1
Q
Platter
A
The circular disk (made of glass or aluminum) that is coated with a magnetizable material where data is stored.
2
Q
Read/Write Head
A
The device on a mechanical arm that uses a magnetic field to write data (0s and 1s) to the platter, and senses existing magnetic fields to read data.
3
Q
Track
A
A single, perfect concentric circle on the platter’s surface where data is recorded. A platter has thousands of tracks.
4
Q
Sector
A
A small, pie-shaped subdivision of a track. It is the minimum unit of transfer (e.g., 512 bytes) that can be read or written.
5
Q
Cylinder
A
The set of all tracks that are in the same relative position on all platters (e.g., all Track #50 on all 4 platters).
