I've pulled apart a few different hard drives, and I can see that they are all made of the same material, with slightly different coatings on the platters. I also know, by the fact that magnets won't stick to them, that the disks don't contain any cobalt, iron, or titanium. So what exactly are they made of?
217094
Hard drive platters are made of glass or aluminum alloy and coated with iron oxide or other magnetic material to hold the information. I was surprised that they were glass, I dropped one from some height one time for fun and it shattered all over the place.\nRead more at:\nhttp://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/InsideHardDrive.asp
62478
The hard drive does have a magnetic trace of previous files until they have been written over a certain number of times.  This trace can be retrieved by certain software or hardware.  If you suspect that the computer you have has had illicit material on it, then I'd suggest you overwrite these files.  One freeware program that I've heard of does this.  It's called Eraser.  You can find it by going to the site below and searching for the "Software/Project"  and "Eraser".
199766
The best thing to do with hard drives is prevent problems from occurring, rather than try to recover from problems after they occur.  You may want to look at Spinrite.
532450
The disc contains files, some of which could be hidden type files. It is straightforward for a program to check if a disc is in your CD drive, what type of drives you have and to look up a certain file on a their CD if they detect that a CD is in the drive.\n\nI mention the "type of drive" because some older games (including one of my favorites, Lords of the Realm 2) will not work on a DVD drive. The software looks for a CD drive, cannot find one and therefore says that the disc is not in the drive (even though it is and I can look around on it in Explorer). Older software that was made before DVD drives were popular may have inadequate software to determine that a DVD drive can read CD-ROM's. (It has no idea what a DVD drive is.)\n\nAside from this, there is a way to burn info on a part of the disc that the OS will not read (ie, not a file that will show up in Explorer)but that the device driver can query. This is one, very effective way, to implement copy protection. One of my old clients patented and used this method to help Hollywood fight pirating of discs. If you've ever left the USA, you'd find out why piracy is such a big deal. You can buy a copy of just about any movie or software on the streets for about a buck.
2351
nah.  CDs are optical media - the shiny part of a CD is a thin piece of metal foil sandwiched between two pieces of plastic.  there are patterns of tiny holes in the foil that make up the tracks of the CD.  a magnet won't disturb them at all, unless it's such an incredibly strong magnet such that the CD itself were crushed or something.
29978
If it's what I'm thinking, you can't see the drive in Disk Management.  Read this post on my technology blog and follow the DiskPart instructions.\n\nhttp://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2005/11/adding-external-hard-drive-hard-way.html
85789
It may just happen to have something to do with the quality of the Disc. Whats even worse is that the rest of the discs may not also hold data very reliably since they all must be from the same batch.\n\nThe best never-failing DVD media is made by the following japanese companies: \n1. Taiyo Yuden\n2. Mitsubishi Chemicals \n\nEver since I started using them i havent ever had problems (had used HP media before).
83235
I think it's these metals chrome, cobalt, titanium, or ceramic materials can be used.  I think they have recalled ceramic because they were cracking though.
74245
Very hard to say without more of a description, but the first thing that camr to mind is a tortoise beetle. Some look clear and I've found some that look like they are made of pure shiny gold.\nA picture at the link below.
585230
I suspect that you are using eide drive now as sata drives are fairly new. Just look at the existing hard drive and if it uses a wide ribbon cable to connect to the motherboard you use old style ide/pata if it has small connectors with small cables it is sata.
108704
Not for sure what they are exactly made of,my guess would be laminated steel with a polyfoam in the middle.You can go the website iamgirl suggested or go to www.metpar.com.They have info on them as well.
177553
They actually make wierd plastic things you can put on the bottom of discs to keep them from scratching. Go to Best Buy and ask about those.
453487
Get it chipped.\n\nBut I don't really know the insides of how they work. I know the old Xbox can have a 400GB drive with SATA cables but can't you buy a 20GB drive for like $100 now to stick on the top without modding? That's what I'd do.\n\nOtherwise, grab an external USB HD, plug it in to the USB ports and use that. They're cheap for a 40GB and no SATA/IDE Cables required.\n\nHope it helps you.
452065
Right click on my computer --> click on manage and then go to disk management.\n\nFrom there tell me what you see with regards to the external USB 2 attached hard drive, does it show up in there, if so what does it say regarding the hard drive , does it have a filing system or anything or what ?\n\nIt may just be a case of having to assign a drive letter to it.\n\nThanks
59357
Magnets do not affect optical discs. DVDs have a short life span (5-10 years). Back them up.
272818
I can say yes and no.\n\nHarddisk when used, will slowly damage itself, this is because harddisk have moving parts, etc. Harddisk expected life span is about 5 years.\n\nDVD drive is also damaging itself for the same reason, moving parts. The DVD itself however, would only broke if you handle the DVD incorrectly or the DVD player has flaws.\n\nIt is not something to worry, as you might know, every single thing in this world has a life span, nothing goes forever. And the damage of Harddisk and DVD is more of that sort of damage. Unlike records, where the damage is because the record is being physically touched and scratched evrytime it's played, the damage of DVD is much less than that since the only thing that touch it is laser\n\nThe damage done to DVD, DVD drive, and harddisk is natural. Nothing in this world last forever, and that includes them, but the degrading of DVD and harddisk take an very acceptable amount of time that you can safely ignore it most of the time.
315866
A disk ruptures from regular old wear and tear of living. All disks are flattened slightly, and it does not take any extra force to rupture one.\n\nI have had two herniated disks.