Secondary Storage

Question 1

What does Volatile mean

Answer 1

Memory that requires power to maintain the stored information - Memory is lost when there is no power

Question 2

What does Non-Volatile mean?

Answer 2

Data is not lost when there is no power, not accessed directly by the CPU

Question 3

What is Exam Tip 1?

Answer 3

Always say if it is internal or external when choosing a suitable device

Question 4

What is storage medium?

Answer 4

Where data is stored and retrieved from

Question 5

Why is a storage device needed?

Answer 5

To access the storage medium

Question 6

What are 3 examples of storage devices?

Answer 6

DVD , Blu-ray disk and CD

Question 7

What is the purpose of secondary storage?

Answer 7

Used to store data, programs and the operating system when the computer is turned off and Can be used to transfer between devices (if storage medium is portable)

Question 8

What is a Kilobyte represented as?

Answer 8

kB

Question 9

What are 3 examples of magnetic storage?

Answer 9

Hard Disk Drives, Magnetic Tape and Floppy Disks

Question 10

Why are hard disk drives easily broken?

Answer 10

Lots of parts are not secure

Question 11

Why is magnetic tape used?

Answer 11

It can back up and archive data in large volumes

Question 12

What are solid state drives referred to as?

Answer 12

Flash memory

Question 13

What are 2 examples of solid state drives

Answer 13

USB Memory Stick

Memory Card

Question 14

What are 5 reasons why a SSD is better than a HDD?

Answer 14

Read-write speeds are faster
No moving parts (less likely to suffer damage)
Less power needed
Faster access speeds
Smaller (easier to move)

Question 15

What are 2 reasons why a HDD could be better than a SSD?

Answer 15

Cheaper

More storage

Question 16

What is the difference between a blu-ray disk and a Digital Versatile Disk?

Answer 16

Blu-ray has better quality as there is more capacity

Question 17

What are 3 examples of optical storage?

Answer 17

Compact Disks (CD)
Digital Versatile Disks (DVD)
Blu-ray Disks (BD)

Question 18

What are pits and lands?

Answer 18

They represent the binary information of the data stored on a disk

Question 19

What are pits?

Answer 19

The bumps burned by lasers

Question 20

What are lands?

Answer 20

Areas not burned by lasers

Question 21

What does a change from a pit to a land represent in binary?

Answer 21

1

Question 22

What does a change to a land to a pit represent in binary?

Answer 22

1

Question 23

What does no change represent in binary (pits and lands)

Answer 23

0

Question 24

What is CD ROM used for?

Answer 24

Generally music as it is read-only

Question 25

How much storage does a CD ROM, CD R and CD RW have?

Answer 25

700MB

Question 26

What is CD R (Recordable)?

Answer 26

A CD that can only be written once

Question 27

What is CD RW (Rewritable)?

Answer 27

A CD that can be re-written and erased many times

Question 28

What is DVD ROM used for?

Answer 28

Usually HD videos and is Read-only

Question 29

What is DVD R?

Answer 29

A DVD that can only be written to once

Question 30

What is DVD RW?

Answer 30

A DVD that can be erased and re-written many times

Question 31

How much storage do DVD ROM, DVD R and DVD RW have?

Answer 31

4.7 GB Single Layer and 9 GB double layer

Question 32

What is BD ROM?

Answer 32

A blu-ray disk that can only read-only, generally used for Ultra-High-Definition Videos

Question 33

What is BD R?

Answer 33

A blu-ray disk that can only be written to once

Question 34

What is BD RW?

Answer 34

A blu-ray disk that can be erased and re-written many times

Question 35

How much storage do BD ROM, BD R and BD RW have?

Answer 35

25GB Single, 50GB Double, 100GB Triple, 128GB Quadruple

Question 36

What are 2 facts about Magnetic Secondary Storage?

Answer 36

Mechanical drive, uses magnetic state

Question 37

What are 2 facts about Solid State Secondary Storage

Answer 37

Millions of transistors, uses electrical circuits

Question 38

What are 2 facts about Optical Secondary Storage

Answer 38

Uses a laser beam, uses pits and lands

Question 39

What has the greatest capacity? Optical Secondary Storage, Solid State Secondary Storage or Magnetic Secondary Storage?

Answer 39

Magnetic

Question 40

What is Virtual RAM?

Answer 40

A storage space on secondary storage

Question 41

What is VRAM also known as?

Answer 41

A swap file

Question 42

When is VRAM used?

Answer 42

When there is no space on the RAM

Question 43

What does VRAM do?

Answer 43

Extends the amount of RAM available

Question 44

What is 1 problem with swapping?

Answer 44

It slows down the computer as secondary storage access times are slower than RAM

Question 45

What is an embedded system?

Answer 45

Computer system embedded into other electrical equipment that performs a specific function

Question 46

What are 3 examples of an embedded system?

Answer 46

Washing machine, microwave and a RC car

Question 47

What kinds of firmware does an embedded system have?

Answer 47

ROM, Processor, Circuit Board

Question 48

Where is the firmware stored in in an embedded system?

Answer 48

The ROM

Question 49

What does a general purpose system do?

Answer 49

Performs wide range of functions

Question 50

What is an example of a general purpose system?

Answer 50

A PC