DDataRecoveryGlossary

Databaseacompilationofdataonacomputerdriveandinacompatibleformat. Thisdataisorganizedinawaythatitcanbeusedtoserveasinformationinitsfield ofrelevance.Forexample,listofhotelsthathavevacanciesarethedatabasewhich ispresentedtouserswhentheysearchforavailabilityofroomsinahotel. Datasynchronizeraclocksignalthatissynchronouswithincomingfilesordatais producedbyanelectroniccircuit,andthesignalisusedtodecodetheinformation beingreceived.Thecircuititselfactsasasynchronizer;forexample,appsandmobile phonesarekeptinsyncconstantlybytheelectroniccircuit. Datatransferratethespeedatwhichelectronicdatastoredinonedevicetravels toanotherdevicethroughsomeformofconnectivity.Itismeasuredinmegabitsor megabytesofdatasentpersecond.Whensomedataistransferredwithinonehard drive,itiscalleddatatransfertodisk,andtherateisexpressedasmegabitsper second(Mbps).Whendataissentfromthebuffertothehostparty,itisexpressed asmegabytespersecond(MBps). Dedicatedservoadiskthatcontainsnootheruserrelateddataiskeptforthe purposeofembeddingpositionsignalsthatcontainspecificinformation.This informationisusedtopositionthereadorwriteheads.Aservowriterisusedto writethesecontrolsignalswhichcannotbereproducedifanerroroccurs. Dedicatedlandingzoneitistheareaoftheharddiskinsideacomputersystem thathasnootherdatastoredonit.Thisareaisusedbytheread/writeheadswhen thesystemisinactive.Thiszonealsomakessurethattheharddiskisnotphysically damagedwhileitisbeinghandledbytheuserorwhendataisstoredonit.This magnetizedareahasnocontactwiththesurroundingobjectstopreventdamage. Defectfreewhenrecordingdevicesarereferredtousingthisterm,itmeansthat theyhavenotbeendiagnosedwithaninternalorapparentdefectordamage. Defectmanagementwhenadefectisdetectedonarecordingdevice,suchasa diskdrive,measurestoeliminatethosedefectsareknownasdefectmanagement. Thisisdonebyeitherfixingthedefectorrenderingitinaccessiblesothatdata storageonthedeviceisdonewithouthassle.Theinformationwrittenonthediskis allocatedtoareasthatarefreeofdefectsorwillnotbeharmedbythehidden corruptfiles. Defragmentitisaprocessusedtodecreasetheamountoffragmentsproducedin astoragemediumsuchasaharddrive.Thisprocessiscompleteoncethefilesonthe

storagedevicearereorganizedandtheleastnumberoffragmentsisreached.More freespaceresultsinthediskoncethisisfollowedbycompactingthediskdrivein ordertoinhibittheformationofmorefragments.Aswemountupdataonstorage drives,theybecomeloadedwithnoncontiguousblocks.Onefilegetsscattered acrossthewholedriveandperformanceofthesystembecomesweak.Thisisthe pointwheredefragmentationhelps.Storagemediashouldundergothisprocessas soonasfragmentationlevelreaches10%. Desktopitisapersonalcomputersystemdesignedtofitthetopofadesk.Itcan beusedinafixedlocationonly,unlikelaptopsthataremobiledevices.Modern designsstanduprightonadeskandhavebeeninfusedwithlatestfeatures. DifferentialSCSIitisanelectronicconfigurationthatmakesuseofduallinesfor thetransferofdata.Itisusedfordevicesdemandinglongcableconnectionsofupto 25meters.AnSCSIconnectorhaseither50pins(8bitsystem)or68pins(16bit system). Directmemoryaccessthisfeaturehasbeenbuiltintomoderncomputersandisa partoftechnologicalinnovationandprogress.Itinvolvesthetransferofdatatoor fromthemainharddriveofacomputersystem,withoutinvolvingthecentral processingunit(CPU)intheprocedure.Hardwaresubsystemsfoundinsidethe computerareresponsibleforthisactionwherethemainsystemmemoryisaccessed forsometask.TheCPUisnotkeptoccupied;hence,itperformsotherfunctionsatan efficientandfasterrate. Directoryitisthestorageunitforallthefilesinacomputersystemandalsoaidsin thesearchprocesswhenyouarelookingforaparticularfileonthedisk.Allfilesand foldersarearrangedinanorderthatyouprefer;suchasaccordingtodateof modification,alphabeticalorder,sizeoffile,etc. Diskhardwareinsidethecomputerthatstoresdata.Informationismappedonto thediskandcanbeaccessedanytime.Ithasamagneticsurfaceusuallymadeof aluminum.Thestoragecapacityofeachdriveisdifferent. Diskcontrollertheelectroniccircuitinsideadiskthatenablescommunication betweenthedriveandthecentralprocessingunit.Dataistransferredviasignals convertedandtransmittedbythediskcontroller. Diskdrivecontrolleracircuitboardonthefrontorbackofaharddiskthatacts likealiaisonbetweentheCPUandthediskdrive.Itenablesthereadingandwriting ofinformationordataontothediskbythecomputersystem. DiskoperatingsystemDOSisaprogramorsoftwarethatorganizesandmanages storagemediaonthecomputersystem.Theinformationorfilesinsidethestorage devicesisorganizedandotherprocessesarealsocontrolledbythissoftware.

Disktransferratethespeedatwhichinformationistransmittedtoorawayfroma diskdrive.Thespeeddependsonthelocationofthetrack;datastoredontheouter tracksofthediskistransferredatafasterrateascomparedtothatstoredonthe innertracks.Therateisexpressedinbitsorbytespersecond. Distributionchanneltheintermediarypartyinvolvedinthetransferofgoodsfrom oneendtoanother.Theprocessinvolveselectronictransferviaelectronic distributors. DMAabbreviationfordirectmemoryaccess(explainedabove).Itisthefastestway oftransferringdata. DOSdiskoperatingsystem(explainedabove).UsuallyabbreviatedasMSDOS. DRAMitstandsfordynamicrandomaccessmemory.Actsasthemainmemoryof thecomputersystem.Anumberofcapacitorsgettogethertoformacircuitandeach bitofinformationordataisstoredonaseparatecapacitor. Driveraprogramthatcontrolsadeviceconnectedtoacomputer.Itisdependent onhardwaretoperformitsfunctions.Thecommunicationbetweenthedeviceand thecomputertakesplacethroughthedriver. DolphinDataLabhttp://www.dolphindatalab.com/