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hard drive
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A labeled diagram of a computer hard drive with its cover removed, showing the disk, spindle, actuator, read/write head, arm, circuit board, power port, data cable port, and drive configuration port.
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hard drive

computing
Also known as: hard-disk drive
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A labeled diagram of a computer hard drive with its cover removed, showing the disk, spindle, actuator, read/write head, arm, circuit board, power port, data cable port, and drive configuration port.
Computer hard drive A hard drive is one example of a magnetic disk used for computer memory storage.

A hard drive is a magnetic storage device for computers. It consists of flat, circular plates made of aluminum or glass, coated with a magnetic material. These disks store data in concentric tracks, with information represented by binary digits (1s and 0s) magnetized in different directions. A magnetic head writes and reads this data as the disks spin.

A computer's hard drive is a complete unit, including multiple disks, read/write heads, a motor to spin the disks, and protective circuitry, all sealed in a case. The term "hard disk" can refer to the disks themselves or the entire storage device. While traditional hard drives store terabytes of information, some modern computers use solid-state drives (SSDs) that employ flash memory instead of magnetic disks.1

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