I'm in the market for a new notebook hard drive. Replacing the old one is easy enough, but here's a thought: I've seen drives that offer 120GB and others that offer 160GB, yet both have one platter and two read/write heads. So, are they identical?
If they effectively are, can I buy the (cheaper) 120GB drive and access the ' …
Not all platters are the same, even from the same manufacturer. Different products have fundamentally different data densities, so the same size platter fundamentally holds different amounts, and the read/write hardware will be specifically made to match.
It is conceivable a drive could support the data storage equivalent of overclocking. I've seen it done on floppy disks, but reliability goes through the floor, and you might be OK with risking a couple of megs but not several hundred gigs. It's not very likely to be possible on a hard disk though - unlike floppy disks, the controller is built into the unit itself, so not likely to be "hackable".
For certain specific models manufacturers have been known to artificially restrict capacity via use of a host protected area. I had an excelstore 60GB drive which was actually 80GB. I don't think it's a very common practice though, most drives are only capable of holding their rated amount of data.
Its possible that it was a 160, but the amount of bad sectors made it a 120, so at least they can sell something. I wouldn't try and get access as cost between the 2 is negligible.
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How can I free 'hidden' hard drive capacity?
I'm in the market for a new notebook hard drive. Replacing the old one is easy enough, but here's a thought: I've seen drives that offer 120GB and others that offer 160GB, yet both have one platter and two read/write heads. So, are they identical? If they effectively are, can I buy the (cheaper) 120GB drive and access the ' …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Thursday 17th July 2008 10:22 GMT
Matthaus
nope.. #
No, they will be of a different density the platters, so there is nothing 'hidden' to find.
Posted Thursday 17th July 2008 10:22 GMT
David Gosnell
Not likely to be identical #
Not all platters are the same, even from the same manufacturer. Different products have fundamentally different data densities, so the same size platter fundamentally holds different amounts, and the read/write hardware will be specifically made to match.
It is conceivable a drive could support the data storage equivalent of overclocking. I've seen it done on floppy disks, but reliability goes through the floor, and you might be OK with risking a couple of megs but not several hundred gigs. It's not very likely to be possible on a hard disk though - unlike floppy disks, the controller is built into the unit itself, so not likely to be "hackable".
Posted Thursday 17th July 2008 15:01 GMT
Anonymous Coward
It's possible #
For certain specific models manufacturers have been known to artificially restrict capacity via use of a host protected area. I had an excelstore 60GB drive which was actually 80GB. I don't think it's a very common practice though, most drives are only capable of holding their rated amount of data.
Posted Thursday 17th July 2008 15:01 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Dunno... #
But these guys are good and have some useful tools so maybe they can help?
http://blog.atola.com/partition-find-and-mount-v22-released/
http://blog.atola.com/restoring-factory-hard-drive-capacity/
Posted Friday 18th July 2008 16:29 GMT
Tezfair
bad sectors #
Its possible that it was a 160, but the amount of bad sectors made it a 120, so at least they can sell something. I wouldn't try and get access as cost between the 2 is negligible.
This topic is closed for new posts.