Read/write heads are tiny parts of the disk drive which move on top of the disk platter and alter the platter's magnetic field into electric current and electrical current back into magnetic signals. Effectively, then, read/write heads are tiny electromagnets which perform conversion from magnetic to electric information and back.
The ferrite, metal-in-gap and thin film hard disk heads are the older, traditional hard disk heads. They operate based on the two main guidelines of electro-magnetic force. The 1st principle is utilized in writing to the disk and this is that using an electrical current via the coil will produce a magnetic field. The second principle of electric force is employed when reading back the written information and works opposite to the firstâ€"applying a magnetic field to the coil will create an electrical current.
The more recent sorts of read/write heads are different in the sense that they don't read the induced current in the coil to read back the information. As an alternative they function based on the concept of magnetoresistance, whereby certain materials change their resistance when subjected to different magnetic fields.
These more recent MR and GMR heads are also called "dual heads" or "merged heads" because they have separate heads for writing and reading, with each head specializing on a selected function.
The bit size of hard drives is shrinking dramatically through the years and this indicates that a great amount of bits are packed into the disks. This necessitates that the magnetic fields should be made very faint in order that they do not interpose with one another. This also suggests that the read/write heads should be correspondingly tiny and ultra-sensitive to read the faint signals. The new MR and GMR heads are just thatâ€"they are so miniscule and so delicate.
Modern drive heads float over the surface of the heads and don't physically touch the platter. The older ones made contact and so were subject to damage. The space between the head and the platter is known as the flying height or floating height or the head gap. This distance is unobservable to the naked eye as it is measured in the millionths of an inch.
Maintaining a certain floating height is important to precise operation. If the distance is too great, the head can't read properly and if it is too close to the platter, there is the likelihood of a head crash. A head crash can result in information loss, damage to the head, damage to the platter or all these three. This is going to be due to contamination stuck in the minute gap between the head and the platter, or a shock applied to the disk even though it is in operation.
In all but the most grim situations, a professional data recovery expert can rescue most, if not all, of your information.
The ferrite, metal-in-gap and thin film hard disk heads are the older, traditional hard disk heads. They operate based on the two main guidelines of electro-magnetic force. The 1st principle is utilized in writing to the disk and this is that using an electrical current via the coil will produce a magnetic field. The second principle of electric force is employed when reading back the written information and works opposite to the firstâ€"applying a magnetic field to the coil will create an electrical current.
The more recent sorts of read/write heads are different in the sense that they don't read the induced current in the coil to read back the information. As an alternative they function based on the concept of magnetoresistance, whereby certain materials change their resistance when subjected to different magnetic fields.
These more recent MR and GMR heads are also called "dual heads" or "merged heads" because they have separate heads for writing and reading, with each head specializing on a selected function.
The bit size of hard drives is shrinking dramatically through the years and this indicates that a great amount of bits are packed into the disks. This necessitates that the magnetic fields should be made very faint in order that they do not interpose with one another. This also suggests that the read/write heads should be correspondingly tiny and ultra-sensitive to read the faint signals. The new MR and GMR heads are just thatâ€"they are so miniscule and so delicate.
Modern drive heads float over the surface of the heads and don't physically touch the platter. The older ones made contact and so were subject to damage. The space between the head and the platter is known as the flying height or floating height or the head gap. This distance is unobservable to the naked eye as it is measured in the millionths of an inch.
Maintaining a certain floating height is important to precise operation. If the distance is too great, the head can't read properly and if it is too close to the platter, there is the likelihood of a head crash. A head crash can result in information loss, damage to the head, damage to the platter or all these three. This is going to be due to contamination stuck in the minute gap between the head and the platter, or a shock applied to the disk even though it is in operation.
In all but the most grim situations, a professional data recovery expert can rescue most, if not all, of your information.
About the Author:
Jason Sloan runs a data recovery business called Kingdom Data Recovery Edinburgh who service all the UK. He's got many articles on his web site which refer to issues with storage devices and helpful information about stopping info loss.
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