Maxtor quickview 300 User Manual

80/100/120/160/200/250/300GB PATA

G-7

 – Generally said of 

disk drives where the disk itself is meant to be 
removed, and in particular of hard disks using 
disks mounted in cartridges. Their advantage 
is that multiple disks can be used to increase 
the amount of stored material, and that once 
removed, the disk can be stored away to 
prevent unauthorized use.

 – Run Length Limited. A method used 

on some hard disks to encode data into 
magnetic pulses. RLL requires more 
processing, but stores almost 50% more data 
per disk than the MFM method.

 – Acronym for read only memory. 

Usually in the form of an ROM in the 
controller that contains programs that can be 
accessed and read but not modified by the 
system.

– The rotary 

actuator replaces the stepper motor used in the 
past by many hard disk manufacturers. The 
rotary actuator is perfectly balanced and 
rotates around a single pivot point. It allows 
closed-loop feedback positioning of the heads, 
which is more accurate than stepper motors.

 – The delay 

between when the controller starts looking 
for a specific block of data on a track and 
when that block rotates around to where it 
can be read by the read/write head. On the 
average, it is half of the time needed for a full 
rotation (about 8 ms.).

 – Acronym for Small Computer System 

Interface, an American National Standards 
Institute (ANSI) version of Shugart Associates' 
SASI interface between the computer and 
controller. SCSI has grown in popularity and 
is one of the most flexible and intelligent 
interfaces available.

– A section of space along a track 

on the disk, or the data that is stored in that 
section. Hard disks most often have sectors 
that are 512 data bytes long plus several bytes 
overhead for error correcting codes. Each 
sector is preceded by ID data known as a 
header, which cannot be overwritten.

 – A movement of the disk read/write 

head in or out to a specific track.

 – Magnetic markings 

written on the media that guide the 
read/write heads to the proper position.

 – A separate surface 

containing only positioning and disk timing 
information but no data.

 – The interval between 

when a track to track movement of the head 
stops, and when the residual vibration and 
movement dies down to a level sufficient for 
reliable reading or writing.

 – A rating (expressed in 

Gs) of how much shock a disk drive can 
sustain without damage.

 – An error in reading data 

from the disk that does not recur if the same 
data is reread. Often caused by power 
fluctuations or noise spikes.

 – Disks that mark the 

beginning of each sector of data within a track 
by a magnetic pattern.

 – The center shaft of the disk 

upon which the drive’s platters are mounted.

 – A type of coating process used 

to apply the magnetic coating to some 
high-performance disks. In sputtering, the 
disks are placed in a vacuum chamber and the 
coating is vaporized and deposited on the 
disks. The resulting surface is hard, smooth, 
and capable of storing data at high density. 
Maxtor disk drives use sputtered thin film 
disks.

 A type of motor that moves in 

discrete amounts for each input electrical 
pulse. Stepper motors used to be widely used 
for read/write head positioner, since they can 
be geared to move the head one track per 
step. Stepper motors are not as fast or reliable 
as the rotary voice coil actuators which 
Maxtor disk drives use.