Western Governors University (WGU) ICSC3120 C952 Computer Architecture Practice Exam

The characteristic of a hard disk that significantly affects its performance in terms of access time is the rotating platters. The access time of a hard disk is determined by how quickly the read/write heads can locate the desired data on the spinning platters. This process involves two key components: seek time, which is the time it takes for the head to move to the correct track, and rotational latency, which is the time waiting for the disk to rotate to the correct position under the head.

As the platters rotate, data is read from or written to the disk. Higher rotation speeds (measured in RPM, or revolutions per minute) result in lower access times because the disk can deliver the necessary data to the read/write head faster. Therefore, the speed of the rotating platters directly influences how quickly the hard disk can access data, making this characteristic a primary factor in determining its performance.