Hard sectoring in a magnetic or optical data storage device is a form of sectoring which uses a physical mark or hole in the recording medium to reference sector locations.
In older 8- and 51⁄4-inch floppy disks, hard sectoring was implemented by punching "sector holes" in the disk to mark the start of each sector. These were equally spaced holes, at a common radius. This was in addition to the "index hole", situated between two sector holes, to mark the start of the entire "track" of sectors. When the index or sector hole was recognized by an optical sensor, a sector signal was generated. Timing electronics or software would use the faster timing of the index hole between sector holes, to generate an index signal. Data read and write is faster in this technique than soft sectoring as no operations are to be performed regarding the starting and ending points of tracks.
Read more about Hard Sectoring: Storage Formats Using Hard Sectoring
Famous quotes containing the word hard:
“I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it’s hard to think of doing something else where you know you’ll never be the best. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you’re the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it’s not all there is to life and I’m ready to explore the alternatives.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)