NTFS became the dominant file system and it became increasingly common to have more than one file system on a disk. ![]() Hard disks got bigger, and MS-DOS gained a graphical shell (Win 3x and Win 9x) and then was replaced by Windows NT. In other words, the C: drive apparently referenced the HDD as well as the single file system on it. Nobody noticed initially, because it was very unusual to have more than one filesystem on a HDD. This is where the confusion started: the C: drive now referenced a file system on the first HDD, not the device itself. It was also necessary for the Master Boot Record (MBR) boot process. This enabled multiple file systems to be stored on the much larger HDD. Unlike floppy drives, hard drives are always partitioned. This is why the windows system is always located on C. By default MS-DOS reserved A: and B: for attached floppy units drives C: and onwards were assigned for Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). MS-DOS followed CP/M’s convention of using drive letter assignment. The first drive was known as A: or the A drive.ĬP/M - Drive letters predate the IBM PC MS-DOS and WindowsĪround the time the MS-DOS operating system was being developed for the 16bit 8086, hard disk units were becoming small enough and cheap enough to be fitted to higher end IBM PCs. The disk was the removable media, and the drive was, as mentioned above the mechanics, head assembly and other electronic components. Because of this, the separation of disk and drive was, at this time, still clear and unproblematic. Floppy drives are not partitioned: this means each disk can contain a single file system. CP/M used the convention of incrementing letters, with a colon suffix, starting with A: to reference the attached floppy drives. These were typically paired with a floppy disk drive, which were a much match in terms of both price and performance. In the ‘70’s, the CP/M operating system was developed for the new category of cheap, personal 8 bit microcomputers. Disks and drives on the CP/M operating system In this simpler time, it was clear that the disk was the spinning media and the drive was the mechanics, head assembly, and associated electronics.Īs storage densities have, over time, increased, disks and drivers are now combined into a single unit most commonly known as a Hard Disk Drive. Up until the 1980s, the ‘media’, the ‘disk’ or ‘disk pack’ was often removable from the drive. ![]() Various technologies emerged, but rotating magnetic disk-based storage quickly dominated due to its scalability and reliability. As computers developed, the need for fast online storage followed. drive: a historical perspectiveĪs with many computer terms, the difference between a disk and a drive is best understood with a historical perspective. In this post we’ll look closely at the differences between a disk and a drive and how the confusion has come about. ![]() After all, why is a drive represented as a disk in file explorer? Unfortunately, that isn’t the end of the story. However, there is a short answer: a disk is a physical storage device and a drive is a file system that may exist on part of, or many disks. Indeed, in many instances the terms are even used interchangeably. There’s considerable confusion about the main differences between a disk and a drive, particularly in relation to Windows operating systems.
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