:::I agree that Winchester describes a set of disk technologies. Ws can put aside the question of exactly what those technologies were. The term Winchester drive refers to a disk drive the embodies those technologies.  It was mainly used to distinguish those disk drives from earlier, removable pack technologies. It wasn't a synonym for anything. Ultimately Winchester technology completely replaced the removable pack technology. Maybe that transition was over by 1980 as you say, I'd put it a couple of years later. I also agree that the term hard drive was introduced to distinguish them from floppy drives. I just did a search of Google Groups usenet archive. There is just one message referring to "hard drive" in 1983. Afterwards it becomes common.  Prior to that the term used is simply disk drive. If anything, hard drive is a later synonym for Winchester disk drive.