A differnt kind of computer question.

[Duck1]

I have 2 questions.

1. What do files, and data look like? Im talking about any and every file, icon, picture, .exe look like to the human eye with out the aid of a computer?

2. Do files weigh anything? Like would an empty 120 gig hard drive weigh any more if it was filled?

I thought about these today at a family cook out.

 

[M1ND.G4M3]

Data is a series of 0s and 1s, (Simulating the On Off Switch that creates the binary language)

When you have an empty hard drive you have a hard drive of 0s. When you put data on said hard drive you change certain 0s to 1s.

So in essence, they do not look or weigh anything. The physical weight is the metal in the hard drive.

As for what it looks like to the human eye, A platter (golden or silver or bronze disc) is inside the hard drive that spins very very quickly and holds the data much like the CD, you cannot SEE data, data is a series of bits going over anything that can carry those bits

 

[dyserq]

Yes as Mind Game said, every file or computer data is nothing but a series of bits and bytes, 0s and 1s, that is all
As for that hard drive question, i couldn't agree more with Mind Game, all that writing on a hard drive does is reshape the metal disc of the hard drive to coincide with the series of bits and bytes, in a way that if a laser is placed on the surface, it can read it, you could say it was like braille, but for computers

 

[Duck1]

but it has to look liek somthing. like if someone how I was in the drive, super microscopic, what would I see.

 

[mammikoura]

I don't know but atleast if u copy a cd the area that is filled with data is different color than the one that has no data in it. I don't know if this is because the data would look like something or just because the cd drive that burns the cd does something to the cd.

Btw, very interesting question!

 

[jay8990]

if you were super microtiny!!.. you'd have a very "hilly" landscape! although the sides would be very steep.

data is stored as ones and zero's yes... on the disc surface itself these are called lands and pits. a pit is a 0, when the laser tries to read the "hole" it gets lost in it (bounces around and does not come back out) so it knows it is a 0.

a land is a 1, these are higher up (microscopically) than pits, when the laser hits these, it bounces off perfectly and so it knows it is a 1.

so if you were tiny, you'd have a very hilly landscape, all thought all the hills would have vertical sides! hope you get what i mean, and hope my definition of lands and pits is understandable!

you would have absolutely know way of knowing what you were actually on (whether it be data for a picture or video or file) because its all ones and zeros, and needs to be read in a very specific order. so i guess at that level, pictures, videos, words, even the kernel, "looks" identical.

 

[M1ND.G4M3]

unless you kept a record of pit pit land pit land land pit pit land pit land pit pit pit land lol im glad im no computer


But the reason the CD changes color btw is because it burn an actual image with a laser to the foil on the back where the label is

Thats why it really irks me to see someone lay a cd label down thinking the plastics the side you protct lol, if the plastic gets scratched you repair it, it the foil gets scratched you lost your data

Very few people know that

 

[jcon891]

i knew that too. it annoys me just as much lol. extremely interesting and fun to think about question dude.