Harddrive Guide - For Non-Techies...

[Melbosa]

Nice little guide for anyone looking to find out what a harddrive is.  Terminology and such explained:
http://www.thetechzone.com/?m=show&id=552&page=1

EDIT: Title Change and Description Change

[Lazybones]

Um, it is missing some rather important information for anyone thinking of purchasing a drive with UM current hardware.

- Does not talk about SATA
- Does not talk about new perpendicular drives comming out

[Mr. Analog]

Great, now all I can think about is that "Get Perpendicular" flash video that came out a while back...

[Melbosa]

Yeah I know wasn't talking about latest and greatest.  Think its more pointed at upgrades than latest technology.

[Lazybones]

SATA support has been on boards for several generations now. Even in an upgrade guid it would probably be a good idea to cover it.

I currently have a board that has a 200GB IDE drive on it, because the IDE version was cheaper at the time and there wasn't much of a performance difference with the first generation drives, but now the SATA versions can before much better than the IDE ones and the wiring is much easier to deal with in the case.

[Melbosa]

Ok Ok, I didn't say it was the end-all-be-all of harddrive guides, just that it was one to look at for terms and stuff...

[Mr. Analog]

Everything you ever needed to know about HDDs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

[Cova]

For future reference, never believe anything you read at 'The Tech Zone' - one of the worst tech sites on the 'net.  There is no useful information at all in that article, mostly just a list of definitions of out-of-date technologies or restating common sense (like we need a whole page to define internal vs external vs laptop - and why is laptop in the list, internal/external applies there too).  Actually - as I think about it a little, that article looks to be the work of someone who's never even installed a HD before, but was told to write an article about it and so pasted something together by googling various HD terms.

[Thorin]

Most modern computers have installation slots and cabling to enable you to install additional hard drive.

That's double-speak, isn't it?

And Cova, he mentions laptop drives only to point out that they're usually proprietary and weird sizes and you can't just install any old drive.

Yes, not enough detail for the computer illiterate, too much detail for the tech savvy.

[Cova]

Most modern computers have installation slots and cabling to enable you to install additional hard drive.

That's double-speak, isn't it?

double-speak..., maybe.  Technically wrong..., maybe (doubful that a modern computer will have extra cabling - more likely its another drive to the computer store when you get home and realize you're short a $5 part).  Grammatically wrong..., yes.

And Cova, he mentions laptop drives only to point out that they're usually proprietary and weird sizes and you can't just install any old drive.

They usually aren't proprietary though - different than desktop IDE yes - the power has been integrated into the IDE connector so the drive works with a single cable, but its a standard interface and you can find laptop -> standard IDE converters quite easily.  And the point I was thinking of but didn't really mention in my last post is that 99% of laptop users wanting more HD space will go with the external HD route.

Yes, not enough detail for the computer illiterate, too much detail for the tech savvy.

More like completly wrong detail for the tech-savvy.  (not incorrect most of the time, just detail on the wrong things)

[Melbosa]

LOL I thought it was just a simple little guide for the non-technically inclined... sorry I posted it now LOL.

Still when I re-read the thing, still don't find it a bad read, if you are reading from the stand-point of someone who may never, ever new what a harddrive was... and as I said, nice "little" guide.  Will modify the title of the topic to better help with understanding.

[Thorin]

Most modern computers have installation slots and cabling to enable you to install additional hard drive.

That's double-speak, isn't it?

double-speak..., maybe.

Whoops, I meant to copy-n-paste this sentence:

Most computers will support a standard that is faster than what the computer currently supports, so you can buy a faster drive, and update your computer at a later time.

The computer supports something faster than it supports?

Oh and Mel, no problem man.  It's fun to rip articles apart sometimes

[Melbosa]

LOL glad I could provide some entertainment.

Everything you ever needed to know about HDDs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

As nice as wikipedia is, man I would never show this webpage to any of my client's who aren't computer peeps... would just scare them.  That is a small problem I see with wikipedia, great concept, but sometimes a little intimidating to read and understand.

[Mr. Analog]

Actually I think you're wrong there, because if you find an article on BLAH which talks about it's subcomponents usually they too have sub-entries (and so forth).

You could look up Flintstones, find the entry of Fred and find an entry on Ralf Kramden and then find an entry on the Honeymooners (which you might be familliar with) from many Wiki entries you get the whole picture in an associative way, which I think is more like how people learn.

IMHO thowring jargon at people or dumbin' it down is even more harmful as they can associate the wrong idea about a basic concept that might throw their understanding of a subject (the way most people think Bernoulli's principle works for instance).

[Melbosa]

There is truth to that yes, but work in support long enough and you'll find most people wouldn't even take the time to read through the wikipedia documents based solely on the fact of its small font, cluttered look and scrolling documents (up and down scrolling).  It is intimidating to most people.

As for the dumbing it down, ever been in a situation where people are using jargon on a subject without you having reference to what that subject is?  It can be frustrating fast, and nerve racking as well.  Wikipedia has the information and links to get you through it, yes, but its overwelming to the average person, especially with the computer topics.  You, me, and most of us on these boards have the patience and understanding to navigate wikipedia with ease.  Average Joe gets frustrated or fed-up fast.  It will get better as the generations shift (youth become old, old becomes deceased - to be very simplistic), but today wikipedia isn't the grand solution for the whole... tomorrow who knows .

[Thorin]

As for the dumbing it down, ever been in a situation where people are using jargon on a subject without you having reference to what that subject is?  It can be frustrating fast, and nerve racking as well.  Wikipedia has the information and links to get you through it, yes, but its overwelming to the average person, especially with the computer topics.  You, me, and most of us on these boards have the patience and understanding to navigate wikipedia with ease.  Average Joe gets frustrated or fed-up fast.  It will get better as the generations shift (youth become old, old becomes deceased - to be very simplistic), but today wikipedia isn't the grand solution for the whole... tomorrow who knows .

Sounds sorta like those horrible old 24-book Encyclopedia Sets that you had to search <gasp!> by hand!  If people are too lazy to read something, it doesn't matter if they're reading it on a computer or in a book.  It matters that they're too lazy to self-educate.  Funny how the times have changed, even in the last twenty years.

[Melbosa]

Sounds sorta like those horrible old 24-book Encyclopedia Sets that you had to search <gasp!> by hand!  If people are too lazy to read something, it doesn't matter if they're reading it on a computer or in a book.  It matters that they're too lazy to self-educate.  Funny how the times have changed, even in the last twenty years.

Again so true.  Man I still have my 36 book Encyclopedia Set... good old dust collector that is.

[Mr. Analog]

All we (support analysts) can do is give the best informaiton we can for the right audience, if it can't be understood by either party then communication has to happen. If you don't know jargon, interrupt and ask. It is that simple.

The "dumbin' it down approach" as a default is wrong because a) you are assuming the person you are talking to is a numpty and below your level of understanding (you're being arrogant [sic]) and b) you are problably giving them information that they cannot process anyway.

You don't tell a business person that they can't save their documents to a shared network drive becuase there is a NAT configuration problem. You tell them that there is a networking issue preventing from saving their documents and that you have to contact their network administrator (or if you are the netadmin) and tell them that you should have a resoloution by date blah (pending further issues) and you'll have detailed information available should they want it.

Support is 20% fixing problems and 80% keeping people happy (at all levels).

[Melbosa]

Exactly right. Presentation and understanding of all parties involved is key to a good support model and practice.  Wikipedia I think fails on the presentation portion a bit as it stands today.  But it will only get better.

[Mr. Analog]

I see Wikipedia as a vertical reference guide that forces the curious to learn on their own at least that's how I use it (and apparently the same way I use iMDB).

[Darren Dirt]

Um, it is missing some rather important information for anyone thinking of purchasing a drive with UM current hardware.

- Does not talk about new perpendicular drives coming out

That Flash movie "Get Perpendicular") was indeed quite cool (thread link: http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,2033.0.html ) and there is also a growing article at Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpendicular_recording (and yes, it has an "external link" to "Get Perpendicular")

[Darren Dirt]

All we (support analysts) can do is give the best informaiton we can for the right audience, if it can't be understood by either party then communication has to happen.

Hey wait, I thought that a "sender" giving audience-appropriate information to the "receiver" is the very definition of communication

Actually I think you're wrong there, because if you find an article on BLAH which talks about it's subcomponents usually they too have sub-entries (and so forth).

You could look up Flintstones, find the entry of Fred and find an entry on Ralf Kramden and then find an entry on the Honeymooners (which you might be familliar with) from many Wiki entries you get the whole picture in an associative way, which I think is more like how people learn.

...I totally agree, both re. "how people learn" and why resources like Wikipedia, IMDB, HomesarWiki, and dictionary.com (which has both dictionary/thesauraus entries as well as cached Wikipedia encyclopedia entries!) are so wonderful... and wonderfully addictive!

[Lazybones]

I can't believe this thread is still going...

[Darren Dirt]

Oops my bad. I made a booboo when it comes to the "dictionary" that I use all the time.

Although http://Dictionary.com is good (http://dictionary.reference.com) when I mentioned the inclusion of Wikipedia entries, I mean http://www.TheFreeDictionary.com -- that's the one I usually go to first (rather than going directly to Wikipedia to read the entry).