Question | Answer |
An IDE cable that has
40 pins but uses 80 wires, 40 of which are
ground wires designed to reduce crosstalk on the
cable. The cable is used by ATA/66 and higher
IDE drives. | 80-conductor IDE cable |
a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating trade and communications standards. | ANSI(American National Standards Institute) |
Specification developed by Intel, Compaq,
Phoenix, Microsoft, and Toshiba to control
power on computers and other devices. | ATAPI( Advanced technology Attachment Packet Interface) |
A feature of system BIOS and hard
drives that automatically identifies and configures
a new drive in BIOS setup. | autodetection |
A method of data transfer between hard
drive and memory that allows multiple data
transfers on a single software interrupt. | block mode |
The first sector of a floppy disk or hard
drive volume; it contains information about the
disk or volume. On a hard drive, if the boot record
is in the active partition, then it can be used to
boot the OS. | boot record |
One or more sectors that constitute the
smallest unit of space on a disk for storing data
(also referred to as a file allocation unit). Files are
written to a disk as groups of whole clusters. | cluster |
A
transfer mode used by devices, including the hard
drive, to transfer data to memory without
involving the CPU. | DMA(direct memory access transfer mode) |
A standard for managing the
interface between secondary storage devices and a
computer system. A system can support up to four
parallel ATA IDE devices such as hard drives,
CD-ROM drives, and DVD drives. | EIDE(Enhanced IDE) |
A standard for external drives
based on SATA that uses a special external
shielded SATA cable up to 2 meters long. eSATA is
up to six times faster than USB or FireWire. | external SATA(eSATA) |
The 12-bit wide, one-column file allocation
table for a floppy disk, containing information
about how each cluster or file allocation unit on
the disk is currently used. | FAT12 |
One or more sectors that constitute the
smallest unit of space on a disk for storing data
(also referred to as a file allocation unit). | file allocation unit |
A drive that can hold either
a 5 inch or 3 inch floppy disk. Also called floppy
drive. | floppy disk drive |
the firmware that controls access to the hard drive contained on a circuit board mounted on or inside the hard drive housing. | hard drive controller |
The top or bottom surface of one platter on a
hard drive. Each platter has two heads. | head |
Formatting performed by the
Windows Format program (for example,
FORMAT C:/S), the Windows installation
program, or the Disk Management utility | high-level formatting |
A drive that can hold either
a 5 inch or 3 inch floppy disk. Also called floppy
drive. | floppy disk drive |
A hard drive whose disk controller
is integrated into the drive, eliminating the need
for a controller cable and thus increasing speed, as
well as reducing price. | IDE |
the firmware that controls access to the hard drive contained on a circuit board mounted on or inside the hard drive housing. | hard drive controller |
A process (usually performed at
the factory) that electronically creates the hard
drive tracks and sectors and tests for bad spots on
the disk surface. | low-level formatting |
A number assigned to a
logical device (such as a tray in a CD changer) that
is part of a physical SCSI device, which is assigned
a SCSI ID. | Logical Unit Number |
The top or bottom surface of one platter on a
hard drive. Each platter has two heads. | head |
A process (usually performed at
the factory) that electronically creates the hard
drive tracks and sectors and tests for bad spots on
the disk surface. | low-level formatting |
An older IDE cabling method that
uses a 40-pin flat or round data cable or an 80-
conductor cable and a 40-pin IDE connector. | parallel ATA |
Formatting performed by the
Windows Format program (for example,
FORMAT C:/S), the Windows installation
program, or the Disk Management utility | high-level formatting |
A transfer
mode that uses the CPU to transfer data from the
hard drive to memory. PIO mode is slower than
DMA mode. | PIO |
An older IDE cabling method that
uses a 40-pin flat or round data cable or an 80-
conductor cable and a 40-pin IDE connector. | transfer mode |
A sealed, magnetic coil device that
moves across the surface of a disk either reading
data from or writing data to the disk. | read/write head |
A transfer
mode that uses the CPU to transfer data from the
hard drive to memory. PIO mode is slower than
DMA mode. | PIO |
A fast
interface between a host adapter and the CPU that
can daisy chain as many as 7 or 15 devices on a
single bus. | SCSI |
The circuit board that controls a SCSI
bus supporting as many as seven or fifteen separate
devices. The host adapter controls communication
between the SCSI bus and the PC. | host adapter |
A number from 0 to 15 assigned to each SCSI
device attached to the daisy chain. | SCSI ID |
A sealed, magnetic coil device that
moves across the surface of a disk either reading
data from or writing data to the disk. | read/write head |
An ATAPI cabling method that
uses a narrower and more reliable cable than the
80-conductor cable. See also parallel ATA. | serial ATA |
A hard drive whose disk controller
is integrated into the drive, eliminating the need
for a controller cable and thus increasing speed, as
well as reducing price. | IDE |
An IDE cable that is narrower and
has fewer pins than the parallel IDE 80-conductor
cable. | Serial ATA cable |
The resistor added at the end of
a SCSI chain to dampen the voltage at the end of
the chain. | terminating resistor |
A number from 0 to 15 assigned to each SCSI
device attached to the daisy chain. | SCSI ID |
A number assigned to a
logical device (such as a tray in a CD changer) that
is part of a physical SCSI device, which is assigned
a SCSI ID. | Logical Unit Number |
An ATAPI cabling method that
uses a narrower and more reliable cable than the
80-conductor cable. See also parallel ATA. | serial ATA |
A process (usually performed at
the factory) that electronically creates the hard
drive tracks and sectors and tests for bad spots on
the disk surface. | low-level formatting |
An IDE cable that is narrower and
has fewer pins than the parallel IDE 80-conductor
cable. | Serial ATA cable |
Formatting performed by the
Windows Format program (for example,
FORMAT C:/S), the Windows installation
program, or the Disk Management utility | operating system formatting |
An older IDE cabling method that
uses a 40-pin flat or round data cable or an 80-
conductor cable and a 40-pin IDE connector. | parallel ATA |
a method of storing data | zone bit recording |
A transfer
mode that uses the CPU to transfer data from the
hard drive to memory. PIO mode is slower than
DMA mode. | PIO |
| transfer mode |
A sealed, magnetic coil device that
moves across the surface of a disk either reading
data from or writing data to the disk. | read/write head |
A fast
interface between a host adapter and the CPU that
can daisy chain as many as 7 or 15 devices on a
single bus. | SCSI |
A number from 0 to 15 assigned to each SCSI
device attached to the daisy chain. | SCSI ID |
An ATAPI cabling method that
uses a narrower and more reliable cable than the
80-conductor cable. See also parallel ATA. | serial ATA |
An IDE cable that is narrower and
has fewer pins than the parallel IDE 80-conductor
cable. | Serial ATA cable |
The resistor added at the end of
a SCSI chain to dampen the voltage at the end of
the chain. | terminating resistor |
a method of storing data | zone bit recording |