1.1.3 Hardware: Storage requirements Flashcards
What is a half-byte called? (4 bits)
A nibble (Also known as a Nybble).
How many bits are in a byte?
8 bits.
What is the term for 1,024 bytes?
A Kilobyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Kilobytes?
A Megabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Megabytes?
A Gigabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Gigabytes?
A Terabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Terabytes?
A petabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Petabytes?
An Exabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Exabytes?
A Zettabyte.
What is the term for 1,024 Zettabytes?
A Yottabyte.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of a magnetic hard disk? (HDD)
Cheap, 500GB-12TB, Slow, Internal or External storage (External HDDs are portable), Prone to drops, very reliable in good conditions.
Typically used for long-term storage of programs and data.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of a CD optical disk? (CD)
Very cheap, 640MB, Very slow, Very portable, Easily scratched, Very reliable in good conditions.
Typically used for backups, archives, copies of data or distribution of programs and music.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of a DVD optical disk? (DVD)
Cheap-Expensive, 4.7GB, Slow, Very portable, Easily scratched, Very reliable in good conditions.
Typically used for backups, copies of data, distribution of games, TV programmes and movies.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of a Solid State Drive? (SSD)
Expensive-Very expensive, 256GB-4TB, Very fast, Internal or External storage (External SSDs are very portable), Robust and resilient, Very reliable.
Typically used for long-term storage of programs and data where high performance is required.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of a USB flash drive? (USB Memory Stick)
Cheap-Expensive, 2GB-2TB, Fast, Very portable, Robust and resilient, Reliable.
Typically used for copying data or transferring files between computers.
What are the advantages, disadvantages, typical capacities and use cases of an SD card?
Cheap-Expensive, 4GB-1TB, Fast, Very portable, Robust and resilient, Reliable.
Typically used for storing photos taken on a digital camera.
What is the difference between volatile and non-volatile memory?
Volatile memory (i.e Main Memory) is not persistent. A loss of power to a volatile memory chip will cause all data to be lost. (A good way to remember: Stocks are volatile- they go up and down, or drop to nothing).
Hence, non-volatile memory (i.e SSD storage) is persistant and will remain in place even after loss of power to the memory chip.
What are the differences between RAM and ROM?
- RAM is able to be read from and written to, whereas ROM can only be read from.
