S.M.A.R.T. Capability

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. Prediction of device degradation and/or faults.

 

Secondary Port

A "secondary" IDE interface is virtually identical to a "primary" IDE interface except it uses a different interrupt and I/O address to avoid clashes with the ordinary (primary) interface. A secondary interface allows you to connect another ribbon cable with two more ATA devices (hard disk, ATAPI CD-ROM or ATAPI tape) for a total of four.

 

Sector

A logical segment of information on a particular track. The smallest addressable unit of storage on a disk. Tracks are divided into sectors, each sector is 512 bytes long. They contain data, but also contain "housekeeping" information. Modern drives use ZDR - Zone Density Recording, where there are more sectors per track on the outside of the disk where there is more surface area, and fewer and fewer sectors as you go in toward the center of the drive. Newer drives have about 16 zones now. This allows more data to fit on the drive. The outer zones therefore have a higher data transfer rate that those closer to the center of the drive.

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Sector Address Translation

All drives manufactured by Maxtor within the last 3 years feature a universal translate mode. In an AT/EISA-class system, the drive may be configured to any specified combination of cylinders, heads and sectors (within the range of the drive's formatted capacity). Many drives power-up in a translate mode.

 

Sector Pulse Signal

A digital signal pulse which indicates the beginning of a sector. Embedded servo pattern or other prerecorded information may be present on the disk when sector is active. Only present in hard sectored drives.

 

Seek

A random access operation by the disk drive. The act of moving a set of read/write heads so that one of them is over the desired cylinder. The actuator or positioner moves the heads to the cylinder containing the desired track and sector.

 

Seek Complete Signal

A digital signal level which indicates that the positioner is not moving and is located over a cylinder or offset position.

 

Seek Time

The amount of time between when a step pulse or seek command is issued until the head settles onto the desired cylinder. Sometimes is measured without settling times.

 

Sequential Access

The writing or reading of data in a sequential order such as reading data blocks stored one after the other on magnetic tape. This is contrasted to random access of information.

 

Servo Burst

A momentary servo pattern used in embedded servo control implementations usually positioned between sectors or at the end of a track.

 

Servo Control

A technique by which the speed or position of a moving device is forced into conformity with a desired or standard speed or position.

 

Servo Head

A magnetic head designed for accurately reading (only) of servo information.

 

Servo Pattern

A readback signal that indicates the position of a head relative to a track.

 

Servo Surface

A recording surface in a multi-surface disk drive that only contains control information which provides timing, head position, and track-following information for the data surfaces.

 

Servo System

An automatic system for maintaining the read/write head on track; can be either "open loop", "quasi-closed loop", or "closed loop".

 

Servo Track

A track on a servo surface. The prerecorded reference track on the dedicated servo surface of a disk drive. All data track positions are compared to their corresponding servo track to determine "off track"/"on track" position.

 

Settling Time

The time it takes a head to stop vibrating, within specified limits, after it reaches the desired cylinder.

 

Silicon

Semiconductor material generally used to manufacture microprocessors and other integrated circuit chips.

 

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)

An intelligent interface that incorporates controller functions directly into the drive.

 

Soft Error

A data error which can be overcome by rereading the data or repositioning the head.