Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows XP => Topic started by: ab220989 on August 29, 2004, 06:56:15 AM
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Hiya Guys.
I need to know the answer to a question that i can't answer to save my life. I'm doing my gcse ict homework and i need to know an answer to a question.
I need to know if a hard disk drive is an input device or an output device. Please help ???
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I would say neither:
Input device examples include mouse, keyboard, camera, joystick ....
Output devices include printer, monitor, modem .....
The hard drive would be a storage device, a category which also includes memory (temporary storage) ...
Check the glossary of any reliable comptuer text. or search for a glossary on line, for clarification.... :)
(some might say it is both, but that is a real stretch, in my view...one stores info to it, or retrieves info from it, but in a purist sense, it is neither input nor output.)
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I would say the same that mjb is saying, but if they HAVE to have one of those answers, i would say output due to the fact your computer plugs into the harddrive, the HD doesnt plug into the computer
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As it is both read and write I would class it as an input/output device. i.e. both inputting data and outputting data. However if you look at it as a blank drive then you would class it an an input device only because you have to input all the data on to it to get anything out at all.
Many schools refer to the hard-drive as an input device or as a storage device, but I would query their assessment. (One of the reasons why I often got low marks, but then I am known to question everything according to my own logic.)
e.g. I would tend to say that a hard drive is a hard drive and would the examiner please stop trying to be quite so "clever".
Any examiners are requested to respond here.
You already know that a BIOS is a Basic Input Output System, the hard drive is a more advanced input/output system, in my opinion.
This might help you with some of the other study you need to do.
http://www.helpwithpcs.com/jargon/jargonmenu.htm
Good luck with your exams.
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Talking about studies. I was thinking of studying for the International Diploma for Incredibly Obtuse Thinking ... again.
I could do with two.
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Do your own homework, but maybe its a trick question, normally considerd a 'storage device', you might consider a harddrive to be BOTH an input and an output device. Input when it reads, and output when it writes.