A hard disk (commonly known as a HDD (hard disk drive) or hard drive (HD) and formerly known as a fixed disk) is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device that drives (removable) media, such as a tape drive or (floppy) disk drive, while a hard disk contains fixed (non-removable) media. However, in recent times, the hard disk has become more commonly known as the "hard drive".