Disk operating system

This article is about disk operating systems in the broadest sense. For the disk operating system used by IBM PC compatibles, see DOS. For IBM mainframe operating systems, see DOS/360 and successors.

A disk operating system (DOS) is a computer operating system that requires a disk or other direct-access storage device as secondary storage. A DOS provides a file system and a means for loading and running programs stored on the disk.

The term is now historical, as most if not all operating systems for general-purpose computers now require direct-access storage devices as secondary storage.

These DOS remnants still remain in modern-day computers, like the hard drives, HHDs, SSDs, etc. They can hold up more storage though, and are significantly better than the old drums, hard drives and floppy disks from the past.

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