Drives and Drive Media
Understanding Drive and Drive Media Terms
Hard drives are for the permanent storage of data files and of software such as system files, applications, and drivers. A hard drive is sometimes called a hard disk drive.
Diskette drives support diskettes, which are used to store or transport data. The notebook can read or write to any diskette. A diskette drive is sometimes called a floppy disk drive.
Optical drives include CD and DVD drives. Optical drives support CDs and DVDs, often called discs, which are used to store or transport data and to play music and movies. DVDs have higher capacities than CDs. The notebook can read or write to optical drives as described in the following table.
Optical Drive | Read | Write |
|
|
|
Yes | No | |
|
|
|
Yes | No | |
|
|
|
Yes | Yes | |
|
|
|
Yes | Yes | |
|
|
|
A drive designation is a letter of the alphabet that the notebook uses to identify the drive. To display the drive designation of all the drives in the system, select Start > My Computer.
A diskette or disc that can be inserted or removed from a drive is referred to as a drive medium. For example, the term drive media includes diskettes, CDs, and DVDs.
Startup and Reference |
