Course File Management
Editorial I: Disk Drives
Definitions
Knowing how a computer stores data is essential for creating, storing and retrieving your own files. A computer stores data on a drive. Four types of drives are possible:
A floppy drive (normally designated as the "A" drive). This is the drive (accessible from the outside of the computer) into which you can insert and/or remove a floppy disk. I know it's rigid, not floppy, but years ago diskettes used to be flexible. The name stuck. Trust me on this one. One floppy diskette will hold 1.4 MB of data. If your file size is larger that 1.44 MB, it will not fit on one floppy diskette.
A hard drive (normally designated as the "C" drive). This is the internal storage unit of your computer. Normally, you will install programs on it and store your data on it. You can't see the hard drive unless you remove the case of the computer. If you have an exceptionally large hard drive, it may be divided into two parts. In this case, you will have a "C" drive and a "D" drive. These are really two parts of the same drive (think of them in terms of "Drive C + Drive D = Drive C").
A CD-ROM drive (normally designated as the "D" drive or the "E" drive if your "C" drive is divided into two parts--C and D) is accessed from outside the computer. It will temporarily hold a CD (computer program or music CD). This is not a cup holder.
Optionally, you may have a Zip or Jazz drive. These are high-capacity storage drives (one diskette will hold 100MB of data on a Zip drive or as much as 2 Gigabytes of data on a Jazz drive). As a rule, these drives are external--they sit next to your computer and are attached to it by a cable. Some of the newer computers are now coming equipped with an internal zip or jazz drive. Assuming you have one floppy drive (A), one hard drive (C) and one CD-ROM drive (D), the zip or jazz drive would be designated as "E".
Okay, I know the next question--Where's the "B" drive? There isn't one anymore. Older computers used to have two floppy disk drives, the first being "A" and the second being "B". This was back in the days before hard drives when there was no "C" drive. Since we now have an internal high-capacity storage drive ("C"), we no longer need two floppy drives, so the designation "B" has disappeared.