Thread: Hard disks Number of Platters

Hard disks can have one platter, or more, depending on the design. Standard consumer hard disks, the type probably in your PC right now, usually have between one and five platters in them. Some high-end drives usually used in servers-have as many as a dozen platters. Some very old drives had even more. In every drive, all the platters are physically connected together on a common central spindle, to form a single assembly that spins as one unit, driven by the spindle motor. The platters are kept apart using spacer rings that fit over the pindle. The entire assembly is secured from the top using a cap or cover and several screws. Each platter has two surfaces that are capable of holding data; each surface has a read/write head.