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

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

But instead of putting the footage on a hard drive and letting it gather dust, he pitched the company on turning it into the film that would become “AlphaGo.”

From The Wall Street Journal

One potential use is in next-generation hard drives that store far more information in the same physical space.

From Science Daily

The world needs a lot more memory chips and hard drives.

From The Wall Street Journal

There have always been demand spurts for hard drives, from personal computer adoption in the 1990s, to digital music and video in the 2000s, and streaming and cloud computing in the 2010s.

From Barron's

Related Words

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