Is erasure of the HDD by an electromagnetic pulse generator death of the HDD?

"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.


Arguably, firmware held in a FLASH memory chip isn't really firmware as it
is just as replaceable as the code on a hard drive.

"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.


Arguably, firmware held in a FLASH memory chip isn't really firmware as it
is just as replaceable as the code on a hard drive.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...

Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.



Arguably, firmware held in a FLASH memory chip isn't really firmware as it
is just as replaceable as the code on a hard drive.



We could argue that back to EPROMs. grin But it really is a convention
thing.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...

Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.



Arguably, firmware held in a FLASH memory chip isn't really firmware as it
is just as replaceable as the code on a hard drive.



We could argue that back to EPROMs. grin But it really is a convention
thing.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction is
important? I do. :-)

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction is
important? I do. :-)

Wrong. Most drives store firmware on the disk. That, and the fact that most
drives use magnetic servo-tracks to position the heads means that bulk
erasure ruins the drive.

"Richard Urban" wrote:

Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not on
the hard drive.

Wrong. Most drives store firmware on the disk. That, and the fact that most
drives use magnetic servo-tracks to position the heads means that bulk
erasure ruins the drive.

"Richard Urban" wrote:

Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not on
the hard drive.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not
on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the rewriteable
hard disc itself. A (say) CD-ROM's firmware is held in an equally
rewriteable FLASH memory device.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not
on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the rewriteable
hard disc itself. A (say) CD-ROM's firmware is held in an equally
rewriteable FLASH memory device.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the rewriteable
hard disc itself.

Is that true? I guess I wouldn't call that "firmware", per se (if you're
talking about the code that is actually written out and stored on the tracks
of the magnetic disk).

But if you're talking about code that isn't stored on the magnetic hard
drive platter itself, but rather on its circuit board, (like in an EEPROM),
I'd classify THAT (and only that) as firmware.

IOW, firmware, at least to me, is always stored somewhere in an IC chip,
which also covers the case below for flash devices, of course.

A (say) CD-ROM's firmware is held in an equally
rewriteable FLASH memory device.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the rewriteable
hard disc itself.

Is that true? I guess I wouldn't call that "firmware", per se (if you're
talking about the code that is actually written out and stored on the tracks
of the magnetic disk).

But if you're talking about code that isn't stored on the magnetic hard
drive platter itself, but rather on its circuit board, (like in an EEPROM),
I'd classify THAT (and only that) as firmware.

IOW, firmware, at least to me, is always stored somewhere in an IC chip,
which also covers the case below for flash devices, of course.

A (say) CD-ROM's firmware is held in an equally
rewriteable FLASH memory device.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that
distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the
rewriteable
hard disc itself.

Is that true? I guess I wouldn't call that "firmware", per se (if you're
talking about the code that is actually written out and stored on the
tracks of the magnetic disk).

But if you're talking about code that isn't stored on the magnetic hard
drive platter itself, but rather on its circuit board, (like in an
EEPROM), I'd classify THAT (and only that) as firmware.

IOW, firmware, at least to me, is always stored somewhere in an IC chip,
which also covers the case below for flash devices, of course.


I think the problem is that at one time firmware was a very fixed concept,
but these days, the edges have been blurred somewhat.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip -
not on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.

Missed the rest of this thread, but you don't think that that
distinction
is important? I do. :-)

In the context - no. A hard drive's 'firmware' is held on the
rewriteable
hard disc itself.

Is that true? I guess I wouldn't call that "firmware", per se (if you're
talking about the code that is actually written out and stored on the
tracks of the magnetic disk).

But if you're talking about code that isn't stored on the magnetic hard
drive platter itself, but rather on its circuit board, (like in an
EEPROM), I'd classify THAT (and only that) as firmware.

IOW, firmware, at least to me, is always stored somewhere in an IC chip,
which also covers the case below for flash devices, of course.


I think the problem is that at one time firmware was a very fixed concept,
but these days, the edges have been blurred somewhat.

Pedantic hell. I state a fact.

The electronic circuit board that is part of the hard disk drive contains
the drives firmware in an eprom! This is why you can flash a new firmware to
correct for errors when a manufacturer issues the firmware update.

http://www.databe.com/articles/article4.html

Firmware IS NOT contained on the drive platters in any way, shape or form!



--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience & Security


"M.I.5¾" wrote in message
...

"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
Firmware is exactly as it implies - code that is held within a chip - not
on the hard drive.


If you want to be pedantic.