CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 CIS 105 Survey of Computer Information Systems Essential Concepts and Terminology Study Unit Three

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 File. A named collection of data (such as a computer program, document, or graphic) that exists on a storage medium such as a hard disk, floppy disk, or CD-ROM.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Directory. A list of files contained on a computer storage device.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Folders. PC. The subdirectories that can contain files or other folders. Macintosh. Same as directories on a PC.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Memory. The computer circuitry that holds data waiting to be processed.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Storage. The area in a computer where data is retained to be used again later. Storage devices retain information after the device is turned off.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Volatile Memory. Memory contents that are erased when a computer is shut off.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Saving. Transfer of data to a storage device.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Read-Write Media. Storage disks that allow a computer to both read and store (write) data. Examples are CD-RW and floppy disks.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Sequential Access. A form of data storage (such as a computer tape) that requires a device to read or write data one record after another starting at the beginning of the medium.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Random-Access. The ability of a storage device to go directly to a specific location rather than searching sequentially from a beginning location. Magnetic disks are random-access storage media.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Pits. Microscopic indentations on optical storage media used by laser beams to read patterns of data on the surface of disks. The light- sensing reading device receives no light from a pit and returns a "0" signal.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Land. Flat, reflective areas on optical storage media the bounces laser light, returning a "1" signal.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Online Storage. Immediately available storage which does not require a user action, such as inserting media. Typically, a hard disk is a personal computer's online storage device.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Near-Online Storage. Secondary storage that requires insertion of media. Storage readily made available by user action.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Access Time. The estimated time for a storage device to begin reading data on a disk, usually measured in milliseconds for disks and nanoseconds for RAM.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Nanosecond. One-billionth of a second.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Solid State Disk. A high-capacity storage device with rapid access time, comparable to hard disks. The device stores up to 8 GBs of data and uses batteries to provide data involatility.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Double-Density (DD) Floppy Disk. A type of disk with a higher storage capacity (800 K) due to increased disk density.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 High-Density (HD) Floppy Disk. A disk that stores more data than a double-density disk, up to 1.44 MB.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Write-Protect Tab. A sliding notch on floppy disks that, when open, protect disks from being overwritten or deleted.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Tracks. Concentric or spiral storage areas created in series during formatting on storage medium.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Sectors. Pie-shaped subdivisions of tracks on storage media.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Clusters. Groups of sectors on a storage medium that, when accessed as a group, speed up data access.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 File Allocation Table (FAT). A table of information recording the physical location of files on storage medium.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Fragmentation. Storage of a data file in non- contiguous clusters.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Activity Light. An indicator that illuminates while the head is reading or writing data on a disk, indicating not to press the eject button.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Formatting. The process of preparing a magnetic disk to store information. The process of a disk drive's head laying down the magnetic pattern of tracks and sectors.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Hard Disk. One or more magnetic disk platters providing high-capacity, high-speed online storage.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Platters. Fixed, rapidly-rotating magnetic storage component disks of a hard disk.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Head Crash. A collision between the read-write head and the surface of a hard disk platter, resulting in disk damage.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Partition. A section of a disk established to operate as if it were a separate disk.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Positioning Performance. The speed at which a drive can position the read/write head to begin transferring data.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Transfer Performance. The speed at which a drive can transfer data.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Spindle Speed. The number of revolutions per second at which hard disk platters rotate.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Hard Disk Controller. A circuit board on the mother board, on an expansion card, or in a hard drive that acts as an interface between the CPU and the hard disk.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Small Computer System Interface (SCSI). An interface standard used for attaching peripheral devices such as drives, scanners, and other peripherals. Pronounced "scuzzy."

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Disk Cache. A type of RAM used to temporarily store information read from a disk, dramatically improving up hard disk performance.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Archiving. The process of moving data off a primary storage device to a long- term storage medium such as a CD-ROM or removable magnetic medium.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Backup. A duplicate copy of data.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 CD-ROM. A read-only, optical disk storage medium that uses laser technology to read data. An acronym for compact disc read-only memory.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 CD-ROM drive. A device that uses laser technology to read data from a CD-ROM. CD-ROM drive speed is stated in multiples of 150,000 bits per second, such as 2x or 4x.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 Multisession CDs. A CD that allows a device to write (burn) data during more than one session.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 CD-R. An optical disk technology used to create CD-ROMs and audio CDs. An acronym for compact disc- recordable.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 CD-RW. An optical disk technology that allows data to be written onto a CD, then changed much like on a floppy or hard disk. An acronym for compact disc-rewritable.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 DVD. An optical storage medium similar to CD-ROM, except with higher storage capacity (up to 17 GB). The acronym for "digital video disc" or "digital versatile disc.” DVD-ROM drives are downwardly compatible with CD-ROM.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3 PC Card (PCMCIA Card). A credit-card-sized circuit board, typically used to connect a modem, memory, network card, or storage devices to a notebook computer.

CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 3Created by James Q. Jacobs End of Study Unit 3. Return to first slide Move to Study Unit 4 CIS 105 Home Page