Computer Components and the Hard Disk Drive

When you stop and think about all of the various computer components that make up a modern computer system, it is hard to ignore the importance of the hard disk drive (also known as the HDDD, and often called "hard drive" for short). The hard drive of your computer is the storage area that houses every program and file that you install or create on your computer, as well as changes that you make to them. Without your hard drive, you could still perform the calculations and other processes for which you use your computer - but you would have no place to store the data.

For those of us who remember what personal computers were like a couple of decades ago, the rise of computer components like the hard disk drive has been nothing short of a lifesaver. Gone are the days where everything you did on your computer had to be backed up to a floppy disk because there was no way to store it on the system. Today's computers are awash in storage space, with even the smallest of systems currently boasting had drive space in excess of 160 GB of space.

Information from your hard drive is called upon by the program or document you are working with, then pulled from storage and given to the random access memory for immediate use. Though the hard drive itself is not the most efficient or speedy processor of information, it doesn't need to be. Its main job is to idly hold all of the data until it is needed. Other computer components handle the speed intensive tasks.

There are two main types of hard drives on the market today: the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) and the SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Architecture). The IDE is the slower and less expensive of these computer components, while the SATA draws upon more power and uses smaller wiring to achieve speeds of 3000 MB per second and higher. Nevertheless, when it comes to computer components, you should never forget that it is not the hard drive that determines the speed and efficiency of your computer system.

Article was written by Jeffrey Frasco. Visit Computer Knowledge For You for information about Basic Computer Components. Computer Knowledge For You also offers information about computer hardware tips, and a tutorial about how to build your own computer.