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A hard drive is a magnetic digital data storage medium most often found in computers and laptops. The hard drive is the main data storage device which holds programs as well as data files.

While “hard disk” and “hard drive” are often used interchangeably, they represent two different things. The hard disk is the actual storage device- a magnetic disk similar to a small compact disk. The hard drive includes the hard disk as well as the equipment that reads it and associated electronics encased in a durable metal box.

Hard drives continue to increase in storage capability and reduce in size. The first hard drives could only store around 5 megabytes of data. Today, they can store up a terabyte- or 1,024 gigabytes of data. Hard drive size has decreased over time allowing manufacturers to introduce more compact computer models.

A hard drive records data onto the hard disk magnetically. This allows for easy accessing and erasing. A hard disk can be written on, erased, and written on again. The durability of the hard disk and the nature of the storage method mean that it does not wear out from the regular write-erase-write cycle as quickly as other media, such as a flash drive. The sturdiness of the drive makes it a perfect candidate to be a computer’s main storage area.

External hard drives also exist and they are used for several purposes. The most common is as a portable data storage and transportation device much like a flash drive. An external hard drive can hold far more data than a flash drive and therefore is often used by computer users who wish to have portable storage for all of their data files. Not only can this allow easy transition from computer to computer, it also provides a safety net in case a computer breaks. The data resides on the external hard drive and does not need to be recovered by a specialist.

One downside of hard drives’ magnetic storage properties is that data is practically impossible to permanently and thoroughly remove from the device. “Erasure” through a computer’s delete function simply scrambles access to the data on the disk. It is all still there, it’s just a little more difficult to get at. Fraud artists and thieves, however, have no difficulty in restoring access to data on hard drives that have been thrown or given away, or stolen. Even shattered hard disks can possibly be restored. The only way to permanently erase the information on a hard disk is through a technique called degaussing- performed by a computer professional.

Hard drives can be configured for computers in many different ways. A user can “partition” a hard drive to break it into sections. This can help in controlling computer viruses or in automatically producing a redundant back up of the data. Hard drives can also be replaced or upgraded in a computer to provide more storage down the road.