Glossary - F
Firmware
is the term for an internal program that is used to control the system (in this case a hard disk). It is typically associated with basic low-level operations, without which the device would not work.
Flash memory
the electrically programmable memory which is able to hold the written data in the long term without power. NAND memory is most commonly used in USB flash drives and SSD.
Floppy disk
flexible disk (floppy disk) indicates a magnetic medium used for storing and transferring electronic data. Its biggest advantage and widespread use are low manufacturing cost of floppy disks as well as devices for their reading and writing. However due to low speed, low capacity and a limited lifetime they were gradually replaced by other media.
Formatting
The process, which gives rise to the deletion of data space of a storage media. Formatting writes metadata describing the blank medium in the form of the selected file system to the disk. There are two levels distinguished - high (high-level format) and low-level (low-level format). The high-level format is performed by a regular user. The low-level format is performed by the hard drive manufacturer immediately after its physical construction.
