What's Inside a Computer Hard Drive?

Curiosity, it is said, killed the cat. Many people are curious as to the inner workings of their hard drives and to date, no people have died due to this curiosity, although quite a few hard drives have suffered fatal injuries. The implications of this is put into perspective when you consider that the best way to learn how a hard drive works and therefore eliminate your fear of damaging said hard drive is to take it apart and look inside. Then, consider that opening a hard drive ruins it and it is not fixable once you have opened it.

Therefore, if you must explore the inner workings of your hard drive in order to feel as one with your computer, choose to open a defunct hard drive or purchase one from a second hand computer store. Do not attempt to take apart the hard drive you intend to use on your computer as it will not be able to work after the deed is done.Hard drives are actually quite small and are contained in sealed aluminum boxes.

On one side, there is a panel of electronics that detaches from the rest of the hard drive. These electronics control the read and write functions as well as the motor that spins the platters, which we will get into in a bit. It is the job of the electronics to turn the magnetic domains into bytes for reading and to return those bytes into magnetic domains for writing.
If you look under the board of electronics, you'll find the connections for the motor and a vent hole.

The purpose of the vent hole is to equalize pressure from internal and external air sources to keep things running smoothly and to release heat that is built up during the running of the hard drive.

You will also the mirror like platters, which spin at speeds up to 7,200 rpm when the drive is operating and the arm, which holds the read and write heads. Most computers, with the intent of increasing the amount of data the drive can store, have more than one platter and more than head.

Usually, the number of platters is doubled in the number of read and write heads held by the arm. In other words, if a computer has three platters, then it will most likely have six read and write heads, or arms.

As can be expected, the arm must move at an extremely rapid pace and be exactly precise in its movement. For this reason, the motor for the arm is constructed using a high speed linear motor. Not all computers use the same motor, though, for this purpose. Some use voice coil, which is a technique commonly seen and used to move the cone of speakers in a stereo.

Data is stored on the surface of each platter. The pattern looks similar to a pie as a computer uses sectors and tracks to store information.

Tracks have a concentric shape while sectors look like pie wedges. Sectors are also finite in the number of bytes each can store, which is typically either 256 or 512 bytes and are therefore often stored in clusters on the platter.

Now that you know the inner components of your computer's hard drive, perhaps your curiosity will be sated, thus saving your hard drive from any harm. Each component of the hard drive works in tandem with every other part to deliver a high performing and speedy work environment for you, the computer's user.

While fragile in nature considering the response of a hard drive to being dismantled for observation, most users can expect a hard drive to last for many years before needing to be replaced. The hard drive is not a mysterious part of your computer, but rather the central intelligence of your computer and its capabilities based on what you tell it to store for you.

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Finding a Computer Repair Shop You Can Trust

Your have a computer repair that needs to get done right away. You are ready to take it anywhere. Question is, where should you take it? Does it really matter where you take it? I would suggest that it does. Here are some things you may have not considered before.What kind of turn around time do they have? Some computer repair shops will take two to three weeks to return your computer to you. Are you ready to be without your computer for that long?
If not, shop around.


There are computer repair shops that can get your computer back to you in as little as a few hours. Some of these faster companies can charge more but the speed is worth it if you are working on a big project that has to get done right away.What do they charge for their hourly fee? Some companies charge really high fees and take a really long time to get the computer back to you.

You want to take your repair to a computer repair shop that will be quick and will do the repair right the first time. Look for a computer repair shop that posts their prices.

Most shops have a set price list for specific tasks. Look for a company that can give you a solid quote before they start their work. You should also make sure they will contact you for approval if there is any reason to increase their repair bill before they start the repair.
Is their staff A+ certified? The A+ certification doesn't guarantee that the computer technician knows what he is doing but it is generally a good indicator that they have invested the time into their craft to do it well.

You should also find out if everyone on staff is A+ certified or only certain staff. Ask to have the certified staff do the work.Trust your gut. If after talking with someone at the shop in person you don't get a good feeling about them, walk away. In any given town there are many people who do computer repairs. Don't be afraid of shopping around.

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Discount Computers - Get Computers At Unbelievably Low Prices

A discount computer is a low cost computer with all the same features and software as a more expensive computer. There are many types of discounts that can account for a computer being discounted. Because there many different people that use computers, we can have a different meaning for each discount.
Types of discounts available for your computer
If you are a student, you may receive a discount from the school you are attending. This is an educational discount. Schools receive discounted computers from companies which allow them to pass the discount on the student.

This is also true for various software programs. Another type of discount is found at a bargain shop. They sell these computers at a reduced price. They buy up sell-out computers and then they pass the savings on to the consumer.
Most computer companies also have a discount computer store online. This is another way to buy a computer at a reasonable price. The other type of low cost computer is a refurbished computer. These are computers that are used and then reformatted. In most cases the software is upgraded to make them a comparable item to a new computer.


Building a Discount Computer from Discounted Computer Accessories
When you consider building your own computer and use discounted parts and accessories, you need to make sure you are using parts and software that is of high quality. Some hard drives and memory chips can be faulty and this results in some people trying to sell them at a cheaper price. When using accessories to build a discount computer, it is recommended that you obtain parts and software from a retail store.

This holds true when buying discounted computers. You need to exercise caution when you are buying low cost computers from a wholesaler or at an online auction site. You may not be getting the best deal. It is always safer to buy computers from a retailer or a school program. It's better to be safe than sorry and you still can get a good discount on computers without losing quality.
Some Points to Remember
Discounted parts are not always safe. Be sure of the reputation of the company before considering buying parts to build a discount computer. Watch out for wholesalers selling computers online.

Always check for reviews and ask a lot of questions. Most discount computers do come with a warranty for certain things.
If you want to build a computer, the best thing to do is make a budget and buy from a reputable dealer. Also, you may want to check out the consumer reports on discount computers to see the ratings. Low cost computers are a good buy. So look around and find one that is best for you.

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The Curse of the Slow Computer

To speed up your computer and make your computer run like new again, a thorough analysis of your Windows registry is needed. Most users avoid this task like the plague and unless you are a computer expert you run the risk of doing irreparable damage to your PC if you try to do it manually. A registry software program is the easiest and safest way to go about this.

You purchased your computer so you could have a fast, efficient and enjoyable experience while completing your daily computer needs. However, eventually all pcs suffer one their windows registry becomes oversized and disorganised. This will slow your computer, cause error messages and can lead to further system problems and crashes and eventually the blue screen of death! Now your computer experience has turned into a nightmare one!

To get your computer humming along like new again or simply to keep it performing at its best your computer needs ongoing maintenance. The regular installation and un-installation of programs, hardware, and drivers will damage your registry. This maze of problems will make your computer annoyingly slow and it can lead to more serious computing issues if not managed quickly and efficiently.

Even if you haven't got the curse of the dreaded registry error... Just like most things in life, it is much easier to fix slow computer problems and avoid permanent corruption and data loss with ongoing maintenance and early intervention.Taking preventative measures to ensure the longevity of your PC pays off and will speed up computers and ensure it runs at its optimal level ongoing.

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Computers For Sale - Updates

Have you bought a computer yet? No, I'm not talking about that old Tandy set that's stashed away in the attic. I'm talking about a brand new computer. Something with Internet access and wireless connection capabilities. Okay, I'm probably going a tad too far with that spiel, but you do want to make sure your PC or Mac is up to par. This is the only way you can enjoy the latest technology.

Do you know where to browse in search of computers for sale? In fact, you probably have a few places near by that will sell them. Circuit City is a pretty decent place to start shopping for a PC. The first thing you need to determine is what you you will be using the personal computer for. If you're in search of the basics such as online access and sending emails, you won't have to spend too much. Nowadays you can pick up a Dell desktop deal for around 300 bucks.

That will include the tower, monitor, keyboard, and sometimes a free printer.It's time to browse the vast array of computers for sale. There is virtually no limit to what you can buy. Personal computers can do it all these days. Looking to burn CDs or DVDs? No problem. Want to have high speed cable Internet access? Done. Today's monster machines can do it all and they're smaller in size than ever before.

Best Buy is a perfect place to shop for computers for sale. They have a large selection ranging from Sony to IBM. Are you dreaming of a simple desktop PC or do you have your heart set on a mini notebook.They make these as small as a half an inch thick these days. But don't worry; they still pretty much do it all. Now you can even download your own tunes to the computer, and then burn them to a CD.

This is perfect for those of us who want to spend less on music.Have you browsed the range of computers for sale online? The World-Wide-Web has one of the largest selections of desktops available. Basically anything you could possibly be searching for that's related to computers is online. When you sift through the computers for sale online, you also ensure yourself of acquiring the best deals on both hardware and software. When it comes to personal computers, things are changing every day and getting cheaper at that.

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Computer Maintenance - The Daily Tasks Everyone Should Do

PCs or personal computers have become a very integral part of lives. We cannot imagine our lives without the computer or the Internet in our homes. As we all very well know an average life of a computer in our homes is around two to three years. However, the life of a computer mostly depends on how we maintain them and how we use them.

One of the best ways to keep our computer healthy is to defrag the hard drive, especially the partition which accommodates the operating system. Defragmenting and Disk Scanning the hard drive is a very good practice and needs to be done on a regular basis. What this does is that it collects all the fragmented and files and arranges them close together. This lessens the load on the operating system when it accesses the files. However, this practice does not reduce the load from the hard disk.

If you are an Internet user, there will be a lot of files which get stored in your computer when you access the Internet. You will not need these files once you close the websites unless you have stored the passwords in your cookies. The files which are stored on your computer are called as the temporary Internet files and the cookies. The temporary Internet files are also called as the cache. Therefore, you will need to make sure that you clear the cache the cookies regularly.

Your computer could have a lot of startup programs, these programs will slow down the booting of your computer. Therefore, you will need to check and find out if there are any programs which unnecessarily run during the startups. If you are unaware about how to remove the startup programs, you could find some good information on the Internet to guide you with few simple steps to remove the startup programs.

Your computer will have a lot of programs or applications which are not used by you and also the ones which are absolutely not required. You could uninstall these programs from the control panel. The option to remove the unwanted programs from the computer in the control panel is Add / Remove Programs icon. It is from this place where you can easily remove the unwanted programs which are installed on your computer. You computer will surely operate faster after this.

There will be a lot of files left on your computer even after uninstalling the unnecessary programs. These files could have been normally the files which were created by those programs. Since the software does not exist, these files cannot be run and hence they become the orphan files. If you have an alternative program to run these files, you could use the 'open with' option and assign them to be used by these programs in the future.

There are some applications like the Cleansweep which will automatically detect the unwanted files and prompt you to delete them. It is better to use these kinds of programs rather than trying to find the necessary files by yourself and deleting them. If you are not very sure about the files which are to be deleted, there are chances that you might end up deleting the files which might damage your operating system itself.

However, it would be a very good idea to take backups of the important files before running any deleting software on your computer.You might want to consider the inputs mentioned in this article to ensure longevity and good performance of your computer.

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What is the Definition of Computer Software?

The term "software" is not a recently conceived of word. In his 1935 essay, 'Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungs Problem,' Alan Turing first proposed and provided the foundation for most modern software. In 1958, the first use of the term software was used by John W. Tukey in an article in American Mathematical Monthly.

Today, the the term 'computer software' means written programs, rules, or codes, along with related documentation regarding the operation of a computer system that is stored in read/write memory. The "soft" part of software refers to the many products and technologies developed using different methods such as programming languages and scripting languages.

The term 'software' is broader and can include different types of devices such as the operation systems of modern consumer devices such as automobiles, televisions, toasters, etc.

Computer software is the job descriptions of what a computer can perform. It cannot be physically touched. For instance, most computers come with software already installed. Software is also available on CD where the user inserts the disk into the hard drive and follows the installation instructions.


As well, downloadable software is available on internet sites such as Microsoft. Computer software is basically a series of instructions that tells a computer how to do a particular job. For example, Microsoft Word is an example of computer software. As well, web page technologies such as HTML, PHP, ASP.NET, and XML are examples of computer software. Computer software can be divided into two main categories: operating system software and application software. Operating System (0/S): This system consists of the basic functions that computers perform.

An example would be showing movement on a screen such as a mouse cursor was the user moves the mouse. Examples of operating systems include: windows vista, windows xp, Mac, Linux and Unix.Application Software: These are applications that allow the computer to perform the job. Application software is used to accomplish precise tasks other than just running the computer system. This can include voice, play or record music, view videos, play video games--etc.

Other examples of application software include permitting access to the internet and printing documents. Application software is the software that indirectly interacts with the computer.System Software is the software that can directly interact with computer hardware. Examples include motherboard, CPU, keyboard, Mouse, printer--etc. System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual hardware components of a computer system.

Computer software is composed of machine language which is essentially groups of binary code giving processor instructions that are specific to an individual processor. It is normally written in high-level programming languages and then interpreted into machine language code. Software can also be written in assembly language which is a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet.

The term computer software evolved from computational theories and formulas from pioneers in mathematics. It is easy to see how quickly technology evolved to the amazing and complex computations we see today.

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