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Term
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Description
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Large
Mode
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Using
the CHS (Cylinder, Heads, Sectors) method of translation, your computers BIOS
could not recognize hard drives over 528 Mb. The Enhanced BIOS feature, Large
Mode supports hard drives larger than 528 Mb, up to 1 GB.
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Latency
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The
read/write heads in a drive have to move from track to track on the disk and
read or write information to individual sectors. Because the disk is
spinning, once a read/write head is in position, there may be a very short
delay before the targeted sector is under the head. This delay is known as
the latency factor and values are given in milliseconds.
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LBA
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Logical
Block Addressing. An Enhanced BIOS translation method that allows for larger
hard drive sizes (up to 2 terabytes), by providing the Operating System with
a long list of Logical Block Addresses instead of the Cylinder, Heads, Sector
configuration.
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Legacy
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An
older style adapter card that does not support Plug & Play. It may have
to be configured using a software configuration program or by physically
arranging jumpers on the board.
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Level 1
Cache
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See
Internal Cache.
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Level 2
Cache
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See
External Cache.
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Loadhigh
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Loadhigh
or LH is a DOS command used in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file that allows you to load
some devices or TSRs into upper memory freeing up precious conventional
memory.
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Local
Bus
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A bus
or electronic pathway that allows access to the CPU at a speed synchronized
with the CPU.
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Local
Printer
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A
printer attached to a stand-alone computer. Or, in networking, it refers to a
printer attached to a specific workstation instead of a file server or print
server.
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Logic
Board
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See
Motherboard.
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Logical
Drive
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The
partitioning or division of a large hard drive into smaller units. A single,
large Physical Drive can be partitioned into two or more smaller Logical
Drives.
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Login
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The
process of typing in a password, and possibly a user name, to gain access to
a computer, a network or an Internet Service Provider.
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Logoff
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The
process of ending a session with a certain computer, network, or Internet
Service Provider.
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Lost
Chain
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One or
more clusters on your hard drive that used to be part of a file but have lost
their connection with the file and now have no entry in the File Allocation
Table. Programs like CHKDSK and SCANDISK can delete these chains and free up
disk space.
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Lost
Clusters
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A
cluster on your hard drive that used to be part of a file but now has no
entry in the File Allocation Table. Programs like CHKDISK and SCANDISK can
remove these clusters and free up space on your hard drive.
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Low-level
Format
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Low-level
Formatting creates the Tracks and Sectors on a blank hard drive. The drives
you buy today are Low-level Formatted at the factory. Low-level Formatting
these hard drives yourself is not recommended by the manufacturer.
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Lowercase
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As
opposed to Uppercase, Lowercase letters take the form of a,b,c instead of
A,B,C. Programs that are 'case-sensitive' can differentiate between upper and
lowercase.
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LPT
Port
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A
parallel communications port often used by a printer. On the back of your
computer you will see a DB-25 female port. It's a D-shaped port with 25 holes
arranged in two lines.
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Lurking
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Reading
or watching online messages or chat room conversations without taking part in
the discussio
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