Editing Disk operating system (section)

{{short description|Operating system focused on disk-based file operations}}
{{about|disk operating systems in the broadest sense|the disk operating system used by IBM PC compatibles|DOS|IBM mainframe operating systems|DOS/360 and successors}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2009}}
A '''disk operating system''' ('''DOS''') is a computer [[operating system]] that provides [[computer storage|storage]] limited to [[disk storage|disk]] [[computer hardware|hardware]] (such as a [[floppy disk|floppy]], [[hard disk drive|hard drive]] and [[optical disc|optical]]) and possibly predecessor technology such as [[Magnetic-tape data storage|magnetic tape]].{{Disputed inline|talk=Talk:Disk operating system#Not all Disk Operating Systems are disk operating systems by this article's definition|date=May 2025}} A DOS provides a [[file system]] and a means for loading and running [[computer program|programs]] stored on the disk. Typically, a DOS was loaded from the disk as part of the [[Booting|boot process]]. More complex and modern operating systems such as [[Windows]] and [[Unix]]-based are not considered a DOS.{{cn|date=October 2023}}<ref>Carpenter, T. (2012). ''Microsoft Windows Operating System essentials'' (1st ed.). John Wiley & Sons. </ref>