Sony VGC-RA834G User Manual

This glossary contains some basic terms that may aid your understanding of RAID technology. 

Array 

Two or more hard disk drives that are grouped together and function as a single drive to the

host computer. 

Fault tolerance 

The ability of a computer to continue its function, even after one or more hard disk drives have

failed. 

 Application Accelerator RAID edition (IAA)  Software program that replaces the original ATA drivers provided with

the Microsoft

®

 Windows

®

 operating system. The IAA replacement drivers are optimized for computers using certain Intel

®

chipsets. 

Logical drive 

Two or more hard disk drives that are grouped together so that they appear and function as a

single or logical drive to the host computer. 

Mirrored/Mirroring 

All data on a primary hard disk drive is duplicated on a secondary drive, to provide data

protection. 

Parity 

A type of data protection that uses verification to detect errors in data. 

Physical drive 

The actual hard disk drive. 

RAID 

An acronym for "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". This method of combining small,

inexpensive hard disk drives offers advantages for data availability, equipment cost, and system performance. 

RAID-0 

See "Striped/Striping" 

RAID-1 

See "Mirrored/Mirroring" 

Redundant
(Information Technology use) 

Additional computer components, such as hard disk drives, that are installed to back

up the primary resources in case of failure. 

S-ATA 

An acronym for "Serial Advanced Technology Attachment." This is a standard that uses serial

signaling technology and is used for connecting hard disk drives into computers. 

Striped/Striping 

Data is spread evenly over multiple hard disk drives for improved system performance. There

is no data protection.