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Comment on Is "disk" just a different spelling of "disc" or are they actually different words?

fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

This is correct in most cases but I don’t think it’s the underlying principle.

This wiki talks about the etymology, with a lot of examples. Most conform to this rule, but there are exceptions in astrophysics like an accretion disk.

Even in info tech, “hard disk” doesn’t really conform to this rule. Like is a hard disk a square hard drive or is it the round thing inside? If it’s the square hard drive, that’s not thin enough to be a “disk”. I’d it’s the round thing inside that would be hard disc, but also creates problems for floppy disk because why refer to the housing in one instance but not another.

Sadly, I think the correct answer is that either refers to a thin flat thing, some spellings are preferred for some uses.

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pyre@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
til disk is actually preferred in American English. from your link:

Usage notes

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.

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- captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Find me an American who says his car is equipped with “disk brakes.” “Disk” is peculiar to computer magnetic storage media, and “disc” for a round object that probably spins.
  
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  - pyre@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_(mathematics) preferred spelling here
    
    www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disk main entry lists disc as a variant spelling while the entry for disc: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disc notes it as a variant spelling of disk
    
    www.dictionary.com/browse/disc links to disk
    
    Cambridge online dictionary seems to agree with you more but it’s always been the shittiest of them
    
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  - FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Wikipedia tells me that they were initially developed in England and finally patented in Germany, so I’m guessing that’s why the British spelling is used in that case.
    
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MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I can clarify some of the tech stuff.

A “disk” is a concept. It’s an object which contains data.

“Hard” disks and “floppy” disks are always referring to the rigidity of the internal storage media. 7", 5.25", and 3.5" floppy disks have the same round magnetic storage material. The only difference with a 3.5" floppy disk is that they put a hard case over the floppy disk.

CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc are both disks and discs, as their typically handled without a caddy/case. So technically both apply.

SSDs are still disks, just solid state, rather than floppy/hard spinning magnetic media.

Technically flash drives are also solid state disks, but we don’t generally conflate the two terms for clarity.

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- fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You’re conflating “disk” with “drive”.
  
  An SSD is not a disk.
  
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  - MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I mainly use Windows and Microsoft almost exclusively uses “disk” everywhere.
    
    I don’t think you’re wrong at all, but even after I’ve been working in tech for so long, all the terms for everything get confusing for me too.
    
    Just saying.
    
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- nilclass@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  What about MiniDisc, the storage medium of the future?
  
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  - MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Round optical disc in a hard caddy/shell
    
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Fedizen@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
sir, this is lemmy shitpost. Here’s a citation for thinkin too hard, don’t let it happen again.

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