Non-nerd's Guide to Computers/hd

The Hard Drive (Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution)

The Hard Drive is the storage for your computer. In robot stories, the robot stores things in its "Memory Bank" which would probably be a hard drive. You can think of it as a filing cabinet, with files, programs, and other information. Hard drives are measured by the amount of bytes they can hold. A byte is equivalent to one character. If you need to store more data, there are external hard drives that plug into your computer, or are remotely accessible. For example, flash drives (sometimes referred to as thumb drives) plug into a computer’s USB port and can store data like pictures or music. This type of storage is small and portable, making it ideal for people who need to access the same information on different computers. Remote storage is another option for those who need to store data somewhere other than a hard drive. Cloud storage is a form of remote storage where users store information online using a website. Most cloud storage sources are password protected, which offers a level of security that doesn’t come with a flash drive.

Flash drives are about as long as a thumb, which is why they are sometimes referred to as thumb drives.