General

Windows® 2000 – Linux Dual-Boot Work-Around If you have arrived here through a search engine, and there’s no menu to the left click here! Does this scenario sound familiar? You have checked everything and thought it through. You made certain that your test PC was Windows® 2000 compliant, then you …

Quick Guideline for Configuring and Managing Dual and Multi-Boot Configurations using Windows NT 4.0/Windows 2000/Windows 95/98 and Linux Many people dream of an all-encompassing operating system, one upon which you can run all of your essential business and productivity applications, as well as use to develop applications and play any …

Keyboard Controller Failure If you have arrived here through a search engine, and there’s no menu to the left click here! Explanation: The system has detected what appears to be a failure with the keyboard controller, which interfaces the keyboard to the motherboard. Early computers relied upon an Intel 8042 …

MS-DOS Memory Issues The differences between various kinds of memory. Conventional Memory Conventional memory is contiguous memory directly used by applications running on any Intel 80×86 microprocessor that is running in real mode under unaugmented MS-DOS. Addressed from 0 to 640KB (up to 736KB with special device drivers and hardware). …

What are binary, octal, and hexadecimal notations? Binary Notation All data in modern computers is stored as series of bits. A bit can take on one of two values. The two values are generally represented as the numbers 0 and 1. The most basic form of representing computer data, then, …

What is S.M.A.R.T.? S.M.A.R.T. is a system that enables the PC to predict the future failure of devices such as disk drives. Armed with a failure prediction, the user or system manager can back up key data, replace a suspect device prior to data loss, or avoid undesired downtime. S.M.A.R.T. …

As the result of ever lowering costs, IDE RAID configurations are becoming increasingly popular. However, costs alone should not be your only consideration when comparing SCSI to IDE in RAID configurations with 4 or less hard disk drives. Although SCSI is often considerably more expensive on initial implementation, it offers …

PIO, DMA, what’s the Difference? If you have arrived here via a search engine and there is no menu to the left, click here! The difference between PIO and DMA modes There are two modes in which data can be transferred between an ATA hard disk drive and the computers …

PARALLELISM 1. The condition of two planes or parallel lines. Important in disk drives because a lack of it in mechanical assemblies can result in positioning inaccuracy. More precisely: planes-coplanar; lines-colinear. 2. Is the local variation in disk thickness measured independently of thickness itself. 3. The ability of a multiprocessor …

Hard Drive Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Notice: The information provided herein is presented as is and without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In …