(B) BASIC DISK: A traditional
windows or DOS disk arrangement, in which the disk is partitioned into primary
and extended partitions. By
default, a basic disk cannot hold volumes that span multiple disks or belong to
a part of a RAID. As the name implies, it can only
accommodate simple volumes. Volumes on a basic disk can also be known as
partitions.
(H) SIMPLE VOLUME: A volume that usually resides on a single basic or dynamic
disk. On a basic disk, this volume can be
enlarged if unallocated space is available. It can be shrunk on dynamic or
basic disks. It can also be made to be a mirrored volume by using 2 dynamic
disks.
(I) SPANNED VOLUME: A volume that extends across two or more physical disks.
For instance, a simple volume that
has been enlarged or extended to a 2nd disk is what we call a
spanned volume. A disadvantage of a spanned volume is that it does offer fault
tolerance and no performance advantages in using spanned volumes.
(F) STORAGE LAYOUT: The method used to create a virtual disk with storage spaces.
This
includes mirror, simple, and parity. Virtual disks are created from storage
pools. Storage spaces has 3 storage options called storage layouts.
(C) BOOT VOLUME: The
volume where the \Windows folder is located. By
default, it is normally located on the C drive but does not have to. It is also
referred to as boot partition. A logical drive that has been extended can hold
the boot volume but cannot hold the system volume.
(E) SYSTEM VOLUME: A volume that contains the files a computer needs to find
and load the windows OS. In
most windows operating systems like windows 2008 and later, it is created
automatically during a first time OS installation. You cannot see it in the
file explorer since it is not assigned with a drive letter. However, you can
see it on the Disk Management.
(D) PARTITION: A logical unit of storage that can be
formatted with a file system. A simple volume can be a disk
partition that resides only on one disk. Volumes on a basic disk are also
called partitions. Windows allows you to create a maximum of four partitions
and only one partition at a time can be formatted with a file system.
(J) STORAGE AREA NETWORK (SAN): A storage device that uses high-speed networking technologies. It
is the most complex type of storage that gives servers fast access to huge
amounts of shared disk storage using it high speed technologies. It is as
though it is attached to the server. The most commonly known networks used in
SAN are iSCSI and Fibre channel.
(A) BACKPLANE: A connection system that uses a printed
circuit board instead of traditional cables to carry signals.We
have what we call SAS drives that usually have a higher rotation speeds and use very high signaling voltages.
(G) THIN PROVISIONING: A method for creating virtual disks, whereby the virtual disk expands dynamically. It usually uses space from the
storage pool as required until the maximum size is reached.
