At high transmission speeds, however, the protocols are less standardized. Many disk drives improve their performance through a technique called caching . There are several interface standards for passing data between a hard disk and a computer . The most common are IDE and SCSI . Hard disk drives are sometimes called Winchester drives, Winchester being the name of one of the first popular hard disk drive technologies developed by IBM in 1973.
Zip disks are slightly larger than conventional floppy disks , and about twice as thick.
They can hold 100 MB of data. Because they're relatively inexpensive and durable, they have become a popular media for backing up hard disks and for transporting large files. In the world of personal computers , the terms microprocessor and CPU are used interchangeably. At the heart of all personal computers and most workstations sits a microprocessor. Microprocessors also control the logic of almost all digital devices , from clock radios to fuel-injection systems for automobiles.