Data Recovery Glossary

Initialization - a process preparing a disk array for use. Initialization involves a first-time parity calculation for all data in RAID5, or making a full disk-to-disk copy in RAID1.

i-node

i-node - a block storing file metadata such as attributes, data location, and other important information in traditional UNIX/Linux filesystems such as UFS or Ext.

Intention log

Intention log - see Journaling filesystem

Interleave factor

Interleave factor - a number of sectors which pass under a read/write head while the hard drive processes the sector it just read, before it starts dealing with the next sector. Sectors on a track are arranged in a specific pattern so that as the processing of the sector is complete, the next sector is just arriving under a head. Proper interleaving significantly reduces rotational latency. Interleaving is not used in modern hard drives because processing speed increased significantly.

Internal drive

Internal drive - a device to store data, connected to a computer motherboard directly.