personal media drive

A portable, external hard disk drive that plugs into the USB port. Although the drive is no different than any other hard disk used for backup, the "media" moniker is used to highlight the many audio and video files people accumulate. HP coined the "Personal Media Drive" brand for a backup drive that plugged directly into the front bay on some of its earlier tower cases. See also media drive.

The HP Personal Media Drive

In this example, the Personal Media Drive is sticking somewhat out of the slot in this HP tower. When taken to another computer, the drive can connect via a USB cable.