Before you can effectively use the information in this section, you should be familiar with basic disk architecture. In particular, you should be familiar with the following terms:
Disk Term |
Description |
---|---|
Track |
A concentric ring on a disk that passes under a single stationary disk head as the disk rotates. |
Cylinder |
The set of tracks with the same nominal distance from the axis about which the disk rotates. |
Sector |
Section of each disk platter. A sector holds 512 bytes. |
Block |
A data storage area on a disk. A disk block is 512 bytes. |
Disk controller |
A chip and its associated circuitry that controls the disk drive. |
Disk label |
The first sector of a disk that contains disk geometry and partition information. |
Device driver |
A device driver is a kernel module that controls a hardware or virtual device. |
For additional information, see the product information from your disk's manufacturer.