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by LeoPanthera 1856 days ago
Disk is (or can be) short for diskette - which means a disc in a protective sheath.

Meanwhile a "disc" is any flat circular object.

So floppy disk, hard disk, but compact disc, is correct.

The only medium I know of that doesn't obey this rule is the Sony MiniDisc. MDs are definitely diskettes, and so should in theory be spelled MiniDisk. But presumably that's for trademark reasons.