Volume (data storage)

A volume , also known as a drive , refers to a collection of addressable data blocks on computer systems that can be used by an operating system or a computer program for data storage. A volume is a self-contained group of contiguous blocks of data, or it gives the impression that it is, since the actual data storage does not have to be contiguous and contiguous on one or more physical storage media.

Partitioning

Very often, volumes aresharedwith partitions . The concept of partitioning divides a volume into logical, individually usable parts. A volume can contain a partition table with one or more partitions, but can also be used without further division.

By definition, a partition is again a volume .

use

A volume very often contains a file system that organizes the storage space available for managing data storage in the form of files and directories . The term can therefore be found on many file systems, for example as a volume ID or volume label . Many operating systems are suspended disk, or the file systems on also as a volume called. So called z. B. macOS from Apple all initialized partitions volume and generally uses a subdirectory below as the mount point/Volumes . Under Windows from Microsoft , in addition to the traditional name drive (from drive letter , which corresponds to a mount point), the term volume is also used, for example from diskpart. Flexible storage concepts are common among many Unix-like systems , such as the Logical Volume Manager used by Linux , which can combine physical or logical data storage into volumes and divide them into partitions.

However, there are also computer programs that access volumes directly. An example of this are database systems that can be configured in such a way that they can be used directly and without the aid of a file system, e.g. B. use a partition to manage the entries.

Most operating systems can also manage virtual or logical volumes . So it is e.g. B. under Unix and Unix- like systems such as Linux or macOS, as well as under Windows, it is possible to use files as volumes themselves . On Unix, this has always been about the successful device Loop , are at macOS all .dmg- memory dumps and for Windows. B. VHD hard disk images integrated into the system in the same way. Also ISO images can as physical identical on many systems, optical storage media in a real optical drive are used - they get an indistinguishable mount point or a drive letter, exactly the same, as is the case with a physical medium. Sometimes a complete drive is emulated ( virtual drive ).

drive

The term volume is found on some operating systems as a synonym for mountable data storage. An example of this is macOS - anything that has a supported file system is a volume here . This is different z. B. Windows , where available volumes are mainly referred to as drives , and are therefore usually given a drive letter.

This use of the term does not therefore cover uninitialized volumes that do not contain a file system or other data structures that the operating system can use. However, such volumes are then often displayed in utilities as volumes (or partitions) of the raw type (English for "raw", unformatted).

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Andreas Dewald, Felix C. Freiling: Forensic Computer Science . Books on Demand, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7322-1208-8 ( full text in Google Book Search): “Definition 26 (drive and partition): A drive ( volume ) is a set of addressable blocks that an operating system or an application can use to store data. A partition ( Partition ) is a set of consecutive blocks in a drive. "
^ Brian Carrier: File System Forensic Analysis . Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005, ISBN 978-0-13-443954-9 (English, full text in the Google book search): “A volume is a collection of addressable sectors that an Operating System (OS) or application can use for data storage. The sectors in a volume need not be consecutive on a physical storage device; instead, they need to only give the impression that they are. "
↑ Frequently asked questions about architecture Disk partitioning GUID table. Further information. In: Help and Support. Microsoft , August 4, 2009, accessed on February 9, 2014 (English): " Removable media without either GUID Partition Table or MBR formatting is considered a 'superfloppy." "
↑ Jeremy D. Zawodny, Derek J. Balling: High performance MySQL: Optimization, data backup, replication & load distribution . advanced techniques for MySQL administrators. O'Reilly Germany, 2005, ISBN 978-3-89721-388-3 ( full text in the Google book search): “Do you even need a file system? Traditionally, high-end database servers have not used a file system at all. Rather, the database server has bypassed the file system interface entirely and communicated directly with the hard drives. This direct access ( raw access ) requires that the database server itself takes care of the administration of the space, the fragmentation and the read / write access. "
↑ Florian Gründel: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard . MITP-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8266-7506-5 ( full text in the Google book search): “You will come across the term volume in Mac OS X when it comes to drives, hard drives, disk images and file systems. Volume can also be used synonymously with partition, but goes beyond the pure synonym meaning. A volume on Mac OS X is generally a disk. It doesn't matter what type of physical disk or where the volume is located. This can be a hard disk partition, a network drive, a mounted disk image or an external mass storage device such as an external hard disk or a USB stick. Even a memory card in a digital camera is a volume for Mac OS X. As long as there is an undamaged file system on the volume that is recognized by Mac OS X, you can work with the volume. "
↑ Volume. In: Dictionary. Computer Hope, November 13, 2018, accessed on March 24, 2020 (English): “When referring to data storage, a volume refers to a logical drive, which has a single file system and is usually located on a single partition. For instance, on a typical Microsoft Windows computer, the volume named C: contains the operating system. In Windows, any drive which has an assigned drive letter is a volume. (Definition 2) "
↑ The RAW Partition / Drive Problem: Reasons and How to Solve It Without Losing Data. In: information bank. UFS Explorer, February 20, 2019, accessed on March 24, 2020 : “RAW is a state of a storage device or a specific partition that, from the operating system's point of view, lacks a valid file system. In fact, it doesn't matter to the operating system whether it is absent / damaged or its type is unsupported: it simply cannot find any data that it expects to be in certain locations on the hard drive and therefore cannot use the format and Identify the way files are saved. "

[Forensische_Informatik-Definition_Laufwerk-1] A ^b Andreas Dewald, Felix C. Freiling: Forensic Computer Science . Books on Demand, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7322-1208-8 ( full text in Google Book Search): “Definition 26 (drive and partition): A drive ( volume ) is a set of addressable blocks that an operating system or an application can use to store data. A partition ( Partition ) is a set of consecutive blocks in a drive. "

[File_System_Forensic_Analysis-Volume_Concepts-2] Brian Carrier: File System Forensic Analysis . Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005, ISBN 978-0-13-443954-9 (English, full text in the Google book search): “A volume is a collection of addressable sectors that an Operating System (OS) or application can use for data storage. The sectors in a volume need not be consecutive on a physical storage device; instead, they need to only give the impression that they are. "

[superfloppy-3] Frequently asked questions about architecture Disk partitioning GUID table. Further information. In: Help and Support. Microsoft , August 4, 2009, accessed on February 9, 2014 (English): " Removable media without either GUID Partition Table or MBR formatting is considered a 'superfloppy." "

[4] Jeremy D. Zawodny, Derek J. Balling: High performance MySQL: Optimization, data backup, replication & load distribution . advanced techniques for MySQL administrators. O'Reilly Germany, 2005, ISBN 978-3-89721-388-3 ( full text in the Google book search): “Do you even need a file system? Traditionally, high-end database servers have not used a file system at all. Rather, the database server has bypassed the file system interface entirely and communicated directly with the hard drives. This direct access ( raw access ) requires that the database server itself takes care of the administration of the space, the fragmentation and the read / write access. "

[5] Florian Gründel: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard . MITP-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8266-7506-5 ( full text in the Google book search): “You will come across the term volume in Mac OS X when it comes to drives, hard drives, disk images and file systems. Volume can also be used synonymously with partition, but goes beyond the pure synonym meaning. A volume on Mac OS X is generally a disk. It doesn't matter what type of physical disk or where the volume is located. This can be a hard disk partition, a network drive, a mounted disk image or an external mass storage device such as an external hard disk or a USB stick. Even a memory card in a digital camera is a volume for Mac OS X. As long as there is an undamaged file system on the volume that is recognized by Mac OS X, you can work with the volume. "

[6] Volume. In: Dictionary. Computer Hope, November 13, 2018, accessed on March 24, 2020 (English): “When referring to data storage, a volume refers to a logical drive, which has a single file system and is usually located on a single partition. For instance, on a typical Microsoft Windows computer, the volume named C: contains the operating system. In Windows, any drive which has an assigned drive letter is a volume. (Definition 2) "

[7] The RAW Partition / Drive Problem: Reasons and How to Solve It Without Losing Data. In: information bank. UFS Explorer, February 20, 2019, accessed on March 24, 2020 : “RAW is a state of a storage device or a specific partition that, from the operating system's point of view, lacks a valid file system. In fact, it doesn't matter to the operating system whether it is absent / damaged or its type is unsupported: it simply cannot find any data that it expects to be in certain locations on the hard drive and therefore cannot use the format and Identify the way files are saved. "