DiscWizard and MaxBlast

[KimslanD]

I thought that "Disc" was defined as optical media, such as CD/DVD etc (ie DVD Disc)

And "Disk" for Hard Drive or Floppy (ie Hard Disk Drive, Floppy Disk Drive)

But reading your manual I quote:

[Quote]

Hard disc drives
Floppy discs

[/Quote]

Are you re-defining the word Disk (as Disc) ? 

I hope not

Can you please clear this up for me, because anyone with technical knowledge who would like to use your program DiscWizard may be a little confused of this terminology (are you cloning CD/DVD Discs :confused: )

[AlanM]

It is not my understanding that "disk" and "disc" are so strictly defined.
If they are, the vast majority of people don't know it.

I apologise for the confusion; Seagate uses the term "hard disc drive" for its hard disc/k drives in almost every case. 

[KimslanD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_of_disc
In the 1950s, when the American company IBM pioneered the first hard disk drive storage devices, the k-spelling was used. Consequently, in computer jargon today it is common for the k-spelling to refer mainly to magnetic storage devices (particularly in British English, where the term disk is sometimes regarded as an abbreviation for diskette, a much later word).

Some latter-day storage device manufacturers prefer the c-spelling. In 1979 the Dutch company Philips, along with Sony, developed the compact disc medium; here, the c-spelling was chosen. The c-spelling is now used consistently for optical media such as the compact disc and similar technologies; Apple Inc. considers this usage to be official.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2300?viewlocale=en_US
Discs
A disc refers to optical media, such as an audio CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVD-Video disc.

Disks
A disk refers to magnetic media, such as a floppy disk, the disk in your computer's hard drive, an external hard drive.

Therefore the use of the word "Disc" is incorrect by your program

Or should at least have a statement in the manual that states "The label "Disc" can also be defined as Disk" <= Although this is not quite correct ! ie There is a difference

Being a little older than generally most other, young computer gurus, I would also like to mention that this issue of spelling, was once taught in all I.T. educational institutions. I suspect these teachings have now stopped.

[AlanM]

You are probably right, but it is my understanding that this is a long-standing practice at Seagate and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

Especially not on the force of a wikipedia article.  Nothing against wikipedia, but it's wikipedia, you know? 
Thanks for your input.  We appreciate your participation here. 

[KimslanD]

What about Washington State University English definition? http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/disc.html

Would that be classed as a knowledgeable site?

Even over a year later since creating this topic (and after ~ 20,000 computer support posts I've made elsewhere online)
I STILL feel that Seagate should place some note or some reference to the word disk (with a "K") being implied with the spelling of your "Hard Disc Drive" labelling. (Since it is the world standard anyway).

Ideally, an apology would be better suited, but this may be too harsh of a word. Although you may not see that.

Yes, there is a shape of a disc inside a Hard Disk Drive (and a Floppy Disk). But the original reference to DISK (for a complete hard drive) came from IBM themselves, when they made the FIRST "hard disk drive"
Even such companies as WD state Disk ONLY. Plus MS themselves refer to Hard Disk Drive: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Install-or-remove-a-hard-disk-drive

Actually a search at MS Support on "Hard Disk Drive" provides a whopping 9,740,000 results!
But when the term "Hard Disc Drive" is searched at MS, there is only 5 results (mostly being related to CD Discs and members incorrect worded posts)


Has Seagate anything further to say about this? Or can a note be placed somewhere at Seagate (in the manuals or on the site) stating that when Seagate refers to Disc they mean Disk?

Am I the only one annoyed by this tiny issue, or do others when reading Floppy Disc or DiscWizard, suddenly think CD/DVD Disc, as I do?

[AlanM · Accepted solution]

Wow, you must really feel strongly about this!

Seagate is one of the main founders of the hard disk drive industry, and as a matter of professional interest used "disc" for decades.  And to be honest, "disc" has served Seagate well - Seagate is the leader in the industry.  I'm sure it had little to do with whether they spelled it "disk" or "disc", but it's doubtful that it's hurt Seagate all that much either.  There are easily seen advantages to the word "disc" as well - easier identification, brand name specificity, etc.  

However, within the past year it was determined that the Seagate website would heretofore use "disk" instead of "disc", to avoid confusion for others.   Just so you know.

(Please understand that all of this is personal opinion and analysis; none is official except for the announcement that we don't use "disc" anymore.)

[KimslanD]

Now that is good news

Thanks for the update, this topic can now be closed, or marked as solved.

[SilverZero]

No no, leave the thread open. Sticky it. This is clearly vital and central to the community. Seriously, I can't believe so much effort was wasted on this argument. [Edited post per community rules and regulations: Be courteous.]

The only worthwhile part of this discussion was:

"And to be honest, 'disc' has served Seagate well - Seagate is the leader in the industry."

[KimslanD]

Yes I did. I am very thorough

By the way, as far as I'm concerned thread solved when Seagate has now decided to use disk

You must wonder why they changed every single new article to reflect this? Mind you, I don't

Please close the thread to avoid further not required replies as above.