Read/write heads are very minuscule parts of the hard disk which move on top of the hard drive platter and transform the platter's magnetic field into electrical current and electric current back to magnetic signals. Essentially, then, read/write heads are minuscule electromagnets which perform transition from magnetic to electrical info and back.
The ferrite, metal-in-gap and thin film disk drive heads are the older, standard disk drive heads. They work based mostly on the 2 main principles of electromagnetic force. The first principle is employed in writing to the hard disk and this is that applying an electric current through the coil will create a magnetic field. The second principle of electromagnetic force is utilised when reading back the written info and works opposite to the firstâ€"applying a magnetic field to the coil will create an electric current.
The more recent kinds of read/write heads are different in the sense that they don't read the induced current in the coil to read back the info. As an alternative they function based mostly on the practise of magnetoresistance, whereby certain materials change their resistance when subject 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 specific 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 outer layer of the heads and do not physically touch the platter. The older ones established contact and therefore were the subject of wear. The space between the head and the platter is named the flying height or floating height or the head opening. This distance is imperceptible to the human 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 serious eventualities, a professional data recovery expert can rescue most, or all, of your data.
The ferrite, metal-in-gap and thin film disk drive heads are the older, standard disk drive heads. They work based mostly on the 2 main principles of electromagnetic force. The first principle is employed in writing to the hard disk and this is that applying an electric current through the coil will create a magnetic field. The second principle of electromagnetic force is utilised when reading back the written info and works opposite to the firstâ€"applying a magnetic field to the coil will create an electric current.
The more recent kinds of read/write heads are different in the sense that they don't read the induced current in the coil to read back the info. As an alternative they function based mostly on the practise of magnetoresistance, whereby certain materials change their resistance when subject 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 specific 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 outer layer of the heads and do not physically touch the platter. The older ones established contact and therefore were the subject of wear. The space between the head and the platter is named the flying height or floating height or the head opening. This distance is imperceptible to the human 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 serious eventualities, a professional data recovery expert can rescue most, or all, of your data.
About the Author:
Jason Sloan runs a data recovery business called Kingdom Data Recovery Edinburgh who service all of the United Kingdom. He has many articles on his web site which refer to issues with storage devices and beneficial info about stopping data loss.
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