Lesson Plan
Course Title: Computer Maintenance
Session Title: Hard Drives
Lesson Duration: 90 Minutes
Performance Objective:
Upon completion of this assignment, the student will be able to recognize a hard drive, the type
of connection, and drive specifications on a computer.
Specific Objectives:
• Understand how a hard drive works.
• Define terms associated with the lesson.
• Identify various types of hard drives.
• Explain how data is stored on a hard drive.
• Calculate the size of a hard drive.
Preparation
TEKS Correlations:
This lesson, as published, correlates to the following TEKS. Any changes/alterations to the
activities may result in the elimination of any or all of the TEKS listed.
130.273(C)(7)(A) – hard drive portion addressed
identify the purpose and function of computer components in the operation of the computer
system such as central processing unit, motherboard, sockets, chipsets, basic input and
output systems and their drivers, memory, hard drive technologies, video cards, input and
output devices and ports, and modem and network interface cards (NIC).
130.273(C)(7)(A)
demonstrate hard drive maintenance procedures such as defrag scan and clear caches.
Instructor/Trainer
References: www.howstuffworks.com
Instructional Aids:
• Hard Drives PowerPoint Presentations
• Hard Drives PowerPoint Presentations – Handouts
• Hard Drive Quiz
• Hard Drive Quiz Key
• Hard Drive Lab 1
• Hard Drive Lab 1 Key
• Hard Drive Lab 2
• Hard Drive Lab 2 Key
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
1
Materials Needed:
• Various types and sizes of hard drives: IDE, Serial, SCSI, External USB, External
FireWire (not all are needed)
Equipment Needed:
• A projection system to display the PowerPoint Presentation
Learner
Students should read the appropriate curriculum material for hard drives, depending on the
text/curriculum being used for the course. This lesson can be taught with only the PowerPoint
presentation, and the equipment outlined above.
Introduction
MI
Introduction (LSI Quadrant I):
SAY: Hard drives come in many sizes, shapes, and forms.
ASK: Can anyone name five different types of hard drives? [IDE, Serial, SCSI,
USB, FireWire]
ASK: Does anyone know many bits in a byte, bytes in a kilobyte, kilobytes in a
megabyte, and megabytes in a gigabyte? [There are 8 bits in a byte, 1024
bytes in a kilobyte, 1024 KB in a megabyte, 1024 MB in a gigabyte.]
ASK: Does anyone know how hard drive manufacturers manipulate the size of hard
drives? [Manufacturers only calculate a gigabyte at 1000 MB instead of
1024MB.]
Outline
MI
Outline (LSI Quadrant II):
Instructor Notes:
I. Introduction to hard drives
A. Explain what a hard drive is used for in a
computer.
B. Define the parts of a hard drive.
C. Describe how a hard drive is formatted:
1. Platters
2. Heads
3. Tracks
4. Sectors
5. Cylinders
D. How fast does a hard drive spin and how
does the speed change?
E. How to calculate the size of a hard drive.
F. What is interleaving and how is it used?
Note: Instructors can use the
PowerPoint slides, handouts,
and note pages in
conjunction with the following
outline.
II. Hard Drive worksheet and labs
A. Students examine different types of hard
drives, and their connections and jumpers.
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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III. Hard Drive Quiz
Application
MI
Guided Practice (LSI Quadrant III):
The teacher demonstrates how to calculate a drive size and provides guidance when
warranted
MI
Independent Practice (LSI Quadrant III):
Students work in pairs on lab assignments, demonstrating their skills in identifying
and discussing the various hard drives elements:
Lab 1: Hard Drive Identification
Lab 2: Hard Drive Size
Summary
MI
Review (LSI Quadrants I and IV):
Checking for understanding: (Q&A Session)
Q: What are the common types of hard drives?
A: IDE, SCSI, Serial, USB, FireWire
Q: What determines a hard drive’s size?
A: The number of platters, tracks, sectors per track, and the size of a sector
Evaluation
MI
Informal Assessment (LSI Quadrant III):
Monitor student progress during independent practice and provide independent reteach/redirection as needed.
MI
Formal Assessment (LSI Quadrant III, IV):
Use the Hard Drive Quiz and Hard Drive Quiz Key
Extension
MI
Extension/Enrichment (LSI Quadrant IV):
Students that have mastered the lab assignments can peer-tutor students (one-onone) that are having difficulty with understanding the concepts of hard drives.
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Icon
MI
Verbal/
Linguistic
Logical/
Mathematical
Visual/Spatial
Musical/
Rhythmic
Bodily/
Kinesthetic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Existentialist
Teaching Strategies
Personal Development
Strategies
Lecture, discussion, journal
writing, cooperative learning,
word origins
Reading, highlighting, outlining,
teaching others, reciting information
Problem-solving, number
games, critical thinking,
classifying and organizing,
Socratic questioning
Mind-mapping, reflective
time, graphic organizers,
color-coding systems,
drawings, designs, video,
DVD, charts, maps
Use music, compose songs
or raps, use musical
language or metaphors
Organizing material logically, explaining
things sequentially, finding patterns,
developing systems, outlining, charting,
graphing, analyzing information
Developing graphic organizers, mindmapping, charting, graphing, organizing
with color, mental imagery (drawing in
the mind’s eye)
Use manipulatives, hand
signals, pantomime, real life
situations, puzzles and board
games, activities, roleplaying, action problems
Reflective teaching,
interviews, reflective listening,
KWL charts
Cooperative learning, roleplaying, group brainstorming,
cross-cultural interactions
Natural objects as
manipulatives and as a
background for learning
Socratic questions, real life
situations, global
problems/questions
Creating rhythms out of words, creating
rhythms with instruments, playing an
instrument, putting words to existing
songs
Moving while learning, pacing while
reciting, acting out scripts of material,
designing games, moving fingers under
words while reading
Reflecting on personal meaning of
information, studying in quiet settings,
imagining experiments, visualizing
information, journaling
Studying in a group, discussing
information, using flash cards with
other, teaching others
Connecting with nature, forming study
groups with like minded people
Considering the personal relationship to
the larger context
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Lab 1 - Hard Drive Identification
1. Explain what a hard drive is used for in a computer.
2. Define the following parts of a Hard Drive:
a. Cover mounting screw holes-
b. Spindle-
c. Read/Write heads-
d. Platter-
e. Actuator-
f.
Actuator Arm -
g. Base Casting-
h. Disk Platters-
3. In revolutions per minute (rpm), how fast do hard drives spin?
4. Flux is the ______________ ______________ ______________ in the media.
5. What is RLL?
6. What type of power connection do hard drives use?
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Lab 1 - Hard Drive Identification KEY
1. Explain what a hard drive is used for in a computer.
It is used as the main storage medium for data and applications.
2. Define the following parts of a Hard Drive:
a. Cover mounting screw holes –
This is where the screws are inserted into the base casting to attach the cover.
b. Spindle –
The round column connected to a motor that spins the attached platters.
c. Read/Write heads –
These tiny devices convert bits to magnetic pulses for storage on the platters, and then
reverse the process to read data from the platters.
d. Platter –
These are the actual data-storing disks attached to the spindle. They are usually made of
specially coated aluminum.
e. Actuator –
This device moves the actuator arm across the disk to seek different “tracks” of data.
f.
Actuator Arm –
This part holds the read/write heads over the platters just enough so that they do not touch
the surface of the disks.
g. Base Casting –
This is what the parts of the drive are mounted to. They generally consist of a single, cast
piece of metal.
h. Disk Platters –
The medium on which data is stored in the hard disk drive.
3. In revolutions per minute (rpm), how fast do hard drives spin?
4,500-10,000rpm. Speed will vary as the actuator arm moves in and out.
4. Flux is the local magnetic direction of the media.
5. What is RLL?
Run Length Limited (RLL) is an encoding method commonly used on magnetic disks.
6. What type of power connection do hard drives use?
Internal drives connect to a Molex connector, while external drives use a transformer plugged
into a power outlet. All operate at 12 volts.
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Lab 2 - Hard Drive Size
1. If a hard drive has 3 platters, 128 cylinders, 512 sectors per track and 64 bytes
per sector, what is the capacity of the hard drive?
2. You buy a 40 gigabyte hard drive; what is its actual capacity?
3. What is the capacity of the provided hard drives?
A.
B.
C.
D.
4. How do you determine the correct jumper position?
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Lab 2 - Hard Drive Size KEY
1. If a hard drive has 3 platters, 128 cylinders, 512 sectors per track and 64 bytes
per sector, what is the capacity of the hard drive?
3 platter = 6 heads x 128 cylinders or tracks x 512 sectors per track x 64
bytes per sector = 25,165,824 bytes
24576KB
1024 25165824
1024
24MB
24576
Answer: 24 megabytes
2. You buy a 40 gigabyte hard drive; what is its actual capacity?
40GB x 1000 x 1000 x 1000 = 40,000,000,000 bits
40000000000 / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = 37.25GB
3. What is the capacity of the provided hard drives?
A. Answer will vary
B. Answer will vary
C. Answer will vary
D. Answer will vary
4. How do you determine the correct jumper position?
The top of the hard drive will usually display the correct jumper positions.
Common settings are
• Master
• Master with slave
• Slave
• Cable Select.
You must determine the jumper selection when installing the drive.
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Name: _________________________________________Date __________
Hard Drive Quiz
1. There are two ways to measure the performance of a hard disk.
a. Data rate and seek time
b. Data rate and megabytes per second
c. Data rate and kilobytes per second
d. Data rate and disk rotation speed
2. The data rate is the number of bytes per second that the drive can deliver to
the CPU. Common rates are between
a. 5 and 40 kilobytes per second.
b. 20 and 40 kilobytes per second.
c. 5 and 40 megabytes per second.
d. 5 and 20 megabytes per second.
3. The seek time is the amount of time between when the CPU requests a file
and when the first byte of the file is sent to the CPU. Common times are
between
a. 10 and 20 milliseconds
b. 3 and 5 milliseconds
c. 8 and 10 milliseconds
d. 40 and 60 milliseconds
4. In order to increase the amount of information the drive can store, most hard
disks have
a. Larger platters
b. Faster disk speeds
c. Multiple platters
d. Smaller sectors
5. Tracks can be defined as
a. Concentric circles
b. Pie-shaped wedges
c. Contiguous bites
d. 64-byte segments
6. Sectors can be defines as
a. Concentric circles
b. Pie-shaped wedges
c. Contiguous bites
d. 64-byte segments
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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7. Low-level formatting a drive establishes (Choose two)
a. The tracks and sectors on the platter
b. The read/write ratio
c. The starting and ending points of each sector
d. Interleave
e. The file-allocation table
8. High-level formatting a drive (Choose two)
a. Writes the file-storage structures
b. Prepares the drive to hold files
c. Establishes interleave
d. The starting and ending points of each sector
9. A sector holds ______ bytes of user data.
a. 1024
b. 256
c. 128
d. 512
10. An interleave of 2:1 with 18 sectors would be
a. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.
b. 1, 10, 2, 11, 3, 12, 4, 13, etc
c. 1, 7, 13, 2, 8, 14, 3, 9, 15, etc.
d. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, etc
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Name: _________________________________________Date __________
Hard Drive Quiz –KEY
1. There are two ways to measure the performance of a hard disk.
a. Data rate and seek time
b. Data rate and megabytes per second
c. Data rate and kilobytes per second
d. Data rate and disk rotation speed
2. The data rate is the number of bytes per second that the drive can deliver to
the CPU. Common rates are between
a. 5 and 40 kilobytes per second.
b. 20 and 40 kilobytes per second.
c. 5 and 40 megabytes per second.
d. 5 and 20 megabytes per second.
3. The seek time is the amount of time between when the CPU requests a file
and when the first byte of the file is sent to the CPU. Common times are
between
a. 10 and 20 milliseconds
b. 3 and 5 milliseconds
c. 8 and 10 milliseconds
d. 40 and 60 milliseconds
4. In order to increase the amount of information the drive can store, most hard
disks have
a. Larger platters
b. Faster disk speeds
c. Multiple platters
d. Smaller sectors
5. Tracks can be defined as
a. Concentric circles
b. Pie-shaped wedges
c. Contiguous bites
d. 64-byte segments
6. Sectors can be defines as
a. Concentric circles
b. Pie-shaped wedges
c. Contiguous bites
d. 64-byte segments
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
11
7. Low-level formatting a drive establishes (Choose two)
a. The tracks and sectors on the platter
b. The read/write ratio
c. The starting and ending points of each sector
d. Interleave
e. The file-allocation table
8. High-level formatting a drive (Choose two)
a. Writes the file-storage structures
b. Prepares the drive to hold files
c. Establishes interleave
d. The starting and ending points of each sector
9. A sector holds ______ bytes of user data.
a. 1024
b. 256
c. 128
d. 512
10. An interleave of 2:1 with 18 sectors would be
a. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.
b. 1, 10, 2, 11, 3, 12, 4, 13, etc
c. 1, 7, 13, 2, 8, 14, 3, 9, 15, etc.
d. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, etc
IT: Computer Maintenance: Hard Drives Lesson Plan
Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.
12