1.1 Hardware - Secondary Storage

Question 1

What is secondary storage used for?

Answer 1

For storing data for a longer amount of time/permanently. Or to store data that won’t be used for a long time and don’t need to be actively retrieved.

Question 2

What type of storage is secondary storage?

Answer 2

Non-Volatile, long term storage.

Question 3

Why is secondary storage so important?

Answer 3

Without it most data would be lost once power is cut.

Question 4

In what form is data stored on secondary Storages?

Answer 4

Binary

Question 5

Name the 3 types of secondary storages devices.

Answer 5

Magnetic Storages Devices
Optical Storage Devices
Solid State Storage Devices

Question 6

Give an example of Magnetic Storage Devices and state how much they hold on an average range.

Answer 6

Hard Disk Drives (HDD) - 320MB-8TB
Tape 200GB-400GB

Question 7

Give an example of Optical Storage Devices and state how much they hold on an average range.

Answer 7

CD - 650MB
DVD - 9GB
Blu-ray - 50GB

Question 8

Give an example of Solid State Storage Devices and state how much they hold on an average range.

Answer 8

Solid State Drive (SSD) - 320MB-8TB
USB Memory Stick(Flash Drive) - 2GB-512GB

Question 9

In general what are the 4 types of Secondary Storage Devices used.

Answer 9

Flash Drive(USB, SSD)
Magnetic Tape(Tape, Internal HDD)
External Hard Drive(External HDD)
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disks

Question 10

Order the 4 types of Secondary Storage Devices used by Speed.

Answer 10

Flash Drive
External Hard Drives
Disks
Magnetic Tapes

Question 11

Order the 4 types of Secondary Storage Devices used by Durability.

Answer 11

Flash Drive
Disks
Magnetic Tapes
External Hard Drives

Question 12

Describe Magnetic Storage Devices

Answer 12

Magnetic Medium such as tape or a disk which has its data written to using write-head and the data is read using a read-head.

Question 13

Describe Solid State Storage Devices.

Answer 13

There are no moving parts. It is low power, high access speed and durable. SSD is used for storing data while USB is used to transfer that Data around.

Question 14

Describe Optical Storage Devices

Answer 14

It uses lasers. If the light is reflected back then the value is a 1 but it the light doesn’t reflect then it is a zero. Laser both read and write information onto disks.

Question 15

What are the key differences between HDD & SSD?

Answer 15

HDD can hold much more data and lasts much longer. If dropped then it will most likely break due to the moving parts becoming damaged.

SSD is much faster and smaller but tends to hold less data. It won’t break as easily due to the lack of moving parts but it also lacks much less than a HDD.

Unlike an HDD the SSD will stop working after a set amount of tasks are completed by the SSD. This data cannot be retrieved once the SSD dies.

HDD should be used for storing music, pictures or any documents that are important and need to be kept for a long as even if a HDD does break the data can still be retrieved by specialists in a special environment. This means they are also good for being the computers primary storage location as that is where some parts of the computers os and etc would be stored.

SSD should be used for things such as games as they are really fast allowing for better gaming experience and even if the SSD does die then it is okay as the data is backed up virtually on a server.

Question 16

Are these secondary storage devices portable?

Answer 16

All of them are portable but you need to be careful with HDD as they are very fragile.

Question 17

What is a virtual form of storing data?

Answer 17

Cloud Storage

Question 18

What does Cloud storage entail?

Answer 18

Storing data in a server at a remote location through the use of the internet .

Question 19

What are the advantages of Cloud Storage?

Answer 19

Data can be accessed from anywhere as long as there is access to internet.

As a business is running the server you don’t have to worry about making back ups or about the security of it.

You can easily expand the storage without the need of buying new components/hardware.

Question 20

What are the disadvantages of Cloud Storage?

Answer 20

SInce you can use internet to access it so can a hacker.

Without internet you can’t access the files.

You can’t ensure that the security of the files is up to date as you need to rely on someone else.

It is possible that an employee of the service has access to your files.

Question 21

Name some companies that provide Cloud storage along with the name of the service.

Answer 21

Google - Google Drive
Microsoft - OneDrive
Apple - iCloud
Amazon - Amazon Drive