This article describes the hard disk drive preparation procedures before a disk becomes usable. A hard disk stores data permanently. A computer will have one or several hard disk drives depending on its design and use. We have internal and external hard drives. Internal hard drives are housed inside the system unit. On the other hand, external ones are portable and are used akin to a flash drive. A hard disk drive, before it is ready for use especially with an operating system, needs to be taken through a number of preparation procedures. Once these processes are completed, the disk is usable and ready to accept data.
Hard Disk Drive Preparation Processes
- Low-level formatting
- Partitioning
- High-level formatting
- Installation of the Operating System
- Application programs installation.
Low-level Formatting
Low-level formatting is not for the end-user. It is done at the factory during drive manufacturing. Low-Level Formatting refers to the true process of disk formatting operation. This is because it builds the physical format of the disk by assigning the location where the data is kept on the disk. During this process, positions of tracks and sectors are outlined permanently. A Personal Computer cannot perform a low-level format on a modern IDE/ATA or SCSI hard disk. This is because doing so would destroy the hard disk.
Hard Disk Drive Partitioning
Disk partitioning is one of the first things to be done when configuring a new hard disk. It is the act of dividing a hard disk drive into logical storage volumes or units. A hard disk must be partitioned, meaning that you must create a minimum of one partition to be able to use it. When you partition a drive, you enable it to hold several operating systems. Having two or more operating systems is called multi-boot.
When you are creating more partitions, their sizes are defined by the existing disk size, intended use, and your needs. For example, you can subdivide a 500GB hard disk into two equal partitions of 250GB. The first partition (primary partition) is for the Operating System and Application Programs. The remainder 250GB can be used for your backup and other uses.
High Level Formatting
High-level formatting is the process of creating the disk’s logical structures such as the file allocation table, master boot record, and root directory in readiness in use with an operating system. These logical structures are necessary for they help the operating system in managing space on the disk, keeping track of the files, and managing defective areas of the disk. High-level formatting is done after partitioning when you are preparing a new disk. However, when a user wishes to erase the hard disk drive and reinstall the operating system back onto the hard disk drive, the partitioning stage can be skipped.
The most important thing that happens during high-level formatting is the creation of a file allocation table (FAT). The file allocation table is like a table of contents for the disk. It is used by the operating system to locate files on the disk. FAT controls how data is stored and retrieved on a hard disk.
Some of the File Systems Used
- FAT 12 – FAT file system using 12-bit cluster addressing, used with diskettes.
- FAT16 – FAT file system using 16-bit cluster addressing, used with Windows 95.
- FAT32 – FAT file system using 32-bit cluster addressing; Windows 98.
- NTFS (New Technology File System) – A file system for Windows NT which also supports the FAT file system proprietary to Windows XP, Vista, 2000, and Windows NT family.
- Hierarchical File System (HFS) – This is a proprietary file system developed by Apple Inc. to be used in computer systems running Mac OS.
Installation of the Operating System
The operating system is a software program that acts as an interface between the computer hardware and the computer user. The Operating System manages computer hardware resources. It performs functions like recognizing input from input devices, sending output to the display unit, controlling peripheral devices, among others. The user cannot be able to install other programs before installing the operating system.
Installing Application Software
Application software is a computer program that helps the user to manipulate raw data and be able to perform specific tasks. Some good examples of the application software used in computers are; Office suites, accounting software, graphic design software, database programs, web browsers. The application software is installed depending on the user’s needs.
Conclusion
Note: If you partition or high-level format a disk with existing data, you will lose your data. To avoid data loss, carry out a backup.
