However, the term “hard drive” doesn’t only refer to the external hard drive that you might think of. These files could be music, videos, photos, software, documents, or anything else you can think of. Yes, hard drives are the storage hardware components that people use to store digital information. However, while this definition may be correct, it doesn’t paint the whole picture. In the 21st century, the average person might define them as that external storage device you use to back up files and store movies. Before we get into the nitty-gritty between APFS vs macOS Extended, let’s first understand what hard drives are.