Hard Disk Drive

A hard disk drive (HDD) is a category of components that allow for long-term data storage. It differs from memory (RAM) which only stores data that is actively used.

There are two main types of hard disk drives. There is a magnetic 3.5" variant which is common and can store a large amount of data at a low cost. This variant is the official Hard Disk Drive (HDD). There is also a 2.5" variant called a Solid State Drive (SSD), where data can be stored and retrieved much faster, at a higher cost.

While technically different, for simplicity's sake, both HDDs and SSDs are categorized together under the umbrella of HDD.