3 ms·

> In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for opti

by bmacho 8mo ago

> In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for optical media (hence compact disc, digital versatile disc, optical disc). > For all other uses, disk is preferred in American English and acceptable in Canadian English, and disc otherwise. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disk#Usage_notes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disk#Usage_notes

sandworm101 8mo ago
Also, disk is also used in "diskette", whereas disc stands alone. So as magnetic disks shrank and were called disketts on and off, they kept that spelling. Optical discs never really shrank over the years, never being called discettes.
- oneplane 8mo ago
  When they shrank the disc it just became minidisc ;-) But that was technically MO, not just optical. And: it was in a cartridge so I suppose they really should have called it minidisk.
- irishcoffee 8mo ago
  [flagged]
  - sandworm101 8mo ago
    Lol. Old enough to remember when disks were three-dimensional, when you might need more than one hand to carry them. When they shrank we regularly called the newer/small model a diskette. From wikipedia: >> A floppy disk, diskette, or floppy diskette is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium. It is enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic shell lined with fabric to help remove dust from the spinning disk.
karmakaze 8mo ago
It's all photons baby, sometimes virtual.
Markoff 8mo ago
> In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for optical media (hence compact disc, digital versatile disc, optical disc). that's exactly my understanding as a non-native English speaker who haven't even read the article :-) in my native language, they both share same word - disk (hard disk, compact disk), though floppy disk had it's own word

by bmacho 8mo ago

sandworm101 8mo ago

Also, disk is also used in "diskette", whereas disc stands alone. So as magnetic disks shrank and were called disketts on and off, they kept that spelling. Optical discs never really shrank over the years, never being called discettes.

oneplane 8mo ago
When they shrank the disc it just became minidisc ;-) But that was technically MO, not just optical. And: it was in a cartridge so I suppose they really should have called it minidisk.
irishcoffee 8mo ago
[flagged]
- sandworm101 8mo ago
  Lol. Old enough to remember when disks were three-dimensional, when you might need more than one hand to carry them. When they shrank we regularly called the newer/small model a diskette. From wikipedia: >> A floppy disk, diskette, or floppy diskette is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium. It is enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic shell lined with fabric to help remove dust from the spinning disk.

karmakaze 8mo ago

It's all photons baby, sometimes virtual.

Markoff 8mo ago

> In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for optical media (hence compact disc, digital versatile disc, optical disc). that's exactly my understanding as a non-native English speaker who haven't even read the article :-) in my native language, they both share same word - disk (hard disk, compact disk), though floppy disk had it's own word