A Macintosh computer can read data from, or write data to, a wide range of storage media, including:
Hard disks high capacity magnetic media.
CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, and DVD-R discs high capacity, removable optical media.
Zip, or other disks or cartridges high capacity, removable magnetic media.
Floppy disks or diskettes low capacity, removable magnetic media.
To use storage media, it must be:
Mounted inserted, attached, or other-wise accessible to your computer.
Formatted or initialized specially prepared for use with your computer.
All of these things are covered in this section.
At a minimum, all new Macintosh computers include a hard disk and CD/DVD drives.
Storage devices can be internal (inside your computer) or external (attached to your computer by a cable).
Some external storage devices must be properly connected and turned on
before you start your computer or your computer may not recognize the device.
Disk storage media capacity is specified in terms of bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes (Chapter 4 .