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Hard Drives: Not Hard to Understand!
hard drive is what contains the ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the many files and programs that you have on your computer system. A hard drive is nonvolatile. This means that, when you turn your machine off, the data stays in the machine. Your RAM (Random Access Memory) is volatile memory which means that when the computer's turned off, the information is gone.

Hard drives are actually very similar to the record players of yesteryear (dating myself). A motor begins spinning a flat, round platter at a consistent speed, between 3,600 and 12,000 rotations per minute (RPM). A small arm moves over the platter, like a recordplayer's needle, and reads and writes data. These days, hard drives actually contain several of these platters which are stacked in a vertical manner and are coated with a very small coating of magnetic material. Data can be found on either side of these disks so two sets of arms are required — one to read each side. These mechanisms are sealed in airtight containers within your computer so that dust and other bits can't get in and mess things up.

It used to be that the size of a hard drive was measured in megabytes or even kilobytes but today, they're measured in gigabytes. How much do you need? Well, it all depends on what you're using the system for. If you're just doing word-processing and web-surfing, a gigabyte will probably be all you'll ever need. You'll probably want a newer and faster computer before you run out of disk space. If you want to do graphic design, get the largest hard drive you can afford and get a form of transport media (like a Jaz drive) as well. Few graphic designers ever complain that they have too much hard drive space — it's more likely they're running out of it!

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