Glossary | Maxtor 800 guide

4 Glossary

Backup – In Restropsect HD, a backup contains all the ﬁles and folders you selected to back up from a speciﬁc point in time. Previous backups are preserved, allowing you to store copies of your backup ﬁles from multiple points in time. See Restore Point.

Byte – A unit of storage on a drive that holds a single character. A byte is equal to 8 bits.

Capacity – The amount of information, measured in bytes, that can be stored on a drive. Also known as storage capacity.

Daisy chain – A hardware conﬁguration in which peripheral devices are connected to each other in a series. The FireWire interface, for example, supports a daisy chain of up to 62 drives.

Data Transfer Rate – The speed at which data transfers to and from the drive.

Defrag – (or defragment) A software utility that keeps the data for each ﬁle physically contiguous on the drive, which can enhance your drive’s performance.

Device Driver – A software program that enables a PC to communicate with peripheral devices such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives. Each type of device requires a different driver. Device driver programs are stored on a computer’s hard drive and are loaded into memory when the computer is started or when a device is plugged into the computer.

Duplicate – In Retrospect Express HD, a duplicate saves the most recent version of ﬁles, in their original format, and overwrites the previous version.

External Hard Drive – A external peripheral device containing a hard drive mechanism connected to a computer via a FireWire or USB interface.

FireWire – The FireWire interface, also known as 1394 and i.LINK, is a high-performance, serial bus deﬁned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as a standard for connecting digital devices together. It is ideal for connecting computers and hard drives to digital video and audio equipment.

GB – (Gigabyte) Equal to 1,000,000,000 (billion) bytes.

Hard Drive – An electromechanical device used for information storage and retrieval, incorporating one or more rotating disks on which data is recorded, stored, and read magnetically.

Hot-Swap – This feature allows you to connect and disconnect external devices while the computer and the devices are running. External drives, such as the Maxtor OneTouch II drive can be hot-swapped.

KB – (Kilobyte) Equal to 1,000 (thousand) bytes.

MB – (Megabyte) Equal to 1,000,000 (million) bytes.