read/write head

American  

[reed-rahyt] / ˈridˈraɪt /

noun

Computers.

1. an electromagnetic device, as in a disk or tape drive, that reads data from or writes data on a magnetic disk or tape.

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read-write head British  

/ ˈriːdˈraɪt /

noun

1. computing an electromagnet that can both read and write information on a magnetic medium such as magnetic tape or disk

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Example Sentences

“For example, in hard drives, the magnetic read/write head moves above the disk surface with a separation as little as three nanometers,” Zhang says.

From Scientific American

A "read/write head" moves along the tape.

From Scientific American