Chapter 5 Computer Forensics

File system

Gives an OS a road map to data on a disk.

Logical addresses

The first sector of all disks contain a system area, the boot record, and a file structure database.

Tracks

are concentric circles on disk platter where data is located

Cylinders

is a column of tracks on two or more disk platters. Typically, each platter has two surfaces: Top and bottom

Partition

is a logical drive

Sectors

is a section on a track, usually made up of 512 bytes

Zone bit recording

is how most manufacturers deal with a platter;s inner tracks having a smaller circumference (and, therefore, less space to store data) than its outer tracks.

Head

is the the device that reads and writes data to a drive. There are two head per platter that read and write the top and bottom sides

Geometry

refers to a disk's logical structure of platters, tracks, and sectors.

Physical addresses

reside at the hardware or firmware level and go from address 0 (the first sector on the disk) to the last sector on the disk,

Partition gap

unused space between partitions