<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk, is an electromechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material . The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces . Data is accessed in a random - access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially . HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data even when powered off . </P> <P> Introduced by IBM in 1956, HDDs became the dominant secondary storage device for general - purpose computers by the early 1960s . Continuously improved, HDDs have maintained this position into the modern era of servers and personal computers . More than 200 companies have produced HDDs historically, though after extensive industry consolidation most units are manufactured by Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital . HDDs dominate the volume of storage produced (exabytes per year) for servers . Though production is growing slowly, sales revenues and unit shipments are declining because solid - state drives (SSDs) have higher data - transfer rates, higher areal storage density, better reliability, and much lower latency and access times . </P>

What is the main purpose of the hard drive