Lesson 5 Key Terms

Front 1

audio device

Back 1

Primarily, the sound card on a computer. Other audio devices include microphones, headsets, and speakers.

Front 2

basic disk

Back 2

A physical disk that contains primary partitions, extended partitions, or logical drives. Basic disks contain only simple volumes.

Front 3

Computer Management

Back 3

A collection of Windows management tools, such as Disk Management for configuring hard disks and their partitions, and Event Viewer, which allows you to view computer event information such as program starting and stopping (including program crashes) and security problems.

Front 4

Device Manager

Back 4

A snap-in that displays a list of all devices currently installed on the computer and their status. Device Manager requires administrative credentials for access.

Front 5

Disk Management

Back 5

A tool in the Computer Management snap-in that enables users to manage disks, partitions, and volumes.

Front 6

driver

Back 6

A small program that enables hardware to interact with the operating system.

Front 7

dual-boot environment

Back 7

A computer with two or more operating systems installed, enabling the user to choose which operating system to boot at startup.

Front 8

dynamic disk

Back 8

A physical disk that can contain simple, spanned, striped, or mirrored volumes.

Front 9

External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA)

Back 9

An external interface for SATA technologies.

Front 10

fill and spill

Back 10

Another name for a spanned volume because all storage space on the first disk must be filled before data is stored on the second and subsequent disks.

Front 11

FireWire

Back 11

An interface standard for transferring information between digital devices. FireWire is used for many different types of high-speed data transfers, including audio and video, and serves the same purpose as USB. Also called IEEE 1394 and i.link.

Front 12

IEEE 1394

Back 12

See “FireWire.”

Front 13

input device

Back 13

An item such as a keyboard, mouse, trackball, touchpad, digital pen, and joystick (for gaming) that sends data to a computer.

Front 14

infrared input device

Back 14

An input device, such as a wireless optical mouse, that uses infrared technology.

Front 15

Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI)

Back 15

A standard for connecting enterprise network storage devices such as a storage area network (SAN).

Front 16

isochronous data transfer

Back 16

A constant data rate.

Front 17

local printer

Back 17

A printer that’s directly attached to a computer via a cable, such as serial, parallel, USB, infrared, or other port type.

Front 18

mirrored volume

Back 18

A type of disk volume that duplicates data from one disk to a second disk for redundancy and fault tolerance; if one disk fails, data can be accessed from the second disk. A mirrored volume cannot be spanned—it must reside on a single disk. Mirroring is also referred to as RAID-1.

Front 19

network printer

Back 19

A printer that generally has a network adapter and is connected to a network. The printer receives an IP address and is a node on the network much like a networked computer.

Front 20

partition

Back 20

A logical storage unit on a disk. Partitioning divides a hard disk into multiple logical units (partitions), allowing the operating system to treat the physical disk drive as if it were multiple disks.

Front 21

plug-and-play (PnP) technology

Back 21

Devices that are automatically detected by the operating system when plugged into a computer.

Front 22

print queue

Back 22

A holding area in memory where a print job is stored until the printer is finished printing the entire document.

Front 23

spanned volume

Back 23

A type of disk volume that extends a simple volume across multiple disks, up to a maximum of 32.

Front 24

striped volume

Back 24

A type of disk volume that stores data across two or more physical disks. Data on a striped volume is written evenly to each of the physical disks in the volume. A striped volume cannot be mirrored or spanned. Striping is often referred to as RAID-0

Front 25

universal serial bus (USB)

Back 25

A standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines cable connectors and protocols used to connect external devices to a computer. The devices include keyboards, digital cameras, portable media players, and external hard drives, among others.

Front 26

video device

Back 26

Primarily, the video adapter or card on a computer. Other types of video devices include webcams, video capture cards, and TV tuners.

Front 27

volume

Back 27

A segmented storage area on a dynamic disk. Free space on a dynamic disk is divided into volumes instead of partitions.

Front 28

Windows Live Mesh

Back 28

A part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. Windows Live Mesh enables users to keep data synchronized between computers (and some devices such as mobile phones) as well as some program settings

Front 29

Windows Live SkyDrive

Back 29

A reliable password-protected online service offering file storage that enables people to share files and photos. Each person receives 25 GB of free online storage.