The Way Things Work - Part I: Hard Disk Drives

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

My dad had the original, and i got "the new way things work" as a christmas gift from a relative back in 1999-2000. And no, i am not home schooled :)

Interesting. Now, back to the topic at hand. Do any of you have a preference of what device should be next in the series? I was going to do the CPU first, but I decided that the HDD would be more interesting for the first article because it has macroscopic, mechanical parts.

[Lead Head]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

Interesting. Now, back to the topic at hand. Do any of you have a preference of what device should be next in the series? I was going to do the CPU first, but I decided that the HDD would be more interesting for the first article because it has macroscopic, mechanical parts.

Hmm....I know how a CPU works, but how would you explain it, I would do 5 1/4" drives first

[polobunny]

What about the power supply? Often overlooked yet so important, this piece has alot to say. =P

[yurimxpxman]

I like Lead Head's suggestion. 5 1/4" drives are pretty much the only other mechanical parts in a computer. That'll be an interesting one, so I may do the PSU, as polobunny suggested, before the 5 1/4".

[stinger608]

Or maybe the main heart of the computer, how a motherboard works. You know, how the BUS works, how the memory works through the cpu, how AGP, and or PCI-E works, etc...

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by stinger608

Or maybe the main heart of the computer, how a motherboard works. You know, how the BUS works, how the memory works through the cpu, how AGP, and or PCI-E works, etc...

I'm planning on eventually covering everything. I'm just wondering what you all would like me to do first, because this series may be written over the course of - well, a long time :P

But yes, the mobo would be very interesting. Perhaps the most interesting part (and longest) of any of the purely electronic parts.

[ljesh]

I would like to know how CD-ROM works :) Is it similar to the HDD? :)
By the way, I loved the article.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by ljesh

I would like to know how CD-ROM works :) Is it similar to the HDD? :)
By the way, I loved the article.

CD's and DVD's are what is called optical media whereas hard drives are magnetic. They are only similar in the sense that the data storage surfaces are both round and shiny

I think CD's modify the surface material to reflect the light either at the optical sensor or away from it. If the light gets reflected back to the optical sensor in the drive, then it is a "1". And if it doesn't read the light back then it is a "0". I know I'm oversimplifying this, someone wanna jump in with more detail?

[yurimxpxman]

Certainly. I'll start writing it first chance I get.

ljesh: Thanks :)