hard disk image creator geometry utility

These zones start on the outside tracks and are numbered in ascending order until it reaches the inner track.Įvery track in a certain zone has the same number of sectors as every other track in that zone. Zoned bit recording is where outer tracks are grouped into different zones. ZBR is often referred to as multiple zone recordering or zone recording. To handle this, a feature called zoned bit recording (ZBR) is used.

Because the outer tracks are bigger than the inner ones, they are able to hold more data. Zones - Tracks are concentric circles on the platters, so the outer tracks will naturally have a larger circumference than the inner tracks. Cylinders aren't needed for operation, but are used in all hard drives to make sector location easier. This organization forms what can be visualized as an imaginary cylinder. For example, track 3 on each platter compose the number 3 cylinder.

It is only logical that tracks be organized in cylinders. Because each platter's actuator arm is connected to the other actuator arms, all of the different platter's heads will always be on the same tracks. Sectors are responsible for the storage of individual files.Ĭylinders - Cylinders are grouping of the corresponding tracks on all of the platters. Each sector is 512 bytes of user data, plus a few additional bytes are used for servo control, error detection and error correction. Sectors - Are the smallest geometry that a hard drive has. The number of sectors in a track is dependent on which zone the track is part of. Tracks are not referred to by themselves, instead they are part of cylinders, and broken down into sectors. There are many thousand tracks on each side of each platter in today's hard drives. Tracks are read by placing the actuator arm and heads over the correct track, and the hard drive rotation will move the complete track under the head. And unlike CD's, hard drive tracks start at the outer edges of the hard drive and work their way in. Unlike CD's, which has only one track that spirals out from the center, hard drives have many tracks. Tracks - Tracks are concentric circles of information on the disk. In each hard drive, each platter has 2 sides, and both of these sides are the same throughout each platter. The geometry of different hard disks varies, but always follows the same layout, no matter what the size or storage capacity.

Hard disk image creator geometry utility