What Is a Hard Drive on a Computer

Hard drives are essential to computer functionality, enabling users to store data and programs permanently. Information saved on a hard drive is retained even when power is removed from the computer. Many types of hard drives are available.

Jumper Settings

Hard drives can be placed in a primary and secondary configuration by using jumper settings. These settings can also be used to set speeds on more recent hard drives.

IDE Hard Drives

IDE hard drives are an older technology that has been phased out in favor of newer, improved ATA and SATA hard drive technologies.

ATA Hard Drives

Like IDE hard drives, ATA hard drives use either a 40 pin or 80 pin IDE cable. This technology was very prevalent in the past, but began being replaced by SATA technology in 2007.

SATA Hard Drives

SATA hard drives use as smaller cable of just seven pins. This reduced cable bulk and cost, and enabled the hard drive to more effectively transfer data. SATA drives are capable of transmitting and receiving data at the same time.

Solid State Hard Drives

Solid state hard drives have no moving parts. They are usually made from memory chips embedded within the hard drive.

References

• About Hard Drives
• What is a Hard Drive