overhead work for the host
system and CPU. If it were possible to transfer multiple sectors of data between the
drive and host without generating an IRQ, data transfer could be accomplished much
more efficiently. Block-mode transfers allow up to 128 sectors of data to be
transferred at a single time, and can improve transfers by as much as 30%. However,
block-mode transfers are not terribly effective on single-tasking operating systems,
such as DOS—any improvement over a few percent usually indicates bad buffer
cache management on the part of the drive. Finally, the block size that is optimal for
drive throughput isn’t always the best for system performance. For example, the DOS
FAT file system tends to favor a block size equal to the cluster size.

BUS MASTERING

Bus mastering is a high-performance enhancement to the ATA-2/3 interface on your

drive controller (you might see some motherboards or chipsets mention bus master
support as BM-IDE). When configured properly, bus mastering uses Direct Memory
Access (DMA) data transfers to reduce the CPU’s workload when it comes to saving
or recalling data from the EIDE/IDE drive (such as a hard drive or ATAPI CD-ROM).
By comparison, Programmed I/O (PIO) data-transfer modes are very CPU-intensive.
Bus mastering is particularly useful if you have multiple disk-intensive applications
running simultaneously. Many modern PCs support bus mastering, but to make the
most of bus master performance, your system must have all of the following elements:

 The motherboard (drive controller) must be bus master IDE compliant.

 The motherboard BIOS must support bus mastering.
 You need a multitasking operating system (OS), such as Windows 95.
 A bus-mastering device driver is needed for the operating system.
 And you need an EIDE/IDE device (disk drive or CD-ROM) that is bus-
mastering compatible and supports “DMA modes.
You can use bus-master IDE and non-bus master IDE devices in the same system, but
the non-bus-master IDE devices will reduce the overall performance of the bus
mastering devices. However, bus-mastering IDE is not a cure-all for system
performance problems. In fact, bus mastering will probably not benefit the system at
all if you run DOS games, work with only single applications at a time, or use
multiple applications that are not disk intensive.
 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

DRIVE CACHING

Ideally, a drive should respond instantaneously—data should be available the moment

it is requested. Unfortunately, the instant access and transfer of data is impossible
with even today’s magnetic (and optical) storage technologies. The inescapable laws
of physics govern the limitations of mechanical systems, such as spindles and head
stepping, and mechanical delays will always be present (to some extent) in drive
systems. The problem now facing computer designers is that mechanical drive
system—as fast and precise, as they are—still lag far behind the computer circuitry
handling the information. In the world of personal computers, a millisecond is a very
long time. For DOS-based systems, you often must wait for disk access to be
completed before DOS allows another operation to begin. Such delays can be quite
irritating when the drive is accessing huge programs and data files typical of current
software packages. Drives use a technique called drive caching to increase the
apparent speed of drive systems. Caching basically allocates a small amount of solid-
state memory, which acts as an interim storage area (or buffer) located right on the
drive. A cache is typically loaded with information that is anticipated to be required
by the system. When a disk read is initiated, the cache is checked for desired
information. If the desired information is actually in the cache (a cache hit), that
information is transferred from the cache buffer to the core logic at electronic rates—
no disk access occurs, and very fast data transfer is achieved. If the desired
information is not in the cache (a cache miss), the data is taken from the hard disk at
normal drive speeds with no improvement in performance. Today’s hard drives use as
much as 256KB of modern high-performance memory, such as EDO RAM (the same
type of RAM used on many Pentium motherboards) for on-board drive cache. A
variety of complex software algorithms are used to predict what disk information to
load and save in a cache. Although the majority of caches are intended to buffer read
operations, some caches also buffer write operations. A write cache accepts the data
to be saved from core logic, then returns system control while the drive works
separately to save the information. Remember that a cache does not accelerate the
drive itself. A cache merely helps to move your system along so that you need not
wait for drive delays. In terms of general implementation, a cache can be located on
the hard drive itself or on the drive-controller board. For most computers using
system-level hard-drive interfaces (EIDE or SCSI), any cache is usually located on
the drive itself.

SYSTEM DATA AND TROUBLESHOOTING

 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

Drive Construction
A typical hard disk drives consists of following functional parts:-
1.) Frame
2.) Platters
3.) R/W heads
4.) Head actuators
5.) Spindle motor
6.) Electronics package.

FRAME
The mechanical frame or chassis is remarkably important to the successful operation
of a hard drive. The frame affects a drive’s structural, thermal, and electrical integrity.
A frame must be rigid and provide a steady platform for mounting the working
components. Larger drives typically use a chassis of cast aluminum, but the small
drive in your notebook or sub-notebook computer might use a plastic frame. The
particular frame material really depends on the form factor (dimensions) of your
drive.

PLATTERS
Platters are relatively heavy-duty disks of aluminum, glass, or ceramic composite
material. Platters are then coated on both sides. with a layer of magnetic material (the
actual media) and covered with a protective layer. Finished and polished platters are
then stacked and coupled to the spindle motor Some drives might only use one platter.
Before the platter stack is fixed to the chassis, the R/W head assembly is fitted in
between each disk. There is usually one head per platter side, so a drive with two
platters should have three or four heads. During drive operation, the platter stack spins
at a speed from 5200 RPM to 10,000 RPM.

READ/WRITE HEADS
As with floppy drives, read/write (R/W) heads form the interface between a drive’s
electronic circuitry and magnetic media. During writing, a head translates electronic
signals into magnetic-flux transitions that saturate points on the media, where those
transitions occur. A read operation works roughly in reverse. Flux transitions along
the disk induce electrical signals in the head, which are amplified, filtered, and
translated into corresponding logic signals. It is up to the drive’s electronics to
determine whether a head is reading or writing. Early hard drive R/W heads generally
resembled floppy-drive heads—soft iron cores with a core of 8 to 34 turns of fine
copper wire. Such heads were physically large and relatively heavy, which limited the
number of tracks available on a platter surface, and presented more inertia to be
overcome by the head-positioning system. Virtually all-current hard-drive designs
have abandoned classic “wound coil” heads in favor of thin-film R/W heads. Thin-
film heads are fabricated in much the same way as ICs or platter media using
photochemical processes. The result is a very flat, sensitive, small, and durable R/W
 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

head, but even thin-film heads use an air gap and 8 to 34 turns of copper wire. Small
size and lightweight allow for smaller track widths (large drives today can use more
than 16,000 tracks) and faster head travel time. The inherent flatness of thin-film
heads helps to reduce flying height to only about 5 microns. In assemblies, the heads
themselves are attached to long metal arms that are moved by the head actuator
motor(s).

HEAD ACTUATORS

Unlike floppy motors that step their R/W heads in and out, hard drives swing the
heads along a slight arc to achieve radial travel from edge to spindle. Many hard
drives use voice-coil motors (also called rotary coil motors or servos) to actuate head
movement. Voice-coil motors work using the same principle as analog meter
movements: a permanent magnet is enclosed within two opposing coils. As current
flows through the coils, a magnetic field is produced that opposes the permanent
magnet. Head arms are attached to the rotating magnet, so the force of opposition
causes a deflection that is directly proportional to the amount of driving current.
Greater current signals result in greater opposition and greater deflection. Cylinders
are selected by incrementing the servo signal and maintaining the signal at the desired
level. Voice-coil motors are very small and light assemblies that are well suited to fast
access times and small hard-drive assemblies. The greatest challenge to head
movement is to keep the heads centered on the desired track. Otherwise, aerodynamic
disturbances, thermal effects in the platters, and variations in voice-coil driver signals
can cause head-positioning error. Head position must be constantly checked and
adjusted in real time to ensure that desired tracks are followed exactly.

SPINDLE MOTOR

One of the major factors that contribute to hard-drive performance is the speed at
which the media passes under the R/W heads. Media is passed under the R/W heads
by spinning the platter(s) at a high rate of speed (at least 3600 RPM, to as high as
10,000 RPM). The spindle motor is responsible for spinning the platter(s). A spindle
motor is typically a brush less, low-profile dc motor (similar in principle to the
spindle motors used in floppy disk drives).

An index sensor provides a feedback pulse signal that detects the spindle as it rotates.
The drive’s control electronics uses the index signal to regulate spindle speed as
precisely as possible. Today’s drives typically use magnetic sensors, which detect iron
tabs on the spindle shaft, or opto isolators, which monitor holes or tabs rotating along
the spindle. The spindle motor and index sensor are also sealed in the platter
compartment. Older hard drives used a rubber or cork pad to slow the spindle to a
stop after drive power is removed, but virtually all IDE drives use a technique called
dynamic braking. When power is applied to a spindle motor, a magnetic field is
developed in the motor coils.
 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

When power is removed, the magnetic energy stored in the coils is released as a
reverse voltage pulse. Dynamic braking channels the energy of that reverse voltage to
stop the drive faster and more reliably than physical braking.

A suite of remarkably sophisticated circuitry controls hard drives. The drive

electronics board mounted below the chassis contains all of the circuitry necessary to
communicate control and data signals with the particular physical interface, maneuver
the R/W heads, read or write (as required), and spin the platter(s). Each of these
functions must be accomplished to high levels of precision. In spite of the demands
and complexity involved in drive electronics, the entire circuit can be fabricated on a
single PC board.

LOW-LEVEL FORMATTING

The low-level format is perhaps the most important step (and is responsible for most
of a drive’s long-term problems). Sector header and trailer information is written
along with dummy data. Inter-sector and inter-track gaps are also created. As you
might imagine, the low-level format forms the foundation of a hard drive’s
organization. Because this information is only written once, age and wear can allow
sector information to eventually fail. When this happens, the failed sector(s) are
unreadable. Advanced drive features, such as translation, defect management, and
zoned recording also complicate a proper low-level format.

This problem is further compounded by the fact that low-level formatting is hardware
specific, and most current drive makers low-level format their drives at the factory—
those routines are rarely made available to technicians and end users. If you determine
that an IDE or SCSI drive must be low-level formatted, contact the drive
manufacturer and obtain a proper low-level format utility written expressly for that
particular drive model. Even leading professional utilities, such as Drive Pro strongly
urge against low-level formats for IDE/EIDE drives, except as a last resort. If you
attempt to invoke low-level IDE/EIDE formatting with a DOS DEBUG sequence or
software utility, one of four things might happen:

 The drive will ignore the low-level formatter entirely.

 The drive will accept the formatter, but only erase areas containing data (and
fail to rewrite sector ID information).
 The drive will accept the formatter and erase vital servo information and
other sector information. Thus, the drive will be rendered completely
unusable.
 The drive will accept the formatter and perform a correct low-level format.
This is highly unlikely.
 NetPro Certification Courseware for NetPro Certified Systems Engineer – N.C.S.E

HIGH-LEVEL (DOS) FORMATTING

Even after partitioning, an operating system cannot store files on a drive. A series of
data structures must be written to the drive. A Volume Boot Sector (VBS), two copies
of the File Allocation Table (FAT), and a root directory are written to each logical
partition. High-level formatting also checks and locks out bad sectors so that they will
not be used during normal operation. FORMAT is the DOS utility used for high-level
formatting. It is interesting that the FORMAT utility will perform both low-level and
high-level formatting for a floppy disk, but not for a hard drive.