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Chapter Overview Floppy Disk Drives Hard Disk Drives

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The Basics of Floppy Disk Drives

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Keeping a Floppy Disk Drive Running 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.

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Physical Characteristics

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Storing Data

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Actuator Arms Hold read/write (R/W) heads in place Must deliver speed and accuracy Use one of the following technologies:

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

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Geometry

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Hard Disk Drive Types ST-506 Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI) Integrated Device Electronics/Enhanced

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE/EIDE) Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)

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Installation and Setup: the Five Steps 1. Physical installation and cabling2. CMOS setup3. Low-level formatting4. Partitioning5. High-level formatting

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Physical Installation and Cabling

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Setting the System CMOS for the Hard Disk Drive–CMOS Main Screen

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Setting the System CMOS for the Hard Disk Drive–Hard Drive Setup Screen

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Low-Level Formatting Creates and organizes sectors Sets the proper interleave Establishes the boot sector

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Preparing the New Drive 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.

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Partitioning

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High-Level Formatting FORMAT.COM does the following:

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.

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High-Level Formatting (Cont.) Consider several factors before using

FAT32. 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.

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Fragmentation and Compression 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.

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Maintaining a Hard Disk Drive 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.

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Common Errors and Troubleshooting Utilities Errors

Abort, Retry, Fail Connectivity problems Lost boot and partition information CMOS errors

Utilities Scandisk SCSI BIOS disk utility

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Chapter Summary 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.