disk versus disc

[chris]

>Curiousity for the day - is there any difference between the use of disk
>and disc when describing floppy drives, hard drives etc.? 
>
>The majority of people seem to use disc, but the use of one or the other
>doesn't seem to be a regional thing.
>
>I just wondered if one is technically right and the other wrong when it
>comes to computing...

Although all the "technical" answers others have given are likely 
correct... I really suspect the majority of modern computer users use the 
terms because of the following:

Disk = short for diskette, refers to floppies, and when a hard drive is 
called a "disk" is used for that as well simply because that is what 
floppies were called at the time hard drives became cheaper and more 
mainstream.

Disc = CD or DVD. Not short of anything per se, but is taken right off 
the offical Compact Disc logo. For whatever reason, Sony et al decided to 
use "disc" for CDs. That is the way the packages and logos are written 
for CDs and now usually for DVDs as well.


Nothing more complex or deep rooted then that. People use the spelling 
they see on the packages in front of them. Floppies almost always say 
"Disk" and CDs always (it is part of the offical logo) say "Disc". From 
there, users interchange them from time to time because they simply don't 
know what is correct or even why each are the way they are.

-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>