Chapter Overview
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Floppy Disk Drives
Hard Disk Drives
1
The Basics of Floppy Disk Drives
2
Keeping a Floppy Disk Drive Running
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Watch for exposure to environmental
conditions and foreign objects.
Schedule monthly cleanings.
Check the floppy disk first for data errors or
write protection.
Check complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor (CMOS) settings.
Check or change the floppy disk drive cable.
Change the floppy disk drive controller.
Replace the floppy disk drive as needed.
3
Physical Characteristics
4
Storing Data
5
Actuator Arms
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Hold read/write (R/W) heads in place
Must deliver speed and accuracy
Use one of the following technologies:
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The stepper motor (older) had many
disadvantages.
The voice coil motor (newer) uses the head for
mapping.
Might be damaged by head-to-disk
interference (HDI), or head crash
6
Geometry
7
Hard Disk Drive Types
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ST-506
Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI)
Integrated Device Electronics/Enhanced
Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE/EIDE)
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
8
Installation and Setup: the Five Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Physical installation and cabling
CMOS setup
Low-level formatting
Partitioning
High-level formatting
9
Physical Installation and Cabling
10
Setting the System CMOS for the
Hard Disk Drive–CMOS Main Screen
11
Setting the System CMOS for the Hard
Disk Drive–Hard Drive Setup Screen
12
Low-Level Formatting
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Creates and organizes sectors
Sets the proper interleave
Establishes the boot sector
13
Preparing the New Drive
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Create a bootable disk with formatting
utilities.
Create a Microsoft Windows 98 startup disk.
Use the bootable disk to partition and format
the new drive.
14
Partitioning
15
High-Level Formatting
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FORMAT.COM does the following:
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Creates and configures the file allocation tables
(FATs)
Creates the root directory
The FAT tracks which part of a file is stored
on which sector.
FAT32 uses disk space more efficiently.
16
High-Level Formatting (Cont.)
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Consider several factors before using FAT32.
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You should not use FAT32 on dual boot systems
shared by operating systems (OSs) that do not
support FAT32.
FAT32 partitions that are shared can be read
across the network.
FAT32 does not support compression.
You should not use disk utilities that are not made
for FAT32.
17
Fragmentation and Compression
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A hard disk can become fragmented over
time.
MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft
Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows Me have
defragmentation programs.
Disk compression eliminates wasted cluster
space.
18
Maintaining a Hard Disk Drive
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Perform comprehensive, regularly scheduled
backups.
Save a copy of the boot sector and partition
table information.
Have tools on hand for hard disk repairs.
Use only disk tools certified for the hard disk
drive and the OS.
19
Common Errors and Troubleshooting
Utilities
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Errors
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Abort, Retry, Fail
Connectivity problems
Lost boot and partition information
CMOS errors
Utilities
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Scandisk
SCSI BIOS disk utility
20
Chapter Summary
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Floppy disk drive technology has changed little over
the years.
Floppy disk drives fail more often than any other
computer component.
Installing a hard disk drive requires you to partition
the drive, set the CMOS settings, and format the
drive.
The fdisk utility is used to create partitions.
The geometry (CHS values) of a hard disk drive
determines its storage capacity.
Partition types include primary, extended, logical, and
active.
The active partition is used to initialize the OS.
21