WD External Disc Drive

[Polytropon]

On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:27:23 +1030, Malcolm Kay <malcolm.kay at internode.on.net> wrote:
> An arbitrary convention adopted by you and a few other people 
> does not invalidate the dictionary spellings and usage.

As I mentioned before, the (hard) disk vs. (optical) disc
differentiation seems to be quite german-specific, allthough
older IBM material of the mainframe era refers to "disks"
when talking about DASD, and "disk packs" in general.

The topic "External Disc Drive" would, according to what I
have learned, usually refer to an external CD or DVD drive,
while an "external disk drive", or more precise an "external
hard disk drive" would describe a hard disk.



> My Australian (Macquarie) dictionary gives the spelling in all 
> cases as "disc" but recognises "disk" as a chiefly US variant.
> My Conscise Oxford (English) dictionary simply gives the two 
> spellings as alternatives but states that "disk" is the better.
> My Webster's (American) gives the two forms as alternatives 
> without suggesting any preference. Of course different editions 
> of the dictionaries may give slightly different slants but are
> most unlikely to actually contradict these possibly earlier 
> views.

That's interesting to know. I like to learn new things from
this list, even when it's about correct spelling.



> I find your distinctions arbitrary and quite inappropriate;
> again not meaning to sound impolite.

I have to apologize that I grew up in my "IT career" with
exactly the interpretation I mentioned. Furthermore, it
seems to be very common in Germany, as well as the usage
of "disk" for any kind of hard disk, as illustrated by
the FreeBSD handbook.



> So, each to his/her own
> usage but please do not be critical of those of us not 
> conforming to your arbirary conventions.

Malcolm, I will keep this in mind. As soon as someone asks
questions about "/etc folders" and "IDE controllers", I will
be back. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...