The maximum storage capacity of a hard disk drive is determined by its geometry.
CHS values define the geometry of a hard disk drive.
The largest hard disk drive recognized by the BIOS will vary with the age of the system.
Proper CMOS settings are required for hard disk drives.
There are two types of partitions-primary and extended.
A cluster is the basic unit of storage.
The FDISK program is used to partition drives.
Microsoft ScanDisk is a useful tool for diagnosing and repairing many disk problems.
The proper drive information must be held in CMOS for proper drive operation.
Tutorial Summary
The following points summarize the key concepts in this tutorial:
Floppy Disk Drives
The first disk drives were floppy disk drives. The technology of floppy disks has changed little in the past decade.
Floppy disk drives are designated as A or B. The drive letter designation is determined by the location of the drive on the cable.
Floppy disk drives fail more than any other part of a computer system.
Hard Disk Drives
The three major steps in installing a hard disk drive are to partition the drive, set the CMOS settings, and format the drive.
FDISK is used to partition hard disk drives. A computer technician should be familiar with the use of FDISK and partitioning.
The geometry of a hard disk drive (CHS values) determines its storage capacity.
There are two type of partitions (primary and extended). MS-DOS must be on the primary partition.
The active partition is where the operating system is stored. The active partition is usually (but not always) the primary partition.