Chapter 8

Question 1

Spindle speed

Answer 1

The spinning platters measured in revolutions per minute RPM

Question 2

Hard disk drivers HDD are manufactured in two form factors

Answer 2

2.5” and 3.5”

Question 3

Is mSATA and regular SATA the same?

Answer 3

No!

Question 4

NAND

Answer 4

nonvolatile flash memory - rotations data when power is turned off or disconnected

Question 5

Multi-level cell (MLC)

Answer 5

Memory technology in place of the more efficient single level cell SLC technology to cut costs

Question 6

NAND

Answer 6

nonvolatile flash memory —- retains data when power is turned off or disconnected

Question 7

Less expensive SSDs are typically more reliable. True or False.

Answer 7

False

Question 8

3DNAND

Answer 8

Popular type of memory technology in SSD’s —— a form of MLC that stacks cells vertically, providing increased density and capacity

Question 9

3 Big performance metrics to weigh when you buy an SSD

Answer 9

1. How fast I can read or write long sequences of data stored in the same part of the drive.
2. How fast I can read or write small chunks of data scattered randomly around the drive and how quickly you can respond to a single request.

3 is combined into 2 ahaha

Question 10

IOPS

Answer 10

Input/output operations per second

Question 11

Latency

Answer 11

Usually expressed in mili seconds (MS) or microseconds (US)

Question 12

Setting up communication between a CPU and a mass storage drive requires two main items:

Answer 12

1. Must be standardized physical connections between the CPU, the driver controller, and the physical drive. These connections must send data between these devices as quickly as possible while still retaining good security.
2. The CPU needs to use a standardized protocol sort of like a special language so it knows how to speak to the mass storage device to read and write data to the device.

Question 13

PATA is referred to as what?

Answer 13

Integrated drive electronics (IDE) drives

Question 14

PATA

Answer 14

Uses unique 40 pin ribbon cables

These ribbon cables are usually plugged in directly into a systems motherboard

CompTIA will call this IDE cables

Question 15

ATA/ATAPI version 3 introduced:

Answer 15

Self monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (S.M.A.R.T)z

An internal drive program that tracked errors and error conditions with in the drive

Question 16

CompTIA exam tip about PATA

Answer 16

Objectives refer to the 40 pin PATA ribbon cable as an IDE cable. They’re the same thing. Don’t miss this one on the exam

Question 17

What are the 3 commons STATS specific varieties for SATA drives?

Answer 17

1.5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, and 6 Gbps which have max throughput of 150 MBps, 300 MBps, and 600 MBps

Question 18

SATA Express (SATAe)

Answer 18

Ties capable drives directly into the PCI express bus on mother boards

Question 19

External SATA (eSATA)

Answer 19

Extended to SATA bus to external devices

Question 20

Know your cable lengths

Answer 20

PATA (IDE): 18”

SATA: 1 meter

eSATA: 2 meter

Question 21

Advanced host controller interface (AHCI)

Answer 21

An efficient way to work with Sarah HBAs. Using this unlocked some of the advanced features of SATA such as native command queuing and hot swapping.

Question 22

Native command queuing (NCQ)

Answer 22

Is a disk optimization feature for SATA drives. Use SATA interface to be faster with reading and writing speeds. While SATA supports hot swapping ability, the motherboard and the operating system must also support this.

Question 23

Non-volatile memory

Answer 23

is a computer memory that can retain information even when there’s no power supply. Unlike volatile memory, which loses data during power outages, NVM ensures persistent data storage. NVM offers several advantages, including: Fast access times** Low power consumption** High reliability** Reduced energy for write operations** Improved host integrity** NVM is commonly used for data retention and portable storage.

Question 24

NVMe SSDs

Answer 24

Comes in a few formats such as add-on expansion card using a PCIe slot on the motherboard, a 2.5 inch drive that works with a SATAe connector, and the most common style M.2 format. —— these are more expensive than other SSDs but offer much higher speeds

Question 25

Small computer system interface (SCSI)

Answer 25

is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives.

Question 26

Serial attached SCSI (SAS)

Answer 26

Hard drive provides fast and robust storage for servers and storage arrays today

Question 27

SAS4

Answer 27

Provides speeds of up to 22.5 Gbps

Question 28

Mirror drives

Answer 28

Are just copies of the original drive and only to be used if the main one dies

Question 29

Dis mirroring

Answer 29

The process of reading and writing data at the same time to two drives

Question 30

Disk duplexing

Answer 30

allows you to write data across multiple physical disks instead of just one physical disk —- faster than disk mirroring

Question 31

Disk stripping

Answer 31

Spreading the data among multiple (at least two) drives

Question 32

Disk stripping and parity

Answer 32

Protect data by adding extra information called parity data that can be used to rebuild data if one of the drives fails

Question 33

JBOD

Answer 33

Just a bunch of disks or drives

Question 34

Redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disk (RAID)

Answer 34

An array describes two or more drives working as a unit

Question 35

RAID 0 Disk stripping

Answer 35

Requires at least two drives. Does not provide redundancy to data. If any one drive fails, all data is lost. AKA scary RAID

Question 36

RAID 1 Disk mirroring/duplexing

Answer 36

Requires at least two hard drives, although they also work with any even number of drives. The ultimate and safety but you lose storage space because the data is duplicated, you need two 2-TB drives to store 2 TB of data

Question 37

RAID 5 - Disk stripping w/ distributed parity

Answer 37

Instead of dedicated data and parity drives, this drive distributes data and parity information evenly across all drives. Fastest way to provide data redundancy Requires a least 3 drives

Question 38

RAID 6 - Disk stripping w/ extra parity

Answer 38

Needs at least 4 drives, but you can lose up to two drives @ the same time.

Question 39

RAID 10 - Nested stripped mirrors

Answer 39

Aka RAID 1+0 sometimes a “stripe of mirrors” Requires 4 drives a pair of drives is configured as a mirror and then the same is done to another pair to achieve a pair of RAID 1 arrays If you need more space add another mirrored pair to the striped arrays

Question 40

RAID 0+1 Nested, mirrored stripes

Answer 40

Is a nested set of a raise that works in opposite configuration from RAID 10 Minimum of 4 drives to implement RAID 0+1 Start w/ two RAID 0 striped arrays then mirrors the two arrays to each other

Question 41

Hot swapping

Answer 41

The ability to replace a bad drive w/o disturbing the OS

Question 42

External RAID box (aka enclosure)

Answer 42

This model is typical offering 3 options for the two devices inside: no RAID, RAID 0, or RAID 1

Question 43

What are the most common spindle speeds?

Answer 43

7,200 5,400 10,100 15,000

Question 44

Which form factor connects directly to a dedicated motherboard socket?

Answer 44

M.2 SSD

Question 45

What is an advantage of NVMe SSD?

Answer 45

Faster read/wrire speeds

Question 46

How do SSDs avoids the need to use moving mechanical parts?

Answer 46

By using flash memory

Question 47

What is the max cable length of an internal SATA device?

Answer 47

1 meter

Question 48

What is the max # of SATA drives you can have on a system?

Answer 48

There is no max - just the limitation of your motherboard

Question 49

Which SATA version offers the least overhead ( & thus best performance ) ?

Answer 49

SATAe

Question 50

Which standard supports magnetic SATA drives most efficiently?

Answer 50

AHCI

Question 51

Which RAID standard requires at least four drives?

Answer 51

RAID 10