Digital Forensic Certification Practice Exam

What is defined as the number of bits per square inch on a hard disk platter?

1. Transfer speed

2. Areal density

3. Access time

4. Seek rate

The correct answer is: Areal density

The term that refers to the number of bits stored per square inch on a hard disk platter is areal density. Areal density is a critical metric in measuring the storage capacity of a hard drive, as it directly influences how much data can be stored within a given physical area of the disk. Higher areal density indicates that more bits are packed into a smaller area, allowing for increased data storage capacity without requiring a proportionate increase in the physical size of the disk. In contrast, transfer speed focuses on how quickly data can be read from or written to the disk but does not consider the actual data density. Access time pertains to the time it takes for the read/write heads to position themselves over the correct track, which is a performance characteristic rather than a measure of how data is stored physically. Lastly, seek rate refers to the speed at which the hard drive can move its read/write heads to different tracks on the disk, relating to operational efficiency rather than the storage characteristics defined by areal density.