disk

Also from Answers.com... Cancer Treatments Learn about current and promising cancer treatments.

also n.

1. A thin, flat, circular object or plate.
2. Something resembling such an object: The moon's disk was reflected in the pond.
3. 1. The disk used in a disc brake.
   2. A disk used on a disk harrow.
4. A round, flattened, platelike structure in an animal, such as an intervertebral disk.
5. Botany. The enlarged area bearing numerous tiny flowers, as in the flower head of composite plants, such as the daisy. Also called discus.
6. Computer Science.
   1. A magnetic disk, such as a floppy disk or hard disk.
   2. The data stored on such a disk: read the disk that came with the manual.
7. An optical disk, especially a compact disk. See Usage Note at compact disk.
8. A phonograph record.
9. A circular grid in a phototypesetting machine.

tr.v., disked also disced, disk·ing disc·ing, disks discs.

1. To work (soil) with a disk harrow.
2. To make (a recording) on a phonograph record.

[Latin discus, quoit, from Greek diskos, from dikein, to throw.]

A direct access storage device. See floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic disk, optical disc, CD-ROM and DVD.

Disk and Memory Work Together

On the disk, data are stored in sectors, which hold a chunk of data (typically 512 bytes) and are the smallest unit that can be read or written. Memory is broken up into squares like a checkerboard, each square holding one byte. The contents of any single byte or group of bytes can be calculated, compared and copied independently. That is how fields are put together to form records and broken apart when read back in.

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your iPhone/iTouch

Computer device that stores data that can be retrieved in a random order. It is a magnetic platter similar in appearance to a phonograph record. A disk is coated with material that can be magnetized. It stores Bits on tracks (circles) on one or both sides. Usually, each disk has two hundred or more tracks. Each track is divided into sectors, referring to the amount of data the computer reads into memory in a single step. The directory of a disk is a specified area where the computer records the names and locations of the files on it.

also disc

noun

A closed plane curve everywhere equidistant from a fixed point or something shaped like this: band¹, circle, circuit, gyre, ring¹, wheel. Archaic orb. See geometry.

is short for:

Image Entertainment, Inc.

The center or cushion of a composite blossom, comprising many tiny florets packed close together. These make up the “eye” of a black-eyed Susan or daisy, for example. See also ray.

Floppy Disk	Disk Mailers
Scratch Disk	Disk Image