That Damn PC: Hardware, Software, Virus, Malware, PC Troubleshooting,

Basically it’s the Hard Drive

by Dean on January 15th, 2006

When comparing a computer to a brain the hard drive would be the long term memory. In fact it simulates long term memory much like a brain does, just with high-tech electronics. The sole purpose of the hard drive is to store data. It’s that simple.

When you create a Word document and save it, the document is written to the hard drive. This is done with magnets inside the hard drive. The magnets move clusters around to create your document. This is one of several reason magnets are bad around your computer.

Traditionally the hard drive has been the most fragile piece of equipment inside your PC. All hard drives come with a shock (like from dropping not electricity) warning. Normally if you drop a hard drive more than a few inches it is toast. Lately some people argue this point, but from all my research a hard drive dropped off a work bench no longer works. So if you remove a hard drive or add one DO NOT DROP IT!

Let me finish by saying I can not emphasize enough to insure your data is backed up. Your data is most important, every thing else is fluff. As long as you have the original software that came with your PC and you have been backing up your data you can rebuild after a PC disaster.

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POSTED IN: Hardware, Intro To PC's