half-height drive

half-height drive

[¦haf ‚hīt ′drīv] (computer science) A personal-computer disk drive whose height is half that of earlier disk drives.

half-height drive

A 5.25" storage drive that takes up half the vertical space of first-generation drives in desktop computers. Measuring 1 5/8" in height, the half-height drive was commonly used for 5.25" floppy and hard disks. Floppy drives are history, and hard drives today are 3.5", 2.5" and 1.8". However, the half-height 5.25" form factor is still used for CD/DVD drives and certain tape drives. Contrast with full-height drive.