The hard disk, or HD, is the computer part where your files are stored in the computer. Well, not exactly, and your files may be stored elsewhere as well. This will need a little bit of explanation.
Photo: Matt Kieffer. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The HD is merely a disk, like a CD or DVD, where data is stored. This disk is special in that you don't buy the disk separately. That is, in order to read and write data in a disk, whether it's a CD, DVD, or HD, you we need a device called the disk's drive. The drive is a device to read and write data to disks. Normally, the drive and the disk that the drive reads are separate. You buy a CD and place it into the CD drive, and you can remove it later and place a different CD into the drive. In the HD's case, you don't buy the HD itself, you buy the hard disk drive (HDD), which is a computer part that already comes with a disk inside.
Photo: Uwe Hermann. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The HDD is a type of computer part called a data storage device. There are various devices of this type, including, for example, CDs, DVDs, USB sticks, and SSDs (solid state drive). Of these devices, only the HDDs and SSDs are installed inside the computer's case. Compared to these other devices, the HDDs offer a higher data storage capacity for a smaller price in a single device. However, there are computers that don't have a HDD, only a SSD. And there are also computers that have both a HDD and a SSD. That is, it's very likely that your files are stored in a hard disk, but it's also possible for them to be inside a SSD, if your computer has one.
Leave a Reply