Table of Contents
Advertisement
been used to write sector headers,
boundary definitions, and timing
information generated by a format
operation. All Maxtor drive capacities
are expressed in formatted capacity.
FORM FACTOR – The physical outer
dimensions of a device as defined by
industry standard. For example, most
Maxtor disk drives use a 3 1/2-inch
form factor.
G
GIGABYTE (GB) – One billion bytes
(one thousand megabytes).
GUIDE RAILS – Plastic strips attached
to the sides of a disk drive mounted in
an IBM AT and compatible computers
so that the drive easily slides into
place.
H
HALF HEIGHT – Term used to describe
a drive that occupies half the vertical
space of the original full size 5 1/4-inch
drive. 1.625 inches high.
HARD DISK – A type of storage
medium that retains data as magnetic
patterns on a rigid disk, usually made
of an iron oxide or alloy over a
magnesium or aluminum platter.
Because hard disks spin more rapidly
than floppy disks, and the head flies
closer to the disk, hard disks can
transfer data faster and store more in
the same volume.
HARD ERROR – A repeatable error in
disk data that persists when the disk is
reread, usually caused by defects in the
media surface.
HEAD – The tiny electromagnetic coil
and metal pole piece used to create and
read back the magnetic patterns (write
and read information) on the media.
HIGH-CAPACITY DRIVE – By industry
conventions typically a drive of 1
gigabytes or more.
HIGH-LEVEL FORMATTING –
Formatting performed by the operating
system's format program. Among
other things, the formatting program
creates the root directory and file
allocation tables. See also low-level
formatting.
HOME – Reference position track for
recalibration of the actuator, usually
the outer track (track 0).
HOST ADAPTER – A plug-in board that
forms the interface between a
particular type of computer system bus
and the disk drive.
I
INITIALIZE – See low level formatting.
INITIATOR – A SCSI device that
requests another SCSI device to
perform an operation. A common
example of this is a system requesting
data from a drive. The system is the
initiator and the drive is the target.
INTERFACE – A hardware or software
protocol, contained in the electronics
of the disk controller and disk drive,
that manages the exchange of data
between the drive and computer.
INTERLEAVE – The arrangement of
sectors on a track. A 1:1 interleave
arranges the sectors so that the next
sector arrives at the read/write heads
just as the computer is ready to access
it. See also interleave factor.
INTERLEAVE FACTOR – The number of
sectors that pass beneath the
read/write heads before the next
numbered sector arrives. When the
interleave factor is 3:1, a sector is
read, two pass by, and then the next is
read. It would take three revolutions of
the disk to access a full track of data.
Maxtor drives have an interleave of
1:1, so a full track of data can be
accessed within one revolution of the
disk, thus offering the highest data
throughput possible.
Maxtor MaXLine II 250/300GB
Glossary
G-4
Advertisement
Table of Contents
