GLOSSARY
SCSI – Acronym for Small Computer System Interface, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) version of Shugart Associates' SASI interface between the computer and controller. SCSI has grown in popularity and is one of the most flexible and intelligent interfaces available.
SECTOR – A section of space along a track on the disk, or the data that is stored in that section. Hard disks most often have sectors that are 512 data bytes long plus several bytes overhead for error correcting codes. Each sector is preceded by ID data known as a header, which cannot be overwritten.
SEEK – A movement of the disk read/write head in or out to a specific track.
SERVO DATA – Magnetic markings written on the media that guide the read/write heads to the proper position.
SERVO SURFACE – A separate surface containing only positioning and disk timing information but no data.
SETTLE TIME – The interval between when a track to track movement of the head stops, and when the residual vibration and movement dies down to a level sufficient for reliable reading or writing.
SHOCK RATING – A rating (expressed in Gs) of how much shock a disk drive can sustain without damage.
SOFT ERROR – An error in reading data from the disk that does not recur if the same data is reread. Often caused by power fluctuations or noise spikes.
SOFT SECTORED – Disks that mark the beginning of each sector of data within a track by a magnetic pattern.
SPINDLE – The center shaft of the disk upon which the drive’s platters are mounted.
SPUTTER – A type of coating process used to apply the magnetic coating to some
coating is vaporized and deposited on the disks. The resulting surface is hard, smooth, and capable of storing data at high density. Maxtor disk drives use sputtered thin film disks.
SOF - Start Of Frame
STEPPER – A type of motor that moves in discrete amounts for each input electrical pulse. Stepper motors used to be widely used for read/write head positioner, since they can be geared to move the head one track per step. Stepper motors are not as fast or reliable as the rotary voice coil actuators which Maxtor disk drives use.
SUBSTRATE – The material the disk platter is made of beneath the magnetic coating. Hard disks are generally made of aluminum or magnesium alloy (or glass, for optical disks) while the substrate of floppies is usually mylar.
SURFACE – The top or bottom side of the platter which is coated with the magnetic material for recording data. On some drives one surface may be reserved for positioning information.
T
THIN FILM – A type of coating, used for disk surfaces. Thin film surfaces allow more bits to be stored per disk.
TPI – Acronym for tracks per inch. The number of tracks or cylinders that are written in each inch of travel across the surface of a disk.
TRACK – One of the many concentric magnetic circle patterns written on a disk surface as a guide to where to store and read the data.
TRACK DENSITY – How closely the tracks are packed on a disk surface. The number is specified as tracks per inch (TPI).
TRACK TO TRACK SEEK TIME – The time required for the read/write heads to move to an adjacent track.
TRANSFER RATE – The rate at which the
Maxtor DiamondMax 8S 40GB SATA
