HARD DISK DRIVES: LONG-TERM STORAGE

The hard disk drive inside your system unit stores all your important data up to 400GB worth. A hard disk consists of metallic platters that store data magnetically. Special read/write heads realign magnetic particles on the platters, much like a recording head records data onto magnetic recording tape.

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Formatting the Drive

Before data can be stored on a hard disk, the disk must first be formatted. When you format a hard disk, your computer prepares each track and sector of the disk to accept and store data magnetically. (Most new hard disks come preformatted.)