This document presents a compilation of data and illustrations concerning the various parts / components of HDDs.
The aim of this document is to build a list of common wordings about these different parts, in order to avoid uncertainties and irritations while communication within the course of the IMAGINE project.
The HDD taxonomy was done in agreement with the IMAGINE Consortium, the industrial partner Electrocycling GmbH provided hardware samples and images.
This document does not claim to be complete.
Component / Part (alphabetical order) |
Description |
Illustration |
| Bearing | The main fixation of the entire R/W-Head arrangement is known as Bearing. |  |
| Drive Bay | The entire components of a hard disk device are mounted on/in an enclosure. This enclosure usually is called Drive Bay. |
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| The Drivers Lid | Top cover of an HDD’s enclosure, usually made of aluminium or steel. A common trivial name for this part is Drivers Lid. |
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| Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC) | The transfer of information between the R/W-Head and the Logic Board is realized using a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC). |
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| HDD Rack | A HDD Rack is a frame, aimed to realize mounting HDDs in normed Disk Arrays. |
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| Head contacts | The Head contacts are realizing the electrical connection between the Printed circuit board (PCB) and the R/W- Head. |
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| Magnets | As part of the Actuator arrangement, HDDs are using very strong magnets (NdFeB). Mostly two magnets (Top- and Bottom-magnet) are used. |
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| Motor contacts | The Motor contacts are forming the electrical connection between the PCB and the spindle motor. |  |
| Platter(s) | A Platter is a circular metal disk that is mounted inside a hard disk drive, realizing the actual storage of data. The Platters are mounted on the fixed spindle motor included. |
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| PCB | Hard disk drives are made with an intelligent Printed Circuit Board (PCB), integrated into the hard disk unit. It is mounted on the bottom of the Drive Bay exposed to the outer side. |
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| Platters clamp | The Platters clamp is located on top of the spindle hub / Platter – arrangement in order to fixate these components. |
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| Read / Write-Head (R/W-Head) | The Read / Write-Heads (R/W-Heads) are the interface between the magnetic media where the data is stored and electronic components in the hard disk. Each platter has two R/W-Heads, one mounted on the top and the other one at the bottom. |  |
| Spindle Hub | The Platters of a HDD are mounted on the Spindle Hub. |  |
| Top Dumper | The Top Dumper is a component, aimed to protect the Platter – R/W-Head arrangement. Only a small number of HDD-models are equipped with such a protection. |  |
