Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter B)

Bad Block/Sector
An area on the media that is damaged and thus not reliable (detected by ECC). Such areas are generally auto assigned to spare sectors

Binary
Means of storing data on media, using two digits, (i.e. 0 & 1)

Bit
Binary Digit (i.e. 0 or 1). The form in which computers process information

Block (also cluster)
A group of sectors accessed/stored as a logical unit

BIOS
(Basic Input/Output system, firmware that is permanently stored in the memory of the CPU). The BIOS ROM first performs test routines when a system is switched on. It searches for and loads the operating system from the disk and contains programs to access the system hardware

BPI
Bits per Inch, reflects Areal Density

Buffer
A part of the HDD which temporary stores data. The buffer compensates for a difference in data transfer rates and data processing rates

Byte
a number of bits, considered a unit (8 bits = 1 byte)