Hard disk controller

Updated: 02/01/2021 by Computer Hope

HDC may refer to any of the following:

1. Abbreviated as HDC, the hard disk controller is a circuit that enables a computer to read and write information to a hard drive. The HDC also acts as a bus, connecting the hard disk to the rest of the computer's components. Today, hard drives have the controller built on them, usually a circuit board covering the bottom or on the back portion of the drive.

Laptop hard disk drive hard disk controller

In the laptop hard drive picture, the bottom of the drive has a circuit board, which contains the hard disk controller.

Early hard disk controllers

With early hard drives, the hard disk controller was a separate expansion card, and the hard drive connected to that card. For a computer to communicate with these computer hard drives, it would communicate with the expansion card, which would then communicate and control the hard drive.

2. The term hdc is also the device name for the primary ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) device on the second channel. For example, hdc1 indicates the first partition on the primary ATA device.

Computer acronyms, Hard drive terms, Motherboard terms