How Disks Store Data

Diskettes are made of flexible plastic coated with magnetic material. This plastic is enclosed in a square jacket that is either slightly flexible (5.25-inch diskette) or hard (3.5-inch diskette).

Unlike a diskette, a hard disk is rigid and fixed in place. It is sealed in a protective case to keep it free of dust and dirt. A hard disk stores data the same way that a diskette does, but it works much faster and has a much larger storage capacity.

All disks are divided into data storage compartments by sides, tracks, and sectors. Double-sided diskettes store data on both sides. On each side are concentric rings, called tracks, on which a disk can store data.

A disk is further divided by sectors, which can be visualized as pie slices. The illustration below provides a simple representation of tracks and sectors.

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