In the past, we spent thousands of yuan to buy a hard drive , and it was amazing if it had a capacity of dozens of gigabytes. Now, this little thing in my hand has 2TB (showing One Touch SSD) and the price is much cheaper than before! How on earth is this done? Hiho ~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! Modern people cannot live without hard drives , but did you know that the earliest hard drives of mankind were actually as big as two large refrigerators , but their storage capacity was only 5MB? A few photos exploded! People at that time would never have imagined that today, decades later, a small mobile phone can easily store tens of thousands of high-definition photos. The price is even cheaper by almost 100 million times. It is not only your mobile phone and computer, but now it is the data center satellite that maintains the operation of human science and technology. , electric vehicles... and even the most popular AI nowadays all need to be built on the basis of "hard disk". It can be said that it has changed our entire modern human civilization. And behind this seemingly ordinary thing, there is actually very sophisticated nanometers. Technology So in this episode we will take a look at how the hard drive "remembers" things? How scary is the technology behind this seemingly simple thing ? But...did you think we were going to enter business hours again? No, let’s start directly! [What is the hard drive used for? 】 First of all, we need to understand what the hard drive is used for? To put it simply, we can think of the hard disk as a computer warehouse dedicated to storing and protecting your data. First: When you need it, the computer will go to this warehouse to move the data out for use . Second: After it is used up Later, the data will be stored back in this warehouse. Third... Well, no, it is that simple. But this sounds very simple thing. It can be said that humans have spent countless efforts and time to achieve this. Why on earth is it so? Is it difficult? The answer has to do with the way computers remember things [How do computers remember things? 】 You may have heard before that computers use "0s and 1s" to remember things . For example, you have a black and white photo in your hand now. If you enlarge this photo and enlarge it again, you will find that it is actually made up of thousands of If the computer is composed of tens of thousands of black dots and white dots, if it wants to remember this photo, it can treat a black dot as a 1 and a white dot as a 0 , and then follow the arrangement of the black and white dots in this photo to become a large series of 1s and 0s. It is stored in the hard drive and when you want to see this photo in the future, the computer will go to the hard drive to fish out this large string of 1s and 0s, and then change them back to black dots and white dots in order... da ! An identical photo appeared! So before the hard disk appeared, some people used punched cards to record the 0s and 1s. For example, the place with holes is 1 and the place without holes is 0. In this way, all this information can be stored. Although this method is very simple , but with the With the development of technology, this recording method can no longer meet modern needs , because a color photo now consists of 24 0s and 1s just for a dot, and a photo probably requires 300 million 0s and 1s to remember! Not to mention the extremely large files of music, videos, and movies. Several containers of cards are not enough! So how does a hard drive do this? [How does a hard drive work? : HDD] There are two common hard drives now : mechanical hard drive (HDD) and solid state drive (SSD). The operation methods of the two are a bit different. Let’s first look at the core parts of HDD hard drives. Including "disc", "read-write head", "drive arm" and "motor", the disc is where the hard drive stores data. It has many small "magnetic sectors" on it . These sectors can be set to different The magnetization direction is used to represent 0 and 1. To do this, it mainly relies on the "read-write head" (Head). This head will float above the disc. When you want to write data, the head will pass through the current. If you want to modify the file by setting the magnetization direction of the magnetic particles , it’s no problem. The magnetic head can also come back and change the magnetization direction of the magnetic particles to reset 0 or 1. Conversely, when you want to read data, the read-write head can also judge the magnetic field. The magnetization direction of the grain tells you whether it is 0 or 1. Get the entire string of data back completely! Then there is the "Actuator" and the "Spindle Motor". Their task is to control the disc and the read-write head so that they can read or write data in the correct position. Finally, there is the Controller. ) This is equivalent to the brain of the hard disk responsible for directing the above parts. For example, when you want to see a photo, the controller will accurately calculate that the photo is placed somewhere on the disk and then direct the read and write heads and disks. How ridiculous is the process of moving to that position at high speed to read ? Not only is the speed very fast, but the distance between the magnetic head and the magnetic disk is only 2 nanometers, which is one-fifty-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. Not even a particle of dust can be allowed inside. Therefore, the HDD hard disk that looks very traditional actually uses ultra-high speed. Precision nanotechnology! There is an analogy: when the HDD hard disk is operating, it is like a Boeing 747 aircraft flying at a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour and less than 10 centimeters above the ground. When flying, it must be able to accurately calculate every blade of grass passing by. The ground falls on the designated block. Because of this, HDD is more sensitive to interference from magnetic materials such as disks with unstable voltage, so be careful to avoid it when using it! In addition to HDD, there is also an increasingly popular SSD hard drive. What is this? [What is an SSD hard drive? 】 Compared with HDD hard disk, SSD does not operate with mechanical parts such as magnetic heads and platters, but uses the "potential difference" of NAND FLASH to store data. It may sound a bit abstract . Let's use a simplified metaphor to understand . Imagine a battery . When the battery power is different, it represents different information. For example, when it is fully charged, it is 111, when it is half-charged, it is 010, when it is out of power, it is 000, etc. When we need this data, we only need to look at the power status of these batteries. In turn, we need to store the data. The battery capacity can also be changed by charging or discharging at any time . Therefore, the same battery can store many different kinds of information through different charging levels. It is not as simple as just 0 and 1. Then if we combine many such small batteries in A very large amount of information can be stored together . An SSD with a capacity of 1TB may contain hundreds of billions of such small batteries. Of course, this explanation is still very, very simplified. The actual operation of SSD is much more complicated than this, but in general , because SSD does not have the high-speed operating parts of HDD , so it is relatively less afraid of collisions. In addition, due to the use of potential differences, SSD can transmit data 5 to 10 times faster than HDD. It is thinner, lighter, and more convenient to carry and use . However, SSD still has its shortcomings, the main one being that it costs more and because it uses electricity for storage , it needs to be powered on about once every three months to avoid data loss . On the other hand, although the speed and shock resistance of HDD are not as good as SSD , it The cost is only 20% of SSD and no special charging is required, suitable for long-term storage Cloud hard drive providers such as Google Drive, Apple iCloud, etc. also use HDD hard drives to store up to 90% of the data capacity. In fact, HDD and SSD have their own advantages and are suitable for use in different scenarios , but no matter which type these hard drives are, they are far-reaching. The civilization that has influenced mankind has also changed the way humans store data in a very short period of time [Hard disks develop into black technology! 】 As mentioned earlier, the world’s first hard drive was born in 1956. At that time, the hard drive was very bulky and huge, and the capacity was small and not something that ordinary people could afford. It was not until 1980 that Seagate, one of the earliest hard drive manufacturers, launched the 5.25-inch Hard drives made hard drive technology available for use on desktop computers. Then the first hard drive that exceeded 1GB appeared on the market , but it also weighed over 400 kilograms and cost as much as 80,000 US dollars! Then in 1990, Seagate launched a higher-density 2.5-inch hard drive and evolved it for use in mobile devices. In 2008, it took the lead in launching a 1.5 TB hard drive . In 2021, it launched a 20TB hard drive. In 2023, it launched a 24TB hard drive. This year, it also announced that it will use the latest HAMR technology and Mozaic 3+ broke through the 30TB mark. From 5MB to several TB now, the memory of the hard disk has grown 50 million times in just 60 years ! This number is already very exaggerated , but what is even more exaggerated is that the price of hard drives is 100 million times cheaper. What is the concept? In 1956, 1MB cost 9,000 US dollars. Today, 1MB only costs 0.0000137 US dollars. In addition to the continuous increase in capacity , the use of hard disks has expanded to various fields , whether it is daily file storage, edge computing for AI computing needs, data processing for self-driving cars , or military purposes. In the past 10 years, we can all see that hard disks have silently supported the data world . Hard disks have become more professional . Hard disks of different specifications are designed according to usage scenarios, including enterprise data centers, video surveillance, and 24 hours a day NAS applications, etc. And according to Research estimates that by 2027, the world will generate up to 291ZB of data. However, our current storage media can only store 10% of it, and storage capacity is still in short supply . Seagate, which sponsored this episode of our program, is an important player in the hard disk industry. One of the leading manufacturers! [Seagate, the world’s largest hard drive company! 】 Seagate is the world's largest hard drive company and one of the few brands in the industry that provides one-stop services from design, development, production , sales to after-sales service . It is also the first to implement the industry's most advanced HAMR Mozaic 3+ reading and writing technology, which continues to increase capacity and magnetic recording density to allow data to be stored in the market. The storage is more efficient. Currently, the customers served by Seagate include Facebook, Microsoft, Google and other data centers. It also designs officially certified storage expansions for Xbox, Sony and PlayStation. Because the "reliability" of the hard drive is very important, if the data is not saved, it will really crash . The hard drives produced by Seagate have undergone more than 160 quality inspections, ranging from impact, humidity to air pressure, so that the hard drive in your hand can withstand the test of time! Moreover, Seagate is currently the only brand on the market that provides "warranty" and "original data rescue service." This means that if there is a problem with the hard drive, Seagate will not only give you a new one, but also send it to an overseas laboratory for free for data rescue . After all, the most important thing about a hard drive is the data inside it, and the rate is even as high as over 90%. This means that adding an extra layer of insurance to your data will give you greater peace of mind! That’s because our company has YouTube animation, design and other departments that always need to store a lot of large files. This time Seagate also gave us some products to try out. After using them for a while, my team and I will share with you a few personal favorites! [Seagate product unboxing] Our company often needs to move large files from home to the company after remote operation. In the past, using mobile hard drives would feel very heavy and expensive . But now you see this is really exaggerated! One Touch and Ultra Touch are as small as 2.5 inches, with 2TB and up to 5TB! It only weighs a pack of tissues and is not burdensome to carry around at all . What I personally care about when taking out is that it looks good . This One Touch series uses a very textured "matte metal hairline texture" and has exclusive There are many colors, such as my personal favorite is the extreme night black. And because everyone in the company uses different computers, the advantage is that the PC/MAC dual system is plug-and-play without special formatting or turning around. The One Touch The model uses the USB 3.0 version. If you are accustomed to using MAC, you can also choose the Ultra Touch series with TypeC interface. The design concept of Ultra Touch is to use Nordic marble aesthetic style . It also supports multiple systems and can be used on tablets and mobile phones. Practical and classy! Push push! The next one is even more exaggerated. Look, it’s really super small! This One Touch SSD is the SSD hard drive we mentioned before. Not only is it very small , but its transfer speed is 5 to 10 times that of the HDD series. It also supports dual systems. In addition to computers, it can also be used on tablets, iPhone 15 and Andriod phones. Daily work is boring. If you want to take your files out to work in a cafe or go home to edit a film, you can do it in one click! Finally it’s from this big shot! One Touch Hub desktop model has 20TB, everyone! This camera is suitable for photographers like us who often need to save a lot of videos or friends who like to take pictures ! And if our company has a lot of important customer files to store or is used to working remotely, it is still risky to put the files in the cloud, so it will still be backed up in the hard drive. The super-large capacity One Touch HDD is very useful. That’s it. Today’s sharing currently has a limited-time offer from Seagate. Interested viewers, remember to check out the information column for more product information and discounts! [Our point of view] The hard drive discussed today is actually a product that each of us uses on a daily basis , and it has been around for a very long time. Everyone is familiar with it, so we really didn’t expect it to be so common before we seriously studied it. The technology inside the things is so complex, and it’s all carefully crafted in a nano-level world . And it only took more than sixty years to go from two large refrigerators to a palm-sized hard drive. The speed of progress is really amazing. ! However, because the technology behind this is really too complicated, we can only introduce some concepts to you in a very simplified way today. Some metaphors may not be completely accurate. If you are a relevant professional audience , you are very welcome to leave a message to share. Oh~ Okay , that’s it for today’s program. Finally, I want to ask everyone what impressed you most about today’s hard drive story ? Finally, if you like today's video, please share it to let more people know about "Hard Disk Discussion"! In addition, you can also click here to read "Semiconductor Industry" and "Internet Trivia" . So, today's Zhiqi Qiqi comes to an end here. See you tomorrow night~!
