Hard Drive Disks

What is at the heart of every hard drive?

• A stack of high-speed spinning discs

• A powerful microprocessor

• A large solid-state memory chip

• A set of advanced optical lenses

What is used to write data onto a hard drive?

• Mechanical pressure

• Electrical current through an electromagnet

• Sound waves

• Laser beams

What does each bit on a hard drive represent?

• A voltage level

• A sound frequency

• A color

• A magnetic pattern

How many bits are there in one byte?

• 8

• 2

• 32

• 16

What is the areal density of a modern hard drive?

• 600 terabits per square inch

• 600 gigabits per square inch

• 600 megabits per square inch

• 600 kilobits per square inch

What technological advancement allowed hard drives to store more data?

• Use of optical storage

• Use of larger discs

• Introduction of solid-state drives

• Thin film lithography process

What is the superparamagnetic effect?

• A risk of data loss due to small magnetic grain volume

• A new type of magnetic material

• A method to increase storage capacity

• A type of magnetic interference

What did scientists change to overcome the superparamagnetic effect?

• The size of the hard drive

• The direction of recording from longitudinal to perpendicular

• The speed of the spinning discs

• The material of the disc

What is heat assisted magnetic recording?

• A method to cool down the hard drive

• A way to protect the hard drive from overheating

• A technique to increase storage by heating a spot with a laser

• A process that uses heat to erase data

What future technology could allow for areal densities of twenty terabits per square inch or more?

• Solid-state drive advancements

• Optical storage enhancements

• Bit-patterned media

• Quantum computing