3.4 CQ

Question 1

How much data can an SATA Revision 3.0 drive transfer per second?

A. 50 MB/s

B. 90 MB/s

C. 1969 MB/s

D. 6 Gb/s

E. 16 Gb/s

Answer 1

D. SATA Revision 3.0 drives can transfer 6 Gb/s, which after encoding amounts to 600 MB/s. SATA Revision 3.2 is 16 Gb/s (1969 MB/s) but requires SATA Express or M.2. 50 MB/s is a typical write speed for Blu-ray discs and some flash media. 90 MB/s is a typical write speed for an SD card.

Question 2

Which level of RAID stripes data and parity across three or more disks?

A. RAID 0

B. RAID 1

C. RAID 5

D. Striping

E. RAID 10

Answer 2

C. RAID 5 stripes data and parity across three or more disks. RAID 0 does not stripe parity; it stripes data only and can use two disks or more. RAID 1 uses two disks only. Striping is another name for RAID 0. RAID 10 contains two sets of mirrored disks that are then striped.

Question 3

Which of the following has the largest potential for storage capacity?

A. CD-R

B. CD-RW

C. DVD-RW

D. Blu-ray

Answer 3

D. Blu-ray, at a typical maximum of 50 GB, has the largest storage capacity. CDs top out just under 1 GB. DVDs have a maximum of 17 GB.

Question 4

A customer complains that an important disc is stuck in the computer’s DVD-ROM drive. What should you recommend to the customer?

A. To get a screwdriver and disassemble the drive

B. To format the disc

C. To use a paper clip to eject the tray

D. To dispose of the drive and replace the media

Answer 4

C. Tell the customer to use a paper clip to eject the DVD-ROM tray. Disassembling the drive is not necessary; the customer shouldn’t be told to do this. If the disc is rewritable, formatting it would erase the contents, even if you could format in this scenario. Never tell a customer to dispose of a DVD-ROM drive; they rarely fail.

Question 5

Which of the following best describes a specification for accessing storage while using PCI Express?

A. NVMe

B. 7200 RPM

C. Hot-swappable

D. 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch

Answer 5

A. Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a specification for accessing storage while using PCI Express. Essentially, the M.2 slot on a motherboard taps into the PCI Express bus (×4) and uses a portion of the total bandwidth associated with that bus. The platters in a hard disk drive (HDD) rotate at a certain speed. For example, 7200 RPM is common; other typical speeds include 5400 RPM and 10,000 RPM. Hot-swappable capability is when drives can be removed and inserted while the system is on. SATA-based hard drives come in two main widths: 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch. The 3.5-inch drive is used in desktop computers, network-attached storage, and other larger devices. The 2.5-inch drive is used in laptops and other smaller devices.