Diskeeper 10 User's Manual

Glossary 85
Diskeeper: A software product that increases system performance through disk defragmentation. It eliminates
resource-wasting file fragmentation safely, by consolidating fragmented files and free space.
diskette: See floppy disk.
domain: In Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, a group of workstations and
servers, defined by an administrator, that share a common directory database and allow a user to log onto any
resource in the domain with a single user ID and password. Each domain in a network has a unique name.
drive: See disk drive.
drive letter: In Windows and MS-DOS operating systems, the naming convention for disk drives, consisting of
a letter, followed by a colon. Drives A: and B: are normally reserved for floppy disk drives and C: typically
indicates the first hard drive. See also volume.
encrypted file: A file that has been scrambled and made unrecognizable by anyone who does not have the
proper “key” to decode it. The Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Encrypting File
System (EFS) allows users to encrypt files and folders on an NTFS volume to prevent access by unauthorized
individuals.
event logging: The process of recording audit information when certain events occur, such as services starting
and stopping, users logging on and off and accessing resources. When running Diskeeper on Windows NT,
Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems, logged events can be viewed with the Event
Viewer utility (in Administrative Tools.) When run on Windows 98/Me systems, Diskeeper logs events to a text
file that can be viewed with a variety of text editor programs such as Notepad.
Event Viewer: A utility available on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003,
which permits the viewing of logged events. See also event logging.
extended partition: A type of partition that permits the limitation of four partitions per disk drive to be
overcome. A disk drive may be partitioned into a maximum of four primary partitions, or three primary
partitions plus an extended partition. One or more logical drives may be created within an extended partition.
FAT: See file allocation table.
FAT file system: The file system used by MS-DOS and adapted for Windows to store information on disks,
which makes use of a file allocation table. There are three types of FAT file system. The FAT12 (12-bit) is
used on FAT volumes smaller than 16 megabytes in size, such as floppy disks—it is not supported by
Diskeeper. FAT16 can be found on all versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows Server 2003.
Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98, and the later OSR 2 version of Windows
95 also support FAT32; Windows NT does not.
field: A subdivision of a record in a file. For example, a record in a customer file may contain a name field, an
address field and a phone number field.
file: A complete, named collection of data, such as a program, a set of data used by a program, or a usercreated
document. See also record, field.
file allocation table (FAT): A table or list maintained by some operating systems, to keep track of how files
are stored on a disk.
file system: The method used by an operating system, of naming, accessing and organizing files and directories
on a disk. See also NTFS, FAT file system.
floppy disk: A removable storage medium, consisting of a small magnetic disk made of flexible plastic, housed
in a square protective envelope or cartridge. Originally, floppy disks really were “floppy,” because they were
enclosed in a paper envelope. Also called a diskette, which is a better name for the more recent design that uses
a stiff plastic cartridge. Contrast with hard disk.
formatting: A method of preparing a disk surface for use by placing certain magnetic patterns on it, which are
used by the file system in storing and retrieving data.