The difference between a hard disk and a hard drive for dummies (that's me, LOL)

[SoiBiker]

This is nonsense.

If the physical thing is a disk, why does my laptop have a Solid State Drive fitted?

[NeverSure]

I don't agree about the letter D: i have had (and have now) a harddrive on that letter. This is in win 8 and previous under 7 and xp.. you can do whatever you want in diskmanagement.

It was pointed out to me that those drive reservations are no longer done. I no longer work with this stuff and sometimes I miss the latest updates.

Cheers.

[NeverSure]

This is nonsense.

If the physical thing is a disk, why does my laptop have a Solid State Drive fitted?

It is called a hard drive from habit and from lack of anything better to call it. Technically it isn't a hard drive, it's a SSD and that's what it's really called.

But it will always be called a hard drive (the drive software on it will be) because it serves the same purpose. It sure isn't a hard disk.

However. Even it doesn't become a drive until software is installed on it. When it's first manufactured it's just an inactive lump. It's not as good of a boat anchor as a hard disk, but it won't work in your computer without software on it.

Edited March 14, 2015 by NeverSure

[SoiBiker]

So if there's no software on an SSD, what does the D stand for?

Sorry, but you're flat out wrong here.

[NeverSure]

So if there's no software on an SSD, what does the D stand for?

Sorry, but you're flat out wrong here.

I'm not wrong. Pay attention unless you're too poor to pay attention, LOL.

I didn't say there's no software on it. Read my post above.

Edited March 14, 2015 by NeverSure

[Tywais]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

[SoiBiker]

But when the SSD is manufactured, there's no software on it. So what is it called at that point?

[NeverSure]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

It isn't a drive unless it has a drive letter. No matter how many platters or read/write heads, that doesn't a drive make.

[Tywais]

But when the SSD is manufactured, there's no software on it. So what is it called at that point?

A bare drive.

[SoiBiker]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

It isn't a drive unless it has a drive letter. No matter how many platters or read/write heads, that doesn't a drive make.

Keep digging that wronghole.

[NeverSure]

A drive letter is part of the file system. It's how the OS locates things. It's always software or firmware and never the object itself because the object (disk) can have more than one drive (letter) on it for the OS to search.

[NeverSure]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

It isn't a drive unless it has a drive letter. No matter how many platters or read/write heads, that doesn't a drive make.

Keep digging that wronghole.

It's spelled wrong hole, I'm not digging but rather trying to lift, and I want to have fun at it. Chill.

[SoiBiker]

It's certainly fun to watch. But you are absolutely wrong.

[Tywais]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

It isn't a drive unless it has a drive letter. No matter how many platters or read/write heads, that doesn't a drive make.

Very wrong Neversure. Hard drives are used in many places that don't even have a drive letter associated with it. An example is a CCTV security system, embedded systems and others that do not have a conventional operating system. When I purchased our CCTV security system for the office I ordered a hard drive for the box. Hard drive is the physical device and nothing to do with what operating system or software that is associated with it. I've even written a disk operating system that was part of one of my computer science courses. No drive letters involved.

[NeverSure]

But when the SSD is manufactured, there's no software on it. So what is it called at that point?

A bare drive.

I'm not talking about SSD's. I'm talking about hard disk drives and the difference between the physical disk and the software drive which can be installed on it.

If an SSD shows a drive letter and is usable that's still software on it, though.

Edited March 14, 2015 by NeverSure

[SoiBiker]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

Indeed. After all, we put floppy disks into a floppy disk drive.

But the hard disk is permanently fixed in a hard disk drive - which we sometimes refer to as a hard drive for short.

[NeverSure]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

Indeed. After all, we put floppy disks into a floppy disk drive.

But the hard disk is permanently fixed in a hard disk drive - which we sometimes refer to as a hard drive for short.

Floppy drives and optical drives ship with the firmware already on them and that's the programming they need to always be a drive. That's not the subject.

[NeverSure]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

Indeed. After all, we put floppy disks into a floppy disk drive.

But the hard disk is permanently fixed in a hard disk drive - which we sometimes refer to as a hard drive for short.

No. A hard disk differs in that it doesn't have firmware on it to make it a drive. The partition and the drive on that partition must be created with software.

[slipperylobster]

Not sure where you get your info from, but "hard disk", "hard drive", "hard disk drive", and "HDD" (abbr.) are all synonyms. -snip-

All you have to do then is explain how it is you can put 24 software hard drives with 24 different hard drive letters on one physical hard disk, but can't put 24 physical hard disks on one software hard drive which has one drive letter, and we'll all understand.

Seriously. If they are the same, how can you put 24 HDD's with 24 different drive letters on one physical HD if they all mean the same?

The answer is that they don't mean the same.

Cheers

There is no such thing as a "software hard drive" - it's generally called a Partition, into which you can create logical drives.

And a Virtual disk is, well, just that.

not just "logical drives"....You can also have a limited number of "Primary drives", each containing an operating system. I have had XP, Windows 7 and Linux Mint, all on one Hard drive. Their partitions were "Primary", as they were bootable.

Virtual Machine is a sort of a "Software Hard Drive", in that it behaves as a Hard Drive...booting up an Operating System in RAM....

Edited March 14, 2015 by slipperylobster

[Tywais]

They are all hard disks....no such thing as soft disks

Actually there is, though archaic now, and that is what floppy disks were referred to as.

Now if we want to be a bit pedantic you could say a hard disk is the actual disk platter and a hard drive is the complete unit with platters, housing, control board and firmware.

Indeed. After all, we put floppy disks into a floppy disk drive.

But the hard disk is permanently fixed in a hard disk drive - which we sometimes refer to as a hard drive for short.

No. A hard disk differs in that it doesn't have firmware on it to make it a drive. The partition and the drive on that partition must be created with software.

I'm not sure what this topic is about anymore but again you are wrong. Hard disk drives come with firmware on them. I've even reburned the firmware on hard drives to correct previous firmware issues.

[SoiBiker]

Of course hard drives come with firmware on them.

Are you just making this stuff up as you go along?

[NeverSure]

No. A hard disk differs in that it doesn't have firmware on it to make it a drive. The partition and the drive on that partition must be created with software.

I'm not sure what this topic is about anymore but again you are wrong. Hard disk drives come with firmware on them. I've even reburned the firmware on hard drives to correct previous firmware issues.

Tywais, Please don't assume I'm wrong if there's miscommunication. Of course HDs have firmware, but it's not firmware that creates a Drive (letter.) Floppy and optical drives have firmware that makes them a drive. It's software that's been burned into them.

Their disks hold data but aren't part of the drive. They are an entirely different type of drive.

I'm talking only about Hard Disks.

Edited March 14, 2015 by NeverSure

[SoiBiker]

I think he's convinced that he's right and the entire rest of the world is wrong.

[NeverSure]

Of course hard drives come with firmware on them.

Are you just making this stuff up as you go along?

Please don't say angry or insulting things. My first computers didn't have hard disks because they hadn't been invented yet. You couldn't install the operating system for lack of media to store it on. DOS was run off of a 5 1/4 inch floppy. The computer had two of those floppy drives - one to save files on.

I remember my first hard disk and it was an amazing 16MB. Not gigs, megs. Next I had a 32 then a 64 and next a 128. I was astounded to get a 512MB hard disk. Then a gig. And so it went.

Windows couldn't happen until there was better storage media and the HDD was the answer. We installed the first Windows with about 30 floppys. The installation would ask for the next disk. These were 1.4 floppies.

When we got the first HDDs they came activated and partitioned from the factory and that was software they had put on them just as they still do so the average person can plug and play. The Windows installer formats the disk and assigns the C drive letter so that the average person doesn't even see it.

That doesn't mean that it doesn't have to happen to the disk with that software on it to create the partition and the drive within the partition.

Cheers.

[SoiBiker]

Of course hard drives come with firmware on them.

Are you just making this stuff up as you go along?

Please don't say angry or insulting things. My first computers didn't have hard disks because they hadn't been invented yet. You couldn't install the operating system for lack of media to store it on. DOS was run off of a 5 1/4 inch floppy. The computer had two of those floppy drives - one to save files on.

More nonsense. Hard disk drives were invented in the 1950s, at least ten years before floppy disks.

[NeverSure]

I think he's convinced that he's right and the entire rest of the world is wrong.

I know I'm right. I've been at this a long time included going to school at Microsoft in Seattle. If I couldn't identify the difference between a hard disk and a hard drive I wouldn't have passed the 7 long exams to get my MCSE/MCSA. I wouldn't have passed the two long exams to get my CompTia A+ certification nor would I have passed the exam to get my CompTia Network + certification.

I nailed a problem involving Active Directory on a Domain Controller from a couple of error messages a day or two ago here just by reading the OP. That's heavy duty stuff to understand how that works.

What you should do is listen and try to get it here. I do know.

Cheers

[NeverSure]

Of course hard drives come with firmware on them.

Are you just making this stuff up as you go along?

Please don't say angry or insulting things. My first computers didn't have hard disks because they hadn't been invented yet. You couldn't install the operating system for lack of media to store it on. DOS was run off of a 5 1/4 inch floppy. The computer had two of those floppy drives - one to save files on.

More nonsense. Hard disk drives were invented in the 1950s, at least ten years before floppy disks.

The smaller consumer versions hadn't been invented yet. Those disks were single disks as big as a dinner plate and you could literally remove the disk and put in another to get more storage space. Before that they were reel to reel tape drives on main frames.

Please stop fighting and listen.

Edited March 14, 2015 by NeverSure

[SoiBiker]

I'm not trying to fight with you. There's no debate to be had here. You're simply wrong.

[NeverSure]

I'm not trying to fight with you. There's no debate to be had here. You're simply wrong.

You aren't discussing the topic. I don't know why you're just being insulting when you should, if you had something to say, ask questions or debate if you wish.

I'm not going to answer you again. Read everything I've written here if you want to learn something.

[SoiBiker]

I've read everything you've written. Much of it seems rather confused, and a fair bit of it is flat out wrong.

Getting angry or ignoring people won't change that.