Jake's Tech Talk Tech Glossary

cluster - The basic allocation unit for storage on a disk, consisting of one or more sectors. The number of sectors that make up one cluster depends on the type and size of the media. The minimum amount of disk space used by a single file is one cluster. Even if the file physically occupies only part of a cluster, the entire cluster is allocated to the file and marked as used space.

contiguous - physically adjacent to, or touching.

defragment - To eliminate the fragmentation of a drive's data space.

disk drive - A long term storage device using magnetic recording technology. Measured in terms of bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes, this is non-volatile memory; it is not lost when power is cut off.

File Allocation Table - An area of the disk drive that serves as a sort of road map, indicating to the operating system where data is stored. It operates in conjunction with the directory structure.

fragmented - When a file is stored to scattered areas of a disk, it is said to be fragmented. This occurs when there are not enough contiguous clusters to hold all the data of a file. Since it takes longer to read a fragmented file, using a defragmenter will improve system performance.

lost allocation unit - One or more clusters of data written to a disk without a filename or pointer to the File Allocation Table. This is generally caused by a non-standard termination of a program.

Operating System - Software used to direct the computer hardware in the location, retrieval, loading, and execution of application software, and to provide basic functions for system management and operation.

RAM - Random Access Memory. RAM is volatile memory; it is erased completely each time the computer is shut off. Programs are loaded into RAM from long term storage for execution.

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