Sunday, January 30, 2011

Hard Disk Drives - Todays storages for desktops, laptops, servers

IDE or PATA
PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) 
These hard disks used to be the standard for all desktop computers. You might know them better as IDE or EIDE drives. IDE and EIDE refer to the type of interface that is used to connect the hard disk to your computer.
 It uses the underlying AT Attachment (ATA) and AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) standards. To connect, they use a 40 or 80 wire ribbon cable that connects to the motherboard inside your PC. As the PATA technology improved, more speed was needed and therefore more data transferred. This is why some disks use 40 wires and some use 80.  Parallel ATA cables have a maximum allowable length of only 18 in (457 mm). Because of this length limit the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. You will also find smaller 2.5 inch IDE or PATA disks inside laptop computers too.

SATA Connector
SATA (Serial ATA) 
Compared to a PATA disk, the connections on the SATA ones are totally difference. That goes for the data connection as well as the power connector. In the computer industry, speed is the factor that most people crave. SATA disks were created to supply high amounts of data at very quick rates. The later models of PATA disks have a similar fast transfer rate, but the newer, slimmer design of the SATA drives allows for better use of technology and therefore provides quicker hard disks. Also, they use less power too, which is a requirement for most modern computers and operating systems. The advantage of the SATA is that it has the capability to provide point to point channel communication between mother board or the main board and the drive. Where as in the Parallel ATA that can be termed as the PATA the architecture of the master slave combination is supported on a single cable for the two drives it supports.
The speed of the data transmission is about 1.5 giga bits per second or 150 mega bytes per second. This is a unidirectional. Eventually the SATA II was introduced in the year of 2003 that has the speed of about 3 giga bits per second or 300 mega bytes per second. The Parallel ATA hard disk drive uses the flat cable that has the width of around 18’’. But in the case of the Serial ATA a four wire cable is used that has a length of one meter.

SCSI
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) 
The SCSI acronym stands for Small Computer Systems Interface and is pronounced "skuzzy". You could think that SCSI hard disks are similar to PATA one, but they differ in a few ways. The SCSI disks need a special controller to make them work. Where as a SATA or PATA drive will connect direct to the computer motherboard, this kind needs it's own controller to make them work. They both offer fast data transfer, but the SCSI models spin at a faster rate and are therefore quicker at sending and receiving data. It would be more common to find a SCSI hard disk inside a server rather than a desktop PC though. Their higher data rates and error correction capabilities make them perfect for using as part of a disk array. Although the SCSI type are considered to be more reliable, they also tend to wear out quicker due to the high speed that the disks spin at. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it can connect a wide range of other devices, including scanners and CD drives. Up to 8 or 16 devices can be attached to a single bus.

Solid State Drive

SSD (Solid State Drives)

These drives are the future of computing storage - mainly because they have no moving parts. Conventional hard disks like the ones we have already discussed, consist of a spinning set of "platters" and a head that moves back and forth reading data as it spins past. The SSD drives are more akin to a USB memory stick and have no moving parts, therefore being more stable and less likely to break. In terms of a SSD, it refers to the fact that the primary storage medium is through semiconductors rather than a magnetic media such as a hard drive. The only downside with these disks at the moment is the price. As they are relatively new, the cost often outweighs the benefits.

This provides three distinct advantages:

·         Less Power Usage

·         Faster Data Access

·         Higher Reliability

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