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8 Glossary
A
Active volume
The volume from which a machine starts.
If no operating systems other than Windows are installed on your machine, the active volume is
typically the same as the system volume (p. 78).
If an operating system other than Windows, such as Linux, is installed on your machine, the active
volume can be the volume where the program known as a boot loader, such as GRUB, is stored.
The active volume is either a primary volume (p. 76) (on a basic disk) or a simple volume (p. 77) (on a
dynamic disk).
Only one volume on a disk can be active.
The active volume on a basic disk is also called the active partition.
Allocation unit
See Cluster (p. 69).
B
Bad cluster
A cluster (p. 69) that contains one or more bad sectors (p. 68).
It is not possible to store data in or retrieve it from such cluster.
Bad sector
A sector (p. 77) that cannot store the information written in it—for example, due to physical defects
or aging of the magnetic surface.
Basic disk
A disk that can be accessed by all versions of Windows, as well as by other operating systems.
A basic disk can store one or more volumes (p. 79), which are called basic volumes.
A basic disk can be converted to a dynamic disk.
Basic volume
A volume on a basic disk (p. 68).
A basic volume can be primary (p. 76) and logical (p. 74).
