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Hard drive and other types of external memory. Types of SSD drives, what types of SSD drives are there and what are their differences? Structural elements of a hard drive

A personal collection of digital data tends to grow exponentially over time. Over the years, the amount of data in the form of thousands of songs, films, photographs, documents, all kinds of video courses is constantly growing and they, naturally, must be stored somewhere. computer or, no matter how large it is, will still someday completely run out of free space.

An obvious solution to the problem of lack of storage space is to buy DVDs, USB flash drives or external hard disk (HDD). Flash drives usually provide several GB of disk space, but they are definitely not suitable for long-term storage, and their price-volume ratio is, to put it mildly, not the best. DVDs are a good option in terms of price, but not convenient in terms of recording, rewriting and deleting unnecessary data, but they are slowly dying out and becoming an outdated technology. An external HDD provides a large amount of space, is portable, easy to use, and is perfect for long-term data storage.

When purchasing an external HDD, to do right choice, you should know what to look for first. In this article we will tell you what criteria you need to follow when choosing and purchasing an external hard drive.

What to look for when buying an external hard drive

Let's start with choosing a brand, the best of them are Maxtor Seagate Iomega LaCie Toshiba And Western Digital l.
Most important characteristics, which you need to pay attention to when purchasing:

Capacity

The amount of disk space is the first thing to consider. The basic rule that you should follow when purchasing is to multiply the capacity you need by three. For example, if you think that 250 GB of additional hard drive space is enough, buy a model from 750 GB. Drives with large amounts of storage space tend to be quite bulky, which affects their mobile capabilities, this also needs to be taken into account by those who often carry an external drive with them. For desktop computers, models with disk space of several terabytes are available for sale.

Form factor

The form factor determines the size of the device. Currently, form factors 2.5 and 3.5 are used for external HDDs.
2.5 form factors (size in inches) - smaller in size, light weight, receives power from the port, compact, mobile.
3.5 form factors are larger in size, have additional power supply, are quite heavy (often more than 1 kg), and have a large amount of disk space. Pay attention to the mains power supply, because... if you plan to connect the device to a weak laptop, then it may not be able to spin up the disk - and the disk simply will not work.

Rotation speed (RPM)

The second important factor to consider is the rotation speed of the disk, indicated in RPM (revolutions per minute). High speed ensures fast data reading and high speed records. Any HDD with a disk rotation speed of 7200 RPM or more is good choice. If speed is not critical for you, then you can choose a model with 5400 RPM; they are quieter and heat up less.

Cache size

Each external HDD has a buffer or cache memory that temporarily stores data before it goes to disk. Discs with large size caches transfer data faster than those with smaller caches. Choose a model that has at least 16 MB of cache memory, preferably more.

Interface

Apart from the above factors, another important feature is the type of interface used for data transfer. The most common is USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is gaining popularity, the new generation has significantly increased data transfer speeds, and models with FireWire and ESATA interfaces are also available. We recommend choosing models with USB 3.0 and ESATA interfaces, which have high data transfer speeds, provided that your computer is equipped with the appropriate ports. If the ability to connect an external hard drive to as many devices as possible is critical for you, choose a model with the version USB interface 2.0.

External memory is memory designed for long-term storage of programs and data. The integrity of the contents of the VRAM does not depend on whether the computer is turned on or off

Disk drive (drive) is a device for writing/reading information. The drives have their own name - a letter of the Latin alphabet followed by a colon. To connect one or more disk drives to a computer and control their operation, you need a Disk Controller

A storage medium (recording medium) is a material object capable of storing information. Information is recorded on a medium by changing the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the storage medium

Based on the type of access to information, external memory is divided into two classes:

Direct (random) access devices – the time of accessing information does not depend on its location on the media;

Serial access device - such a dependency exists

External memory includes: 1) hard magnetic disk drives (HDD); 2) floppy disk drives (FMD); 3) drives on magneto-optical compact disks; 4) optical drives (CD-ROM); 5) magnetic tape drives, etc.

NGMD - floppy disk drives

Designed to store small amounts of information

Should be protected from strong magnetic fields and heat

These are carriers of random (direct) access to information

Used to transfer data from one computer to another

To work with information, the media must be formatted, i.e. The disk must be magnetically marked into tracks and sectors

The speed of information exchange depends on the rotation speed of the drive. To refer to a disk inserted into the drive, the name A is assigned:

The volume of the GMD is relatively small (3.5 inches - 1.44 MB)

The discs are called flexible because their working surface is made of elastic material and placed in a hard protective envelope. To access the magnetic surface of the disk, the protective envelope has a window covered with a curtain. The surface of the disk is covered with a special magnetic layer (1 – magnetized area, 0 – not magnetized). Information is recorded on both sides of the disk on tracks in the form of concentric circles. The paths are divided into sectors. Modern floppy disks have software markup. On each sector, an area is allocated for its identification, and data is recorded on the remaining area. The drive is equipped with two motors. One provides rotation inside the protective envelope. The second moves the write/read head along the radius of the disk surface. The protective envelope has a special recording protection window. Using the slider, this window is opened and the floppy disk becomes read-only and will not have write access. This protects the information on the disk from being changed or deleted.

HDD - hard magnetic disk drives

Designed to store the information that is most often used in work - programs operating system, compilers, service programs, application programs user, text documents, database files

Should be protected from impacts during installation and sudden movements in space

These are media with random access to information

To store information, it is divided into tracks and sectors.

The speed of information exchange is significantly higher than GD

Hard drive capacity is measured from MB to hundreds of GB

HDDs are built into the drive and are non-removable. They consist of several aluminum disks with a magnetic coating, enclosed in a single housing with an electric motor, magnetic heads and a positioning device. A recording head is brought to the magnetic surface of the disk and moves along the radius of the disk from the outside to the center. While the drive is running, the disk rotates. At each fixed position, the head interacts with the circular track. Binary information is recorded on these concentric tracks. Thanks to good protection from dust, moisture and other external influences, they achieve high recording density, unlike floppy disks.

To access the HDD, use a name specified in a capital Latin letter, starting with C:, but using a special system program you can split your physical hard drive into several logical drives, each of which is given a corresponding name.

Hard magnetic disk drives are often called a hard drive - after the first model of a hard drive, which had 30 tracks of 30 sectors, which coincided with the caliber 30?/30? hunting rifle

Optical (laser) CDs and DVDs

Designed to store any type of information

Information is recorded on a CD using a laser beam.

Should be protected from scratches and surface contamination

These are carriers of direct (random) access to information

The volume (capacity) of a CD is hundreds of MB; DVD - more than 1 GB

More durable and reliable than magnetic disks

CD – Compact Disk. Made from organic materials with a thin aluminum layer sprayed onto the surface. The laser disc has one track in the form of a spiral. Information is recorded in separate sectors by a powerful laser beam, which burns indentations on the surface of the disk, and is an alternation of depressions and bulges. When reading information, the protrusions reflect the light of a weak laser beam and are perceived as “1”, the depressions absorb the beam and are perceived as “0”. This is a contactless way to read information. Shelf life 50-100 years

DVD – Digital Video Disk. Has the same dimensions as a CD. Volume - GB. It can be single-sided or double-sided, and there can be 1 or 2 working layers on each side.

Magnetic tape drives (TMS)

Used for backup (relatively slow) copying and storage of large volumes of information (archives)

A device for recording and reading magnetic tapes is called a tape drive

This is a serial access device

The speed of data transfer on the disk interface bus is far from the only parameter that affects the performance of the hard drive as a whole. On the contrary, the performance of hard drives with the same type of interface sometimes differs significantly. What is the reason?

The fact is that a hard drive is a collection large quantity various electronic and electromechanical devices. The performance of the mechanical components of the hard drive is significantly inferior to the performance of the electronics, which also includes a bus interface. Overall disk performance, unfortunately, is determined by the speed of the slowest components. The “neck of the bottle” when transferring data between the drive and the computer is precisely the internal transfer speed - a parameter determined by the speed of the hard drive mechanics, which is one of the reasons for repairing laptops. Therefore, in the most modern PIO 4 and UltraDMA exchange modes, the maximum possible throughput interface during real work with a drive is almost never achieved. To determine the performance of mechanical components, as well as the entire drive, you need to know the following parameters.

Disk rotation frequency is the number of revolutions made by the plates (individual disks) of the hard drive per minute. The higher the rotation speed, the faster the data is written or read. The typical value of this parameter for most modern EIDE drives is 5400 rpm. Some newer drives have drives spinning at 7,200 rpm. The technical limit reached today - 10,000 rpm - is implemented in the Seagate Cheetah series SCSI drives.

Average search time is the average time required to position a head unit from an arbitrary position to a given track for reading or writing data. The typical value of this parameter for new hard drives is from 10 to 18 ms, and an access time of 11-13 ms can be considered good. In the fastest SCSI models, the access time is less than 10 ms.

Average access time is the average period of time from issuing a command to operate on a disk until the start of data exchange. This is a composite parameter that includes the average search time, as well as half the disk rotation period (taking into account the fact that the data can be in an arbitrary sector on the desired track). The parameter determines the delay before the start of reading the desired block data, as well as overall performance when working with large numbers of small files.

Internal transfer rate is the speed at which data is exchanged between the disk interface and the media (platters). The meaning of this parameter differs significantly for read and write. They are determined by the disk rotation speed, recording density, characteristics of the positioning mechanism and other drive parameters. It is this speed that has a decisive influence on the performance of the drive in steady state (when reading a large solid block of data). Exceeding the total transfer speed over the internal one is achieved only when data is exchanged between the interface and the hard drive cache without immediately accessing the platters. Therefore, another parameter affects the performance of the drive, namely...

...cache memory size. Cache memory is a regular electronic RAM installed on a hard drive. Data, after being read from the hard drive, simultaneously with its transfer to the computer’s memory, also ends up in the cache memory. If this data is needed again, it will not be read from the platters, but from the cache buffer. This allows you to significantly speed up data exchange. To increase the efficiency of cache memory, special algorithms have been developed that identify the most frequently used data and place it in the cache, which increases the likelihood that the next time the data is accessed, it will be requested from the electronic RAM - a so-called “cache hit” will occur. Naturally, the larger the cache memory, the faster the disk usually runs.


Related information.


An easy way to speed up your computer is to install on it SSD drive. We already talked about it in one of the previous articles. These drives come in several types, and I would like to devote today’s article to just that. The first is a SATA solid-state drive; it usually comes in a 2.5" form factor and is a universal solution with very good speed and a fairly reasonable price.

It is suitable for any computer, almost any laptop (there are exceptions, such as SONY models, which use a 1.8" form factor drive). Next on the list we have PCI, especially pay attention to SSD PCI 3.0 - they have just crazy speed and you might be surprised at the performance you get with these drives.

But, like all good things, they have one drawback - a fairly high price, which is often 2 or even 3 times higher than regular SSD SATA 2.5 drives. There are also mSATA (in the picture below), which is short for “mini SATA”, they are most often used in laptops, however, in terms of speed, such drives are no different from regular SATA 2, that is, it is the same, but in a smaller form -factor.

Look how much less mSATA SSD disk (green printed circuit board top) compared to a conventional 2.5" hard drive

It is noteworthy that there are SSDs exclusively for Apple (even here they remain separate “personalities”), and they are even more expensive, although in terms of performance they are no different from the same PCI SSDs. The recording speed here can be 700 MB/s - which is an excellent indicator.

If you want to buy an SSD for yourself, then in any case you will have to choose between SATA and PCI versions, and there is a question of price. If you spend a lot of time on your computer, then be sure to try PCI version drive. Because it itself comes in a RAID array (this is when 2 hard drives are connected into one, roughly speaking), in this case the information is read from two devices at once, which speeds up the system by exactly 2 times.

PCI SSD - installed internally system unit computer

That is, for example, the same Windows is installed on 2 flash drives (2 different chips) at once and read from them simultaneously, which is a truly great solution for increasing computer performance, I definitely recommend purchasing it.

If you just want to somehow speed up your old computer, which you may soon be planning to exchange for something more productive, or you just want to try a solid-state drive in operation for the first time - I definitely recommend that everyone take the familiar and time-tested SATA 2.5 SSD.

External memory, sometimes called backup storage or secondary memory, allows you to store large amounts of information. Nowadays, external memory capacity is high, usually measured in hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes (billion bytes). External memory has an important property: information is stored and not lost when the computer's power is turned off.

External memory (ERAM) is designed for long-term storage of programs, calculation results, texts, regardless of whether the computer is on or off. Unlike random access memory, external memory does not have a direct connection with the processor. This is non-volatile memory.

Which includes:

HDD: hard magnetic disk drives;

FHD: floppy disk drives;

CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD: compact disc drives;

Magneto-optical CD drives;

NML: magnetic tape drives (streamers).

The main task of the external memory of a personal computer is the ability to long-term store a sufficiently large amount of information (programs, texts, photographs, audio and video clips). A device that provides recording/reading of information is called a drive, or disk drive, and information is stored on media (for example, floppy disks).

Figure 3 - Classification of VZU

The floppy disk is the most early type information storage devices that contain a small amount of data. They were invented in 1967 by a group of IBM specialists, designed to distribute software, read/write/transfer data from one PC to another.

It is a flexible plastic disk in a protective shell of a personal computer. The main components of a floppy disk are a magnetic disk that stores information and an envelope that performs a protective function for the disk.

The method of recording binary information on a magnetic medium is called magnetic coding. It lies in the fact that magnetic domains in the medium are aligned along paths in the direction of the applied magnetic field with their north and south poles. Typically, a one-to-one correspondence is established between binary information and the orientation of magnetic domains.

Information is recorded along concentric tracks (tracks), which are divided into sectors. The number of tracks and sectors depends on the type and format of the floppy disk. A sector stores the minimum amount of information that can be written to or read from disk. The sector capacity is constant and amounts to 512 bytes.

Magnetic tape was designed to store data for 50 years. When storing large enough volumes of information, it was significantly cheaper to use tape than disk or other data storage options. Modern use tape media is primarily associated with high average power to create Reserve copy and archives.

Figure 4 - Magnetic tape.

Writing and retrieving data is quite slow. Because magnetic tape uses sequential access for reading and writing. It is used for applications that require large memory capacity, where access speed is not an issue. Also widely used for backing up file servers computer networks V various applications batch processing, such as reading bank checks, processing payroll, and general stock control.

The most common form of external memory is a hard drive, which is permanently installed in the computer and typically has a capacity of hundreds of megabytes. Information is written to the disk by magnetizing the oxide coating on concentric circular tracks. This means that the correct path must be set before accessing or modifying read/write head data.

The hard drive contains everything software necessary for the computer to operate. All user data and programs can also be stored on the hard drive. Additionally, most computers have some form of removable storage devices that can be used to save a copy of important files.

Like a floppy disk, the working surfaces of platters are divided into circular concentric tracks, and the tracks into sectors. The read-write heads, along with their supporting structure and disks, are enclosed in a hermetically sealed housing called a data module. When a data module is installed on a disk drive, it automatically connects to a system that pumps purified cooled air. The surface of the platter has a magnetic coating only 1.1 microns thick, as well as a layer of lubricant to protect the head from damage when lowering and raising on the move. When the platter rotates, an air layer is formed above it, which provides an air cushion for the head to hover at a height of 0.5 microns above the disk surface.

Optical disk drives use a disk coated with a reflective substance with special optical properties as the storage medium.

The most common types of optical media are Blu-Ray , CDs And DVDs. Computers can read and write to CDs and DVDs, use CD burners or DVD Disc Writer and Blu-ray discs to read Blu-ray discs.

There are three main types of optical media: CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. CDs can store up to 700 megabytes (MB) of data and DVDs can store up to 8.4 GB of data. Blu-Ray discs, which are the newest types of optical media, can store up to 50 GB of data. This amount of memory is a clear advantage over (magnetic media), which has a capacity of 1.44 MB. Another advantage is that optical media has more floppy disk It can last up to 7 times longer due to its durability.

A standard CD consists of a base, reflective and protective layers. The base is made of transparent polycarbonate, on which an information relief is formed by pressing. A metal reflective layer is sprayed over the relief. The reflective layer is covered with a protective layer of varnish on top - so that the entire metal surface was protected from contact with the external environment.

Information is recorded on the disk in the form of a spiral track running from the center to the edge of the disk, on which indentations (the so-called pits) are located. The laser beam of the drive head passes along the track and reads information based on the nature of the reflected beam.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive is a small, portable device, which connects to USB port computer. Like a hard drive, it stores information, but is typically much smaller than most hard drives. USB flash drives vary in size and shape and contain gigabytes of information. They are sometimes called flash drives because they are the size and shape of a human finger. The main advantage is that flash drives can be easily carried, making it extremely convenient for transferring information from one computer to another.

memory hard drive storage media

Figure 5 - USB flash drive.

Physically, the external drive is no different from the internal drive. It can also store data and has a set of disks, heads and controllers. But, unlike its stationary counterpart, which is constantly imprisoned inside the system unit, a removable drive is encased in a case, the style and design of which can be different. This is both an aesthetic moment and a protective one. Before damaging the exposed parts of the drive, you first have to go through the case. The drive is usually connected via USB, which gives it overall versatility, because today it is difficult to find a PC or laptop without this connector.

Advantages and disadvantages

The most important advantage of removable media is its mobility and the ability to be used as a giant flash drive. This advantage was especially appreciated by people working in an IT environment, when they need to boot from another drive at the customer’s or quickly install some required software. The advantages include a more interesting appearance, which is often a masterpiece of art.

One of the disadvantages is the increased fragility of hard drives in general. Sometimes a slight blow is enough for the head to fall onto the disk and no longer be able to start. Despite the fact that new SSDs can withstand much greater shocks, shocks are also fatal for them, since some of the elements on the board can simply break off.

Another significant disadvantage can be considered the slow speed of operation, if we talk specifically about hard drives. Whatever one may say, the speed of charge transition from one state to another in new SSDs will always be an order of magnitude higher than the speed of spinning up the disk and positioning the magnetic head on it.

Why do you need an external drive?

Range of uses removable drives quite wide. Everyone can use it differently. Some people transfer work files from one PC to another, some back up the system, and some simply use their drive to store a large number of movies. For IT people, a hard drive can become an additional tool. After all, from such a drive you can easily boot into any PC and carry out diagnostics or install software. And if you consider large volume, then you can create a multi-boot drive that will contain tools for all occasions - from Windows reinstallation before treating the standard hard drive.

Types of external memory drives

Split all external drives There are now two large types of memory:

  • solid state drives;
  • hard disk drive.

It’s worth saying right away that there is also a hybrid that uses both approaches, but we’ll talk about it separately.

A hard disk drive typically contains 1 to 4 physical magnetic disks. Sequences are recorded on them using magnetic heads, which are then converted into human-readable data. The magnetic head can move from the beginning of the disk to its edge, or, conversely, positioning itself on a specific area to search or write data. The disk itself rotates at a speed of approximately 5400 rpm. There are also higher-speed models, reaching up to 10,000 rpm. The weak point of a hard drive is small files, for reading which the head has to constantly change its position. And if we take into account fragmentation, due to frequent writing and reading on HDD, then reading even one small file can take precious milliseconds. All work to ensure the coordinated operation of the disk drive, magnetic head and positioning system is undertaken by the electronics unit. Placed on the device body.

A hard drive may have a small cache, a small block of memory of approximately 32 or 64 MB. It is needed for preliminary storage of data being written or read, increasing the reading speed, and also so as not to once again access the drives directly. In new hybrid models The cache role can be played by a small . The noise that a person hears when a hard disk drive is operating comes from the spindle and positioning device rotating.

Now a little about SSDs. It has no moving parts or heads. The entire mechanism for reading and writing data is entirely built on microcircuits, like a flash drive. And, in fact, the memory type is used from there. Without going into technical details, as a result of the applied signal, a charge is formed in certain cells, which represents one bit of information. By checking the number of charges and empty spaces, the drive compiles a set of bits, which then form more human-readable data, such as pictures, videos or music. A significant disadvantage of SSDs, and flash drives too, is the too short resource of read-write-rewrite cycles. But the speed of action is simply amazing.

Characteristics of external drives

Like everything complicated electronic devices, external hard drives contain a bunch of different characteristics and parameters. Let's see what you need to pay attention to first of all.

Form factor and interface

Form factor is the size and design of the device. External hard drives today can be found in 3 different configurations: 1.8’’, 2.5’’, 3.5’’.

3.5 inches is the most big size from well-known external hard drives. Such models almost always come with network adapter to provide separate power. 2.5 inches is the most common form factor that does not require additional food and can receive it via USB interface.

1.8 inches - mainly used for SSDs. As for interfaces, USB is now installed on all modern external hard drives, displacing other outdated standards.

Memory type and capacity

These two indicators significantly affect the cost of the device. At the same time, the difference between the SSD and HDD is quite noticeable. For comparison, a 500 GB external SSD hard drive has a price of 10,000 rubles. But a classic HDD with the same capacity can be bought for 2,800 rubles. As you can see, the difference is big. But if you remember history, the first hard drives also cost as much as cars, and then gradually became cheaper and more accessible. Perhaps the same thing will happen with the SSD, you just need to wait a little.

Now a little about the differences between these two types of media. SSD writes and reads data faster than HDD. And much more. Many users note that the speed of loading the operating system on an SSD has increased several times. But HDD is more reliable in terms of data safety. It is unlimited by the number of write-rewrite cycles. Failure is mainly affected by timely wear of mechanical parts, as well as starting and stopping the drive. It is worth noting that recent developments in SSDs have also made it possible to increase their service life. Therefore, perhaps in the near future, solid-state drives will be able to completely replace HDDs.

Everything, as always, is determined by the budget. Before choosing a reliable hard drive, you need to weigh the pros and cons. If your budget is solid, then you can safely turn your attention to SSDs. And don’t be afraid of excessively rapid failure. After all, an external hard drive is usually used occasionally. That is, the number of write-rewrite cycles will not grow at the same speed as when using it as a system one. And for storing images on it various systems for the purpose of subsequent installation from it - this is generally good. After all, the data from the media will only be read. Having decided which external hard drive is best to buy, take a look at the manufacturer’s official website - they often have helpful information or software.

An SSD is unlikely to be suitable for storing large amounts of data, since every extra gigabyte will cost a pretty penny. But the external one is hard HDD drive 4 TB can be purchased for 20,000 rubles. This volume is enough to record approximately 2800 movies in DVDRip format.

Review of manufacturers

Whoever produces hard drives. Both external and internal. But there are still a few of the best that have maintained their reputation for many years:

  • Toshiba. A Japanese company that was one of the first to produce magnetic disk drives. Now on the market you can find many interesting models from this company;
  • Saegate. Probably the only company that started in 1985 with the production of discs and is still doing this. Manufactures both HDD and SSD;
  • Western Digital. Another American company that specializes in the production of storage devices. It has an interesting color gradation of its product lines;
  • Samsung. Well, this company makes almost everything, including hard disks. Like other products, Samsung's carriers are also quite good.

The best models of external hard drives, according to the editors

Western Digital My Passport 2 TB (WDBUAX0020B)

Cute appearance of this exterior hard drive for 2 TB, as well as its speed characteristics of 500 Mb/s are estimated at 4,000 rubles. The disk form factor is the popular 2.5 inches. You can connect it using USB version 3.0. And here's what users say about it.

Western Digital My Passport 2 TB

Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB

1 TB external hard drive, available in two color styles: all-white and black. Disc rotation speed 5400 rpm. Stated external speed data transfer - 500 Mb/s. The most popular form factor is 2.5 inches. You can buy a removable hard drive for 3,000 rubles.

Toshiba Canvio Ready

Seagate STEB2000200

The model, of course, does not shine with design, but it has several coloring options. Samsung knows how to make stylish and at the same time functional gadgets

External hard drive 250 GB SSD type. Made in the most compact form factor - 1.8 inches. The declared data transfer speed is 540 Mb/s. This external hard SSD The disk is not the cheapest, you will have to pay 7,100 rubles for it.

Samsung Portable SSD T5

What to do if the computer does not see the removable hard drive

The very first thing to try in this case is to try a different connector. By the way, the method is universal and suitable for all devices. And even if another gadget worked perfectly on this port, it is not a fact that the current device will work here.

If this does not help, you need to look into the device manager and make sure that the problem is not in the drivers. If the gadget is recognized by the system, but there are not enough drivers, then something like “ Unknown device"in the USB block or just the name of the disk. In theory, drivers on new systems are installed automatically. If this does not happen, then you need to try turning the device off and on from the port and also switching to another port.

If the device is new, then the disk may not be formatted, and there may not even be a partition on it. In order to create a section and start working, you need to go to the “Control Panel” and find the “Administration” section. From the list, select “Computer Management” and then “Disk Management”. All drives that are connected to the system should be displayed here. If our problem disk is here, then it’s worth trying to change its letter using context menu. If there is a disk, but in its area it says “Unallocated,” then this means that there is no partition at all. You can also create it through the context menu.

Repairing a removable hard drive - nuances

Unfortunately, the only repair that the user can perform at home is? This is full formatting. If the hard drive fails due to bad sectors, then when formatting they will be discarded, leaving only working ones. If the problem is more serious, for example, the head is stuck or the controller has failed, then you cannot do without professional help. All that remains is to give a few recommendations for proper handling:

  • The hard drive does not tolerate overheating well, so you should be careful about the conditions in which the drive is forced to operate;
  • do not allow the device to be bumped or dropped, even if it is an SSD;
  • the first sign of instability HDD operation– crunching and unusual sounds. To avoid losing data, you need to do it urgently backup copy on another medium. As for the SSD, no one is safe at all; it can fail at any second;
  • In general, you need to be more careful with your electronic friend.