Can HDDs read/write cylinders in parallel?

Question

Hard disks

By reading in parallel, I meant reading from all surfaces at the same time. Something like read me the 1st sector of cylinder 5, for which, for example, an 8-head HDD will give 8 portions of information.

Same for recording.

Answer 1

it still needs to be supported by the driver.

No.

I assume it must be some special command for the device

Yes, but it is in the firmware of the disk itself.

Can HDDs read/write cylinders in parallel?

No, writing and reading are carried out sequentially on each pancake. You learned at the same time or in parallel quite recently, google "Multi Actuator Technology" (example: https://3dnews.ru/984114 ).
Answer to edited question: no, it can't. Additional pancakes are only for volume, only technology from above can read in parallel.

Answer 2

SATA and SAS to help you.
There are no such commands. Perhaps there are control commands on a specific hard drive, in the form of a service connector, but this is not used in normal operation.
The Winchester is generally a black box, and it is calibrated at the factory each separately.

Answer 3

A modern HDD is a highly intelligent system, sort of like a file server. (The word "as if" is not verbal garbage, but means that it is similar, but at the same time very different.)
Just like a file server hides from clients the number of disks installed on it; likewise, the HDD hides its internal architecture. Both receive high-level requests and decide internally how to fulfill them.
The HDD receives a request to "read / write such and such a number of sectors, starting from such and such" - and executes the command. At the same time, the HDD has every right (more precisely, not the HDD, but the designer who designed it) to place consecutive sectors (with consecutive numbers) both on the same track and on different tracks within the same cylinder. And the HDD does not tell the outside (to the controller and everyone who has access to the controller, i.e. processor, operating system, drivers, application programs, etc) about how it works inside it.
For example, the HDD may be ordered to read/write a block of data; it so happened that all of them are inside one track. At the same time, when he brought the head to the desired track, the head was in the middle of the requested block. So the HDD can read / write from the place where the head was; then, upon reaching the end of the block, pause; and then complete the task by reading/writing the rest (the beginning of the block). I think the speed advantage is obvious. The danger of data loss is much less obvious - the transactional method of working with data is generally horrified by such behavior of the HDD.
Those. the answer to your question is "yes , maybe if it was designed that way; however, this method has a number of difficulties, so if this method is used, then not very long ago. "The difficulty is due to the fact that when the disk is working, the heads can be deformed; and if they disperse far enough, the disk will lose its operability. True, it can will be fixed by low-level formatting - in this case the tracks will be drawn in accordance with the new location of the heads.It is
worse if the heads are shifted depending on the temperature (i.e. shifted from thermal expansion. I think you yourself understand what will happen then.
PS: In a very extreme case - each sector is smeared over all surfaces.PPS
: But your version with parallelism clearly visible from the outside - probably does not exist, because it does not make sense.