1.14 Understanding Hard Drives and Storage Technologies

Question 1

What is a Hard Drive (HDD)?

Answer 1

A storage device with spinning magnetic platters that retains data even when powered off.

Question 2

What is Rotational Latency?

Answer 2

The time it takes for the spinning platter to position the data under the read/write head.

Question 3

What is a Solid-State Drive (SSD)?

Answer 3

SSDs have no moving parts, making them faster and more reliable.

Question 4

What is the NVMe Protocol?

Answer 4

It lowers latency and increases throughput by interfacing directly with the PCIe bus.

Question 5

What are the M.2 Key Types?

Answer 5

B Key, M Key, and B+M Key.

Question 6

What is Flash Memory?

Answer 6

It has a limited number of write cycles before becoming read-only.

Question 7

What is the AHCI Protocol?

Answer 7

Advanced Host Controller Interface, a protocol designed for SATA devices.

Question 8

What is Optical Media?

Answer 8

CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and Blu-ray.

Question 9

What is the difference between mSATA and M.2?

Answer 9

mSATA is an older, larger interface, while M.2 is smaller and faster, often using NVMe.

Question 10

What is a USB Flash Drive?

Answer 10

Flash drives are small, easily lost or damaged, and not ideal for long-term storage.