disk drive

disk drive definition - computer

A storage device that holds, spins, reads and writes magnetic disks or optical (CD, DVD, MO, UDO) disks. It may be a receptacle for removable disk cartridges, floppy disks or optical media, or it may contain non-removable platters like most hard disk drives. See magnetic disk, CD, DVD, magneto-optic disk and UDO.


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The Early 1990s

This RAID II prototype in 1992, which embodies principles of high performance and fault tolerance, was designed and built by University of Berkeley graduate students. Housing 36 320MB disk drives, its total storage was less than the disk drive in the cheapest PC only six years later. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org) See RAID.






Computer Desktop Encyclopedia THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
Copyright © 1981-2009 by Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.

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