09. Input, output and storage devices

Question 1

What is an input device?

Answer 1

Any device that allows you to pass information from the outside word into a computer system

Question 2

What is an output device?

Answer 2

Any device that can take data stored in digital form and convert it into another format that humans can process such as sound, images or vibrations.”

Question 3

What is a storage device?

Answer 3

Any device used for either temporary or permanent storage of data – can be internal or external.

Question 4

What are the 3 types of storage media?

Answer 4

Magnetic
Optical
Solid State

Question 5

How does an optical disk work?

Answer 5

A reflective platter consists of pits and lands. A laser shines into the pits and sets the value to 1. This method stores binary 1’s and 0’s

Question 6

What are the benefits of optical storage?

Answer 6

Cheap, Lightweight and Portable

Question 7

What are the negatives of optical media?

Answer 7

Slow access times
Prone to scratching

Question 8

How does magnetic storage work?

Answer 8

Magnetised regions on a hard disk platter represent 1’s and 0’s. A region with the North Pole facing up represents a 1. A region with the South Pole facing up represents a 0

Question 9

What are the benefits of magnetic storage?

Answer 9

Cheap, Large capacity

Question 10

What are the drawbacks of magnetic storage?

Answer 10

Slow access times
Fragile

Question 11

How does Solid State/Flash storage work?

Answer 11

An oxide layer keeps the floating gas isolated so that any electrons on the floating gate are kept there. This is used to hold an electrical charge

Question 12

What are the benefits of flash storage?

Answer 12

Durable
Fast Access Times

Question 13

What are the drawbacks to Solid State Storage

Answer 13

Cost
Limited Read/Writes

Question 14

What is the ROM?

Answer 14

A Small piece of non-volatile read only memory located on the motherboard.

Contains the bootstrap

Question 15

What is the bootstrap?

Answer 15

The first instructions for the computer

Question 16

What is RAM?

Answer 16

Fast, Volatile, Temporary storage of instructions and data

Question 17

What process does the ROM Bootstrap initiate?

Answer 17

Power-On-Self-Test (POST)

Question 18

Why is the POST important?

Answer 18

It makes the CPU aware of other attached components such as a Hard Disk or RAM

Question 19

What is Virtual Storage?

Answer 19

Virtual storage: Often referred to as cloud storage, virtual storage is “the concept of storing and retrieving data over the internet in the cloud instead of a local storage device.

Question 20

What are the advantages to virtual storage?

Answer 20

Easy Collaboration
Can be accessed from any device
Limitless Storage

Question 21

What are the disadvantages to virtual storage?

Answer 21

Can be expensive for high volume solutions
Poor connectivity can lead to slow transfer speeds
No Connectivity means no file access