| A | B |
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| Operating system | A program running on a computer system that manages all of the services required by applications that are to run on the system and interfaces with the hardware. |
| Nodes | Any one of several addressable types of allocated space on a hard disk that can contain the data that makes up a file. |
| Attribute | A property assigned to a file or directory on the system tha defines certain characteristics of that file. |
| File | A collectionof data that is intended to stay together. |
| Directory | A container node of a file system that can containother directories or files. |
| Subdirectory | Any directory that exists beneath another directory. |
| Read Only Attribute | It allows the file to be opened and viewec, but not overwritten or changed in any way. |
| Hidden Attribute | Prevents the file from being reported by a standard directory listing. |
| Archive Attribute | Tells the system that this particular file has been backed up, since the last time it was changed. |
| File System | Method used by the OS to organize data on the hard disk. |
| Partition | A section of a disk. |
| Primary Partition | Any one of four partitions on a hard disk drive that is defined in the MBR and can be converted into a bootable partition. |
| MBR | Master Boot |
| Extended Partition | Also called a logical disk drive, this is a partition contained within a primary partition. |
| Active Partition | A primary partition on a hard disk drive that has been identified in the MBR as being the bootable partition. |
| Logical Partition | A pointer on a hard disk that identifies itself as a partition on the local drive, but in reality points to a partitiion on a remote disk. |
| FAT | File Allocation Table |
| Disk slack | The amount of disk storage that is wasted by null files and/or small files stored on the hard disk. |
| Sector | The smallest data storage unit recognized by a disk on a hard drive. |
| Cluster | Term for the file allocation unit. |
