What are the components of a hard drive?

Hard drives are fairly basic if you open them.
However the functionality is extremely precise

How does a hard drive work?

A hard drive consists of fairly basic parts. Very simply the data is stored magnetically on one or more shiny silver platters revolving on a motor, there's an arm mechanism that moves the read-write head back and forth over the platters to record or store information and an electronic circuit board controls everything and acts as the 'brain'.

The platters are the most important parts of a hard drive and this is what we are most interested in for data recovery. If the platters are badly damaged it is going to be difficult to recover your data. As the name suggests, they are disks made from a hard material such as glass or aluminum, which is coated with a thin layer of metal that can be magnetized or demagnetized. Typically there will be only a single platter on a small hard drive, although both sides will be used to store data on a magnetic coating. Bigger drives have a series of platters stacked on a central spindle, with a small gap in between them. These platters can rotate at up to 15,000 revolutions per minute (rpm).

There are two read-write heads for each platter which glide on a a thin layer of air or fluid to minimize friction. One head is used to read the top surface and the other to read the bottom. Therefore if a hard drive has four platters it would require eight separate read-write heads. The read-write heads are mounted on an electrically controlled arm that moves from the center of the drive to the outer edge and back again.

The circuit board controls the movement of the actuator and rotation of the disk and writes on demand from the disk controller. Essentially the circuitry is considered the 'brain'. A common misconception is that a damaged printed circuit board (PCB) may be simply replaced during recovery procedures by an identical PCB from a healthy drive. While this may work in rare circumstances on hard drives manufactured before 2003, it will not work on newer hard drives. Electronics boards of modern drives usually contain drive-specific adaptation data required for accessing their system areas, so the related component needs to be either reprogrammed (if possible) or un-soldered and transferred between two electronics boards.

Free Data Recovery Evaluation

"Our free hard drive data recovery evaluation service will tell you whether your data can be recovered, exactly how much it will cost and how long the data recovery will take. Simply phone or email us for a job number and send your data recovery to us. Your hard drive or media will be photographed, catalogued and bar-coded and the data recovery evaluation will start within an hour of receipt."

File Listing Of Recoverable Files

"Once in the laboratory, your media will undergo a comprehensive data recovery evaluation to determine the extent of the data loss. We aim to complete this process within 24 hours depending on the complexity of work involved. The engineers will provide a no obligation recovery prognosis, with a guaranteed list of recoverable files and an estimated timescale. You can then decide whether to proceed with the recovery. Should you choose not to proceed, we will return your media by secure data courier."

Completing the Data Recovery

"Should you choose to proceed, the data recovery process will be completed and the data will be safely stored on our servers. We will then copy out the data to your preferred choice of output media - either 64Gb memory stick or HDD (for purchase or loan). Your data will be dispatched on our secure, next day courier service. Once you have received your data any copies of your data will be permanently and securely erased from our servers after 7 days."

Established and Trusted

"40 years experience in the data recovery industry chairing ISO and BSI standards, we have developed a reputation for excellence at a price that is affordable. With extensive data recovery research and development capabilities, our success rates are second to none - without compromising on our prices! This is why over 36,000 companies and individuals come to us every year."

Safeguarding Your Data

"Your data is important to us, which is why all our data recovery procedures comply with the Association of Chief Police Officers Guidelines and Civil Procedure Rules for handling electronic evidence. Great care is taken when recovering and handling your data to ensure that its integrity is maintained and that there is a clear audit trail through the entire data recovery process."

Industry Leading Diagnostics

"Our data recovery laboratory completes over 120 successful recoveries every day from clients including the BBC, NHS and Ministry of Defence. With ISO 27000 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) accreditation - we are a data recovery company you can rely upon! Class 100 clean rooms, specialised platter removal jigs and software applications allow us to provide the most comprehensive service in the industry."

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