Cylinder-head-sector

quoted from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder-head-sector

 

Heads

Data is written to and read from the surface of a platter by a device called a head. Naturally, a platter has 2 sides and thus 2 surfaces on which data could be manipulated; usually there are 2 heads per platter--one on each side, but not always. (Sometimes the term side is substituted for head, since platters might be separated from their head assemblies; as is definitely the case with the removable media of a floppy drive.)

[edit] Tracks

The tracks are the thin concentric circular strips on a floppy medium or platter surface which actually contain the magnetic regions of data written to a disk drive. They form a circle and are (therefore) two-dimensional. At least one head is required to read a single track.

[edit] Cylinders

A cylinder comprises the same track number but spans all such tracks across each platter surface that is able to store data (without regard to whether or not the track is "bad"). Thus, it is a three-dimensional object. Any track that comprises the same cylinder can be written to and read from while the actuator assembly remains stationary. One way drive makers have been able to increase drive speed is by increasing the number of platters that can be read at a given time.

[edit] Sectors

Each usable side of a platter can also be thought of as a collection of slices called sectors. (See Blocks for an alternate definition of sector.)

[edit] Blocks

The intersection of a track and a sector is called a block. Thus, blocks are delimited by specifying a certain cylinder, head and sector. These blocks are the smallest geometrical breakdown of a disk, and represent the smallest amount of data which can be transferred to or from a disk (usually 512 bytes).

However, many PC engineers and technicians use the term sector (instead of block) as if it were also defined as the smallest geometrical breakdown of a disk.^[1] The UNIX/Linux communities, however, continue to employ the term block. For example, the Linux fdisk utility normally displays partition table information using 1024-byte blocks while also using sector to help describe a disk's size with its phrase, 63 sectors/track.

Note: The term block is also often used out of the context of physical disks. It is still, by convention, a multiple of 512 bytes.

 

 

CHS Addressing

Hence, each block of data can be addressed by specifying a cylinder, head, and sector. The following formulas detail the CHS geometry and addressing scheme.

The number of blocks on one side of a platter is:

   blocksPerPlatterSide = (cylindersPerPlatter)*(sectorsPerCylinder)

The number of blocks per platter is:

   blocksPerPlatter = (blocksPerPlatterSide)*(sidesUsedPerPlatter)

which is usually written in terms of the number of heads used:

   blocksPerPlatter = (blocksPerPlatterSide)*(HeadsPerPlatter)

This is usually expanded to:

   blocksPerPlatter =
   (cylindersPerPlatter)*(sectorsPerPlatter)*(headsPerCylinder)

and rearranged:

   blocksPerPlatter =
   (cylindersPerPlatter)*(headsPerPlatter)*(sectorsPerPlatter)

Since all the platters are the same size and hard drives usually have more than one platter, the total number of blocks on the drive can be written as:

   totalBlocks =
   (cylinders)*(headsPerPlatter)*(sectors)*(numberOfPlatters)

That said, if we divide through each term in the equation that is the second equation above this one (and begins with blocksPerPlatter) the equation can be written in its final form as:

   blocks = (cylinders)*(heads)*(sectors)

where the number of blocks is the total number of blocks if the total number for each other parameter is used.