Access Method

Access Method - 1) In computing, an access method is a program or a hardware mechanism that moves data between the computer and an outlying device such as a hard disk (or other form of storage) or a display terminal. The term is sometimes used to refer to the mechanics of placing or locating specific data at a particular place on a storage medium and then writing the data or reading it. It is also used to describe the way that data is located within a larger unit of data such as a data set or file.

2) An access method is also an application program interface (API) that a programmer uses to create or access data sets or to read from or write to a display terminal or other output device. Examples are the Virtual Sequential Access Method (VSAM) and the Virtual Telecommunication Access Method (VTAM).

Related glossary terms: hard disk, magnetoresistive head technology, yottabyte, byte, partition, InfiniBand, failover, RAMAC (random access method of accounting and control), Fibre Channel

[Category=Data Management ]

Source: WhatIs.com, 03 July 2013 09:58:44, http://whatis.techtarget.com/glossary/Data-and-Data-Management