diagnostic.
A software program that is designed to recognize, locate, and explain faults in equipment or errors in
programs.
direct current (DC).
An electric current flowing in one direction only and substantially constant in value.
drive.
A data-storage device that controls the movement of the magnetic tape in a tape cartridge. The drive
houses the mechanism (drive head) that reads and writes data to the tape.
drive dump.
The recording, at a particular instant, of the contents of all or part of one storage device into another
storage device, usually as a safeguard against faults or errors, or in connection with debugging.
drive head.
The component that records an electrical signal onto magnetic tape, or reads a signal from tape into
an electrical signal.
drive sense data.
See SCSI drive sense data.
dump.
See drive dump.
E
eject.
To remove or force out from within.
enclosure.
A device, such as a desktop unit, tape cartridge autoloader, or tape library, into which you can install
the tape drive.
error log.
Maintained by the tape drive, a list that contains the ten most recent error codes. The codes identify
errors that pertain to the drive.
F
F.
See Fahrenheit.
Fahrenheit (F).
Of or relating to a temperature scale that registers the freezing point of water as 32 degrees and the
boiling point as 212 degrees at one atmosphere of pressure.
file.
A named set of records stored or processed as a unit.
firmware.
The proprietary code that is usually delivered as part of an operating system. Firmware is more
efficient than software that is loaded from an alterable medium, and is more adaptable to change than
pure hardware circuitry. An example of firmware is the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) in read-only
memory (ROM) on a PC motherboard.
G
GB.
See gigabyte.
Generation 1.
The informal name for the Ultrium tape drive, which is the predecessor of the tape drive (Generation
2). The Generation 1 drive has a native storage capacity of up to 100 GB per cartridge and a native
sustained data transfer rate of 15 MB per second.
62 Dell PowerVault LTO Tape Drive: User's Guide