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stored or accessed in any order, and all storage locations are equally
accessible.
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)-
Peripheral management
interface, which is independent of the processor. It is capable of managing up
to seven different modules, with constant, high transfer rates.
Seek Time –
The amount of time (in thousandths of a second, or
milliseconds) that it takes a hard drive’s read/write head to move to a specific
location n the disk. Average seek, then, is the average of a large number of
random samplings all over the disk. Seek time is CPU independent, meaning
that seek time is the same for a disk drive, whether it is attached to a
computer or not.
Software –
In a nutshell, software is a set of instructions for the computer. A
set of instructions to perform a particular task is called a program. There are
two main types of software:
system software
(an operating system such as Mac
OS or Windows) which controls the operation of the computer and
application
software
(programs such as Word or Excel) which enable users to perform
tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet creation, graphics, etc.
Storage –
In computers, any equipment in which information may be kept.
PCs generally use disk units and other external storage media (diskettes, CD-
ROMs, magnetic disks, etc.) for permanent storage of information.
Termination –
A physical requirement of the SCSI bus. The first and last
devices on the SCSI bus must have terminating resistors installed, and the
devices in the middle of the bus must have terminating resistors removed.
Transfer Rate –
The rate at which the drive sends and receives data from
the controller. Transfer rates for reading data from the disk drive may not be
the same as the transfer rate for writing data to the disk drive. Transfer rates
are CPU dependent, meaning that regardless of how great a transfer rate your
drive is capable of, the actual transfer rate can only be as fast as the slowest
of your hard drive and computer.
Volume –
A desktop mountable storage area, may be a partition of a hard
drive, a removable disk or a cartridge. Typically measured in Megabytes or
Gigabytes.
Utility –
Software designed to perform maintenance tasks on the system or its
components. Examples include backup programs, programs to retrieve files
and data on disk, programs for preparing (or formatting) a disk or and
resource editors.
