Computer Components
A brief guide to Hard Disks and Motherboards
Hard Disk
What does it do?
Normally it is used to digital information on which you can then retrieve things from easily. The good thing is even when you turn the computer of the hard disk still keeps the information on it.
How it works:
Hard disks are very hard (clue in the name) and are not made from flexible plastic as is the floppy drive. It benefits from a magnetic storage and something called a magnetic medium which means that the information can be got rid of and rewritten.
Motherboard
What does it do?
It is sort of known as the heart of the computer. Without one of these in your computer it would be useless. It holds all of the important parts of the computer together, also all the parts of the computer fit into it.
How it works:
There is a specific layout of the motherboard which is called a form factor. This means that all parts of a computer have a certain place they have to go and cannot be put in randomly.
Also there is a special circuit called a bus circuit which connects one part (of the motherboard) to another part. The more information that the bus circuit can work with the better because this means the computer can work faster.
The special memory slots in a motherboard control what information and how much information it can work with.
A diagram of how a bus circuit works