Maxtor VL 17 manual Logical Block Addressing

GLOSSARY

LOGICAL ADDRESS

Astoragelocationaddressthatmaynotrelatedirectlytoaphysicallocation.Usually usedtorequestinformationfromacontroller,whichperformsalogicaltophysical addressconversion,andinturn,retrievesthedatafromaphysicallocationinthemass storageperipheral.

LOGICAL BLOCK ADDRESSING

Definestheaddressingofthedevicebythelinearmappingofsectors.

LOGICAL SECTOR

ThelowestunitofspacethatDOScanaccessthroughadevicedriver;oneormore physicalsectors.

LOW FREQUENCY

Thelowestrecordingfrequencyusedinaparticularmagneticrecordingdevice.With FMorMFMchannelcodes,thisfrequencyisalsocalled“IF.”

M

MAIN MEMORY Random-accessmemory(RAM)usedbythecentralprocessingunit(CPU)forstoring programinstructionsanddatacurrentlybeingprocessedbythoseinstructions.(Seealso randomaccessmemory.)

MASS STORAGE

Auxiliarymemoryusedinconjunctionswithmainmemory;generallyhavingalarge, on-linestoragecapacity.

MEGABYTE (MB)

Aunitofmeasureapproximatelyonemillionbytes(actually1,048,576bytes)or106.

MEMORY

Anydeviceorstoragesystemcapableofstoringandretrievinginformation.(Seealso storagedefinitions.)

MICROCOMPUTER

Acomputerwhosecentralprocessingunitisamicroprocessor.Itisusually,butnot necessarily,desktopsize.

MICROPROCESSOR

Acentralprocessingunit(CPU)manufacturedasachiporasmallnumberofchips.

MISSING PULSE

Atermusedinsurfacecertification.Itiswhenaprerecordedsignalisreducedin amplitudebyacertainspecifiedpercentage.

MODIFIED FREQUENCY MODULATION (MFM)

Amethodofencodingdigitaldatasignalsforrecordingonmagneticmedia.Alsocalled “threefrequencyrecording.”Recordingcodethatonlyusessynchronizingclockpulse ifdatabitsarenotpresent.Doublesthelinealbitdensitywithoutincreasingthelineal fluxreversaldensity,comparedtoFrequencyModulation.

MODIFIED MODIFIED FREQUENCY MODULATION (MMFM)

ArecordingcodesimilartoMFMthathasalongerrunlengthlimiteddistance.

MODULATION

1.Readbackvoltagefluctuationusuallyrelatedtotherotationalperiodofadisk.2.A recordingcode,suchasFM,MFM,orRLL,totranslatebetweenfluxreversalsandbits orbytes.

N

NON-RETURN TO ZERO

Aformofdataencodingthatisnotself-clocking,inotherwords,itneedstobe providedwithanexternalbitcellclocksignal.Generallyusedinhigher-performance diskdrives.

O

OFF-LINE processingorperipheraloperationsperformedwhiledisconnectedfromthesystem CPUviathesystembus.

ON-LINE processingorperipheraloperationsperformedwhiledisconnectedfromthesystem CPUviathesystembus.

OPEN LOOP SERVO

Aheadpositioningsystemthatdoesnotusepositionalinformationtoverifyandcorrect theradiallocationoftheheadrelativetothetrack.Thisisusuallyachievedbyuseofa steppermotorwhichhaspredeterminedstoppingpointthatcorrespondstotrack locations.

OPERATING SYSTEM

Asoftwareprogramthatorganizestheactionsofthepartsofthecomputerandits peripheraldevices.(Seediskoperatingsystem.)

OUTSIDE DIAMETER

Thelargestradiusrecordingtrackonadisk.

OVERWRITE

Atestthatmeasurestheresidual1Frecordedfrequencyonatrackafterbeing overwrittenbya2Fsignal.Variationsofthetestexist.

P

PARALLELISM

1.Theconditionoftwoplanesorlinesbeingparallel.Importantindiskdrivesbecause alackofitinmechanicalassembliescanresultinpositioninginaccuracy.More precisely:planes-coplanar;lines-colinear.2.Isthelocalvariationindiskthickness measuredindependentlyofthicknessitself.3.Theabilityofamultiprocessorcomputer toallocatemorethanoneprocessor(CPU)toacomputingproblem,whereeachCPU worksonaseparateproblemorseparatesegmentofthatproblem.Alsoreferredtoas parallelprocessing.

PARITY

Asimplemethodofdataerrordetectionsthatalwaysmakesnumberseitheroddor even,usinganextrabitinwhichthetotalnumberofbinary1s(or0s)inabyteis alwaysoddoralwayseven;thus,inanoddparityscheme,everybytehaseightbitsof dataandoneparitybit.Ifusingoddparityandthenumberof1bitscomprisingthe byteofdataisnotodd,theninthorparitybitissetto1tocreatetheoddparity.Inthis way,abyteofdatacanbecheckedforaccuratetransmissionbysimplycountingthe bitsforanoddparityindication.Ifthecountisevereven,anerrorisindicated.

PARTITION

Alogicalsectionofadiskdrive,eachofwhichbecomesalogicaldevicewithadrive letter.

PEAK SHIFT

Theshiftingintimeofthezero-slopeportionofareadbackvoltagefromthevalues containedinthewritecurrentwaveform.Sometimesincorrectlyusedtodescribebit jitter.

PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT

Auxiliarymemory,displays,printers,andotherequipmentusuallyattachedtoa computersystem’sCPUbycontrollersandcables.(Theyareoftenpackagedtogetherin adesktopcomputer.)

PHASE LOCKED LOOP (PLL)

Acircuitwhoseoutputlocksontoandtracksthefrequencyofaninputsignal. Sometimesincorrectlycalledadataseparator.

PHASE MARGIN Measureindegreesoftheamountofdifferencebetweenexcursionsfromthewindow centerwherefluxreversalscanoccurandtheedgeofthedatawindow.Similarto windowmargin.

PHYSICAL SECTOR

Thesmallestgroupingofdataontheharddisk;always512bytes.

PIO

ProgrammableInputOutput.Ameansofaccessingdeviceregisters.Alsodescribesone formofdatatransfers.PIOdatatransfersareperformedbythehostprocessorusing PIOregisteraccessestothedataregister.

PLATED THIN FILM MEDIA

Magneticdiskmemorymediahavingitssurfaceplatedwithathincoatingofametallic alloyinsteadofbeingcoatedwithoxide.

PROCESSING

Theprocessofthecomputerhandling,manipulatingandmodifyingdatasuchas arithmeticcalculation,filelookupandupdating,andwordpressing.

PULSE CROWDING

Modificationofplaybackamplitudeduetosuper-positioningofadjacentfluxreversal fieldsbeingsensedbytheread/writegap.

PULSE DETECT

Adigitalpulsetraininwhicheachleadingedgeoreachedgecorrespondstoa magnetictransitionreadfromthedisk.Iftransitionqualificationcircuitryexistsinthe drive,thissignalistheoutputofsame.Alsoknownastransitiondetect.

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