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Glite Dictionary
magnetic medium

magnetic medium

1 5.3
A thing that stores digital information by changing tiny areas on its surface, like a hard drive
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : medio magnético
  • Many companies rely on magnetic media to back up their digital information securely.

Examples

  • This can be overcome by patterning the magnetic medium.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The analog signals are usually stored sequentially on some magnetic medium.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Mag card reader security access to buildings is easily bypassed with a tab card and a piece of magnetic media tape.

    Blog text (20)

  • Digital images can be stored on magnetic media or optical disks, and a film-writing device may be used to produce permanent analog copies of the images if they are wanted.

    Academic text (1995)

  • More fleeting than magnetic media yet, at times, as deeply ingrained as grooved media, fluttering through time in brief moments of beauty between the pops and cracks of age.

    Blog text (28)

  • Data is often stored on amagnetic medium like a hard disk for quick access and retrieval.

  • Old computer files were saved on magnetic media, which can still be read by specialized devices.

Synonyms

storage medium
vsmagnetic medium
  • Specialized
1 4.1

A device like a hard drive or CD that holds computer files

limits meaning to those recorded by a specific physical pattern method
magnetic storage medium
vsmagnetic medium
  • Specialized
4.7

A device that stores information using tiny magnetic areas like a hard drive or tape

has the same meaning but uses a shorter name
data-storage medium
vsmagnetic medium
  • Specialized
4.1

A device or material that keeps information so you can use it later

restricts this to items recorded and read by a particular pattern method

Surface Forms

magnetic medium singular
magnetic mediums plural
magnetic media plural

Morphology

magnetic + media

The phrase is a straightforward modifier + noun composition: 'magnetic' (having magnetism) + 'medium' (a storage device) yields a storage medium that uses magnetism. Although somewhat technical, the meaning is directly inferable from the constituent words and follows common cross-linguistic noun modification patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.

Etymology

Magnetic medium comes from materials that use tiny magnets to hold information. Here magnetic refers to those small magnets and medium means the material that holds them, so the phrase means 'a material used to store and read digital information'.