Have you ever been stuck in a situation where you don’t know which word to use? Chances are you have. This is common in technology discussions. Two words that are pronounced the same, but mean two different things are “disk” and “disc”. Some people say that it’s the same thing, just spelled differently. But, that isn’t true. They are both correct, but they have different meanings. Here’s the difference:
Disk: A disk refers to magnetic media, such as the disk in your computer’s hard drive or an external hard drive. A disk is always rewritable, unless intentionally locked. You can partition a disk into several smaller volumes, too.
A disk is non-removable.
Disc: A disc refers to optical media, such as CD-ROM or a DVD. Some discs are read only, some only allow you to write to them once and some allow you to rewrite to them multiple times.
A disc is removable.
Now that you know the difference, be sure to use your “Disk” or “Disc” properly.
