<storage> A type of magnetic disk, or possibly
magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to
the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken
out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same
drive.
Floppy disks are removable disks but the term is not
commonly used for them but mostly for hard disks in suitable
cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and
others.
Removable disks have become popular on microcomputers in the
1990s since they offer a cheap way of expanding disk space,
transporting large amounts of data between computers and
storing backups. The concept is not new however, removable
disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11
in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of
washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels.
(1997-06-06)
Nearby terms:
Remote Reference Layer « Remote Spooling Communication Subsystem « Remote Write Protocol « removable disk » rendering » RenderMan Shading Language » rendezvous
