Definition: Direct Memory Access (DMA)


A process for transferring data directly to and from main memory, without passing through the CPU. DMA improves speed and efficiency by allowing the system to continue CPU processing even while it is transferring data to/from the hard drive.




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Data Recovery Fact

Cluster

Cluster is a basic allocation unit on a hard drive. It is a group of contiguous sectors. The cluster size (number of sectors per cluster) varies with the storage media and is fixed at time of format. At least one cluster is allocated to each file, regardless of the file's size, that is stored in the DOS environment.

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