hard drive

American  

[hahrd drahyv] / ˈhɑrd ˈdraɪv /

noun

Computers.

1. HDD.

2. (loosely) a drive for a computer, as a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) or another drive serving a similar function, as opposed to a very small, portable flash drive.

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hard drive British  

noun

1. computing (on a computer) the mechanism that handles the reading, writing, and storage of data on the hard disk

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hard drive Scientific  

1. A disk drive that reads data stored on hard disks.

2. Also called hard disk drive

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hard drive Cultural  

1. The bulk of the memory of a personal computer is magnetically stored on hard disks that constitute the hard drive. Information in the hard drive is durable, in that it remains magnetically stored when the computer is turned off. (See magnetic memory.)

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Etymology

Origin of hard drive

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

In this case, AI has spurred demand for both hard drives to store data and memory chips to to ensure fast access to that data.

From Barron's

The earnings beat all boils down to the artificial-intelligence boom, which has driven up demand for data and hard drives.

From Barron's

The earnings beat all boils down to the artificial-intelligence boom, which has driven up demand for data and hard drives.

From Barron's

No servers store any user data on their hard drives, and all data is wiped clean after each reboot, providing privacy protection that is compatible with other providers.

From Salon

People are using it to analyze federal economic data, recover wedding photos from a corrupted hard drive, build new websites from scratch, answer a barrage of emails or order food.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• disk drive
• hardware
• modem
• personal computer
• supercomputer