Glossary

Some of the terms listed below may not apply to your product.

1

1394—See FireWire.

 

A

ASPI—Advanced SCSI Programming Interface. A software communication layer between an adapter card and connected SCSI devices. An ASPI layer exists in most operating systems, including DOS, Windows, LINUX, UNIX, Mac OS, and OS/2.

ATA—Advanced Technology Attachment. The built-in system a PC computer uses to connect drives to the computer. You may have also heard it called IDE (Intelligent Device Electronics)—they mean the same thing. This is the most common interface for hard disks. The ATA interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.

ATAPI— Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface. IDE (ATA) was originally designed for hard disks only, not removable devices such as Iomega CD-RW drives, CD-ROMs, and tape drives. ATAPI is designed to bridge this gap and support removable drives. ATAPI devices use your IDE channel to communicate with your computer. The ATAPI interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.

Audio CD—See CD-DA

 

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B

Blue Book—CD specification that describes the CD Extra (Enhanced CD) format.

Bootable CD—An ISO formatted CD specially configured with a boot record and operating system files that the computer can use as a startup volume.

Buffer Underrun—A problem that may occur when writing CDs. The CD recorder requires a steady stream of data from the computer. If the stream is interrupted and recorder has used its buffer data, errors may occur. See Troubleshooting for more information on Buffer Underruns.

 

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C

CardBus—High speed 32-bit interface based on the PCI interface. This interface is available on most newer laptop computers as a means for connecting high speed removable cards such as USB, FireWire, Ultra SCSI, Ethernet, and High speed MODEMs. PCMCIA devices can be used in CardBus slots.

CD Extra—Compact Disc Extra (also known as Enhanced CD or CD Plus). A new format for creating interactive music CDs. A CD Extra disc has two sessions. Session one consists of audio tracks. Session two consists of a data track.

CD Plus—See CD Extra.

CD Specifications—The specifications for Compact Disc are contained in several books:

  • Red Book (1981)—Original CD-DA standard developed by Sony and Philips.
  • Yellow Book (1983)—Specifies parameters for CD-ROMs (does not specify data structure).
  • Green Book (1986)—Describes the CD-i format.
  • Orange Book (1990)—Describes CD-R and CD-RW format and media.
  • White Book (1993)—Describes the Video CD format.
  • Blue Book (1995)—Describes the CD Extra standard

CD Text—Compact Disc Text. An audio CD that includes title, artist, song titles, etc. in the disc's Table of Contents. CD Text discs require special players.

CD+G (Karaoke)—Compact Disc Plus Graphics. A special digital audio disc format that combines a standard CD-DA track with graphic and text subchannels.

CD—Compact Disc. A 12cm disc, made up of polycarbonate substrate, a thin metallic layer, and a lacquer coating, originally used to hold digital audio data (as defined in the Red Book). The compact disc was originally developed by Sony and Philips and was introduced in 1982.

CD-DA—Compact Disc-Digital Audio. A compact disc used to store music. This is the original format used by home and car stereos. CD-DA is defined by the original Red Book Specification released by Sony and Philips in 1981.

CD-E—Compact Disc-Erasable. Allows the user to write, erase, overwrite, and read CD information. This format was replaced by CD-RW.

CD-i—Compact Disc-Interactive. A CD format designed to play interactive multimedia applications on a CD-i player attached to a television. CD-i is described in the Green Book, but is no longer used.

CD-R—Compact Disc-Recordable (One-Off or CD-WO). A recordable compact disc that cannot be erased. CD-R is described in the Orange Book.

CD-ROM XA—Compact Disc-Read Only Memory Extended Architecture. An extension to the Yellow Book specification that was proposed by Sony, Philips, and Microsoft to enhance the multimedia capabilities of CD-ROMs. XA is also used as a bridge between CD-i players and CD-ROM drives. Kodak's PhotoCD is an example of a CD-ROM XA format.

CD-ROM—Compact Disc-Read Only Memory. A compact disc used to store computer data. Data cannot be written to a CD-ROM. CD-ROMs are defined by the Yellow Book.

CD-RW—Compact Disc-ReWritable. A recordable compact disc that can be erased and rerecorded. CD-RW is defined by part III of the Orange Book.

CD-V—Compact Disc-Video. See Video CD.

CD-Video— Compact Disc-Video. See Video CD.

CD-WO—Compact Disc-Write Once. See CD-R.

Close Session—When a session is closed, information about its contents is written to the disc's Table of Contents, and the disc is prepared for the next session.

 

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D

DAE—Digital Audio Extraction. See About Digital Audio Extraction in the Troubleshooting section.

Disc-At-Once—A method of recording CDs where, the entire CD is recorded in one pass without turning off the laser. Disc-At-Once allows you to run tracks together without a pause (songs on a CD-DA disc can run together).

Disc Image—A file that contains all of the data needed to create a CD. Disc images can be mounted and browsed like any other volume.

DMA—Direct Memory Access. A mode of data transfer. DMA accelerates transfer rates because it does not access the computer's processor. Ultra DMA can support two devices and transfer data at rates up to either 33 MB/s or 66 MB/s depending on the type of Ultra DMA bus. For more information on enabling the DMA setting for your computer, see About Buffer Underruns in the Troubleshooting section.

 

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E

EIDE—Enhanced Intelligent Device Electronics. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip® drives and other storage devices) to your computer. See IDE.

EISA—Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture. An internal connection for devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. EISA has a maximum data transfer rate of 33 MB/s. See also ISA.

Enhanced CD—See CD Extra.

 

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F

FireWire®—IEEE 1394. Many computers have a port for connecting FireWire devices. The FireWire port allows you to connect high speed devices, such as digital camcorders, audio recorders, and external storage, to your computer. The FireWire interface allows you to connect up to 63 devices to your computer. You can connect and disconnect devices to your computer, while it is running, without having to worry about setting device IDs, Switches, or terminators required by many other interfaces.

There are two types of FireWire connectors. Most desktop computers have 6-pin FireWire connectors and most laptop computers have 4-pin FireWire connectors. Computers that have 6-pin connectors can supply power to some devices.


4-pin FireWire Port


6-pin FireWire Port

FireWire was originally developed by Apple Computer, Inc. FireWire is also known by its industry standard designation IEEE 1394, Sony® i.Link® or just 1394. Look for "1394" or one of the following logos to locate the FireWire connector on your computer:

      

Currently, FireWire can transfer data at 400 Mb/s. Future versions of FireWire will be able to transfer data at 800 Mb/s and higher.

 

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G

Green Book—CD specification that describes the CD-i format.

 

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H

HFS—Hierarchical File System. The standard Macintosh® file system.

High Sierra—High Sierra is a CD format that is no longer used; however, High Sierra is the basis of the ISO 9660 file format.

Hybrid—In general, hybrid discs contain both an ISO 9660 and an HFS platform. Technically hybrid can also refer to multisession CD that is not closed (meaning that more data can be written to the disc in a separate session).

 

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I

i.Link—See FireWire.

IDE—Intelligent Device Electronics (formerly Integrated Drive Electronics). The built-in system a PC computer uses to connect drives to the computer. You may have also heard it called ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)—they mean the same thing. IDE can support two devices per channel with data transfer rates of 16.67 MB/s. The IDE interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.

IEEE 1394—See FireWire.

Iomega CD-RW Drive—The Iomega CD-RW drive is the perfect complement to any hard drive. It reads, writes, or rewrites many types of CD formats, making it an ideal storage solution for users who want to copy and share files with co-workers, service bureaus, and even friends and family. You can use standard CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) discs to organize and archive files without cluttering up your hard drive or the network. And for road warriors, CDs are an efficient way to transport and exchange large files.

The Iomega CD-RW drive is easy to use—just point and click. Use it to back up and archive important files, or share multimedia presentations, photos, and Internet downloads. Plus, your Iomega CD-RW drive allows you to record and erase your original music on CDs and play them in your home or car stereo. With bundled software to enhance performance, the Iomega CD-RW drive is a complete solution.


ISA—Industry Standard Architecture. An internal connection for devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. ISA has a maximum data transfer rate of 8.3 MB/s. ISA will eventually be replaced by PCI.

ISO 9660—The ISO document titled ISO 9660: Information Processing—Volume and File Structure of CD-ROM for Information Exchange (1988) defines a CD format that can be read by many different operating systems, including Mac® OS, Windows, DOS, UNIX, etc. ISO 9660 does not support long file names, custom icons, or directory settings. Discs intended only for Macintosh users should be written in the HFS format.

ISO—International Standards Organization.

 

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J

Jaz® drive—The Iomega Jaz drive is the ideal removable, professional storage solution. Jaz drives are the super-fast way to store, transport and use your digital files. With up to 2GB of storage space, Jaz drives and disks are great for backup, personal storage and hard drive expansion. Whether you are creating new works of art with Adobe® Photoshop®, mastering sound files, or backing up your computer system, a Jaz drive is the right tool for all your personal storage needs

Joliet—An extension to the ISO 9660 format that Microsoft developed to allow long file names. Joliet uses the Unicode international character set and allows filenames up to 64 characters long (including spaces).

 

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M

Mixed Mode—A mixed mode CD contains one data track and multiple audio tracks. Mixed Mode CDs have been largely replaced by multisession CDs in which the first session consists of audio tracks and the second session consists of data.

MP3—MPEG Audio Layer 3. A popular audio file format that stores near CD quality audio in a high compressed manner.

MPEG-2—ISO's Motion Pictures Expert Group adopted this codec for the compression and playback of full-motion video. All DVD-Videos are compressed using MPEG-2. CD-i discs are compressed using MPEG-1.

MultiRead—The ability of any drive to read all of the following types of media: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW. MultiRead is a standard developed by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA).

Multisession—A multisession CD consists of multiple sessions, each recorded at a different time. Each of the sessions are linked together in such a way that only one logical device appears when the CD is mounted. Not all CD-recorders can record this type of CD and not all CD-ROM drives can read them.

 

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O

Orange Book—CD specification that describes the CD-R and CD-RW formats.

 

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P

Packet Writing—A method for writing data on a CD in small increments. Software such as Adaptec® DirectCD requires packet writing.

Parallel Port—Also known as a printer port. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip drives, printers, scanners, etc.) to your computer. Parallel port has a maximum data transfer rate of 512 Kb/s.

PC Card—Peripheral Connection Card. See PCMCIA.

PCI—Peripheral Communications Interconnect Local Bus. An internal connection for high speed devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. PCI has a maximum data transfer rate of 133 MB/s.

PCMCIA—Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. PCMCIA is a means of attaching devices to your computer. PCMCIA can transfer data at rates up to 1.2 MB/s. PCMCIA supports devices such as PocketZip drives, MODEMS, hard drives, network cards, flash cards, etc. The PCMCIA interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See CardBus for more information.

PhotoCD—A compact disc format created by Kodak and Philips that uses a CD-ROM XA format to store photographs for print and display that can be accessed on either a CD-ROM drive hooked to computer or a CD-i player attached to a television.

PIO—Programmed Input/Output. A mode of data transfer. PIO is slower than DMA because it requires the use of the processor. Used by older SCSI controllers and ATAPI interfaces.

PocketZip drive—PocketZip products are designed to fit your go-anywhere, take-it-all-with-you life. There's a drive designed to complement digital cameras, one for mobile computers, and a PocketZip Drive Plus bundle that works with digital cameras and mobile computers. PocketZip 40MB* disks pack lots of digital images, e-mail and spreadsheets—all in a tiny disk about the size of a matchbook. And the versatile PocketZip system makes it easier and faster to transfer data between your digital camera, notebook computer, and desktop PC.
*40MB capacity where 1MB = 1 million bytes. The capacity reported by your operating system may vary. The PocketZip products used to be known as Clik! products.

 

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R

Red Book—CD specification that describes the CD-DA format.

Romeo—A file naming option used in some Adaptec software that allowed long file names (up to 128 characters long including spaces). The Romeo format is no longer used. Romeo discs are only compatible with Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, and Mac OS (only 31 characters are recognized).

 

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S

SBP-2—Serial Bus Protocol 2.0—Specifically used to transport SCSI across a 1394 bus.
FireWire storage support is available in Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 through the Microsoft Serial Bus Protocol (SBP-2) port driver. Support for FireWire, Zip drives, Jaz drives, hard disks, CD-ROM drives, DVD drives, printers and scanners is implemented through the SBP-2 protocol.

SCSI—Small Computer System Interface. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip drives, Jaz drives, scanners, etc.) to your computer. There are various types of SCSI connectors.

  • SCSI-1 allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 5 MB/s.
  • Fast SCSI-2 allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 10 MB/s.
  • Ultra SCSI (also know as Ultra Narrow SCSI) allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 20 MB/s.
  • Ultra SCSI Fast and Wide allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 40 MB/s.
  • Ultra 2 SCSI allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 80 MB/s.
  • Ultra 160 SCSI allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 160 MB/s.

Some Macintoshes have built-in SCSI. Most PCs require an adapter card.

Session—a collection of one or more tracks. Each recording procedure generates a session that contains all the tracks recorded at that time. A CD recorded uin muliple recording sessions is known as a multisession CD.

Session-At-Once—Session-at-once is similar to disc-at-once. The CD recorder writes an entire session without turning off the laser, but does not close the disc. Additional sessions may be written later. Session-at-once is intended for use when creating discs in the CD Extra format.

SP-DIF—Sony and Philips Digital Interconnect Format. A pair of stereo channels that can support sample rates up to 48 ksps (kilo-samples per second) with precision up to 24 bits. Your Iomega CD-RW drive may have a SP-DIF connector (depending on the model), but does not include a cable. Many sound cards do not support SP-DIF.

 

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T

TOC—Table of Contents. Contains a list of the contents of a CD. The TOC contains an entry for each session and each track which lists the index 1 of each track (except CD-i tracks that have no entry in the TOC). The end or length of the track or session is not recorded in the TOC.

Track—The track is the smallest logical unit on a CD. A CD can contain up to 99 tracks, which may consist of audio tracks, CD-ROM tracks, and XA/CD-i Tracks.

Track-At-Once—The track-at-once mode records each track of a CD individually.

 

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U

UDF—Universal Disc Format. A file system for use with packet writing. DirectCD creates volumes in UDF format. Your computer requires special software to read UDF discs.

USB—Universal Serial Bus. A means of attaching devices to your computer (such as Zip drives, Jaz drives, printers, scanners, etc.). USB allows up to 128 devices to be connected to your computer (using hubs and other connection devices); however, all connected devices share the data transfer rate. You can connect and disconnect devices to your computer, while it is running, without having to worry about setting device IDs, Switches, or terminators required by many other interfaces.

  • USB 1.1 can transfers data at rates up to 12 Mb/s.
  • USB 2.0 will allow data transfers up to 480 Mb/s.

USB allows you to connect and disconnect devices will the computer is running (hot pluggable).

 

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V

Video CD—Video CD format is used to record full-motion video or movies on a CD. Playing a Video CD requires special equipment, including an MPEG decoding system. Video CD must always be the first session on a disc. Video CD can be played on either a Video CD or a CD-i Player.

 

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W

Wave files—The wave (or .WAV) file format the standard digital audio format for Windows. You can copy or extract sound files from a CD-DA disc and save them as wave files. You can also create CD-DA discs from Wave files. Wave files are capable of the same quality as the standard audio tracks on an audio CD.

White Book—CD specification that describes the Video CD format.

 

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Y

Yellow Book—CD specification that describes the CD-ROM format.

 

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Z

Zip Drive—The Super floppy preferred by millions. Whether in 100MB or 250MB capacity, the Iomega Zip drive is the preferred super floppy for the digital age. It's not hard to see why. No other consumer storage product supports as many operating systems and interfaces as Iomega's Zip drives. Whether you use Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000, Windows NT, or even Windows 3.x, or if you're a longtime Apple user or a new comer to the iMac, Iomega has a Zip drive for you. With millions and millions of Zip drives in the world today, Zip drives and disks are a sure way to share and deliver your files with friends, family and work associates. Zip drives breath new life into aging computers, staving off dreaded obsolescence, and new systems can come integrated with Zip Built-In drives straight from every major computer manufacturer in the world, providing unlimited storage potential on 100 or 250MB disks. Save images, scanned photos, important documents, Internet downloads, work's latest project, audio, and music on rugged, reliable Zip disks. Work from Zip disks just like they were your hard drive-you won't be able to tell the difference. Travel with them-they are lighter than any lap or palm top out there, and easy to share with millions of fellow Zip users. Saving your content to Zip disks is the easiest and most dependable way to keep your important stuff safe since . . . well, Tupperware.



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