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Computer Science CIE iGCSE > Chapter 6 - Memory and Data Storage > Flashcards

Chapter 6 - Memory and Data Storage Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a Musical Instrument digital interface?

A

MIDI for short
the storage of music files - consists of lists of commands which instruct a device on how to produce a musical note/sound

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2
Q

What is MPEG-3 (MP3)?

A

uses audio compression to store music in MP3 file format

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3
Q

What is MPEG-4 (MP4)?

A

can store multimedia rather than just music

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4
Q

What is Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)?

A

JPEG uses a lossy format file compression method to store photographs at a reduced file size

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5
Q

What is lossless file compression?

A

all the data from the original files are reconstructed when the file is uncompressed

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6
Q

What is lossy file compression?

A

unnecessary data is removed forming a file that cannot be reconstructed to its original file

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7
Q

What are examples of primary memory?

A

RAM, SRAM, DRAM, ROM

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8
Q

What are examples of secondary storage?

A

hard disk drives
solid-state drives
offline storage (CDs, DVDs, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM and blu-ray disks)

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9
Q

Why are MIDI files so small?

A

don’t contain actual audio tracks

suitable for storing sounds/music on devices with limited memory

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10
Q

What is perceptual music shaping?

A

removing sounds that the human ear can not clearly distinguish

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11
Q

How is text usually stored?

A

ASCII file format

lossless: accuracy of data is important

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12
Q

Which primary memory is volatile?

A

RAM

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13
Q

Can RAM be written to and read from?

A

yes

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14
Q

How does DRAM work?

A

needs to be constantly refreshed to retain the data

uses millions of transistors and capacitators

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15
Q

How does SRAM work?

A

does not need to be constantly refreshed to retain its data

uses flip-flops

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16
Q

Which primary memory is non-volatile?

A

ROM

17
Q

What does ROM store?

A

used to store start-up procedures or BIOS

18
Q

What do hard disk drives use?

A

circular platters coated in magnetic material

19
Q

What is used so that all surfaces can be accessed?

A

read-write heads

20
Q

How is data stored in hard disk drives?

A

sectors and tracks in block

21
Q

What is latency?

A

the time taken for a specific block of data on a track to rotate around to the read-write head

22
Q

Why is latency not an issue in SSD?

A

they have no moving parts
all data retrieved at the same rate
therefore no latency

23
Q

What do the most common types of SSD use to control the movement of electrons (and therefore data)?

A

NAND chips

24
Q

What do EEPROMS (electronically erasable programable read-only memory) use?

A

NOR chips

25
Q

What are the advantages of SSDs over HDD?

A 
more reliable and robust (no moving parts)
much lighter and thinner
consumer less power and run cooler
does not need to get up to speed
faster data access rate
26
Q

What do CDs and DVDs use to write and read data?

A

red laser light

27
Q

What does the suffix -R on CDs/DVDs mean?

A

write once and then only be read

28
Q

What does the suffix -RW on CDs/DVDs mean?

A

can be written to and read from several times

29
Q

Why do DVDs hold more data than CDs?

A

dual layering technology (they have two individual recording layers)

30
Q

What type of technology is nearly obsolescent?

A

DVD-RAM

31
Q

How does DVD-RAM work?

A

uses a number of concentric tracks enabling simultaneous read-write operations to take place

32
Q

Why are DVD-RAM ideal for archiving data?

A

they have great longevity

33
Q

What do blu-ray disks use to read and write data?

A

blue laser light

34
Q

Why can blu-ray disks hold more data than CDs and DVDs?

A

wavelength of blue light is 405nm
wavelength of red light is 650nm
can store more data

35
Q

Why do blu-rays not suffer from birefringence (light reflection into two separate beams causing reading errors)?

A

they use single polycarbonate disks rather than DVDs which use a sandwich of two polycarbonate disks

36
Q

What technology do flash memory/memory sticks use?

A

solid-state technology

37
Q

How do flash memory/memory sticks usually connect to the computer?

A

USB port

38
Q

Why are flash memory/memory sticks ideal for transferring files and photos between different computers?

A

small and lightweight

39
Q

What needs to happen for flash memory/memory sticks to retain their data integrity?

A

read every now and again

Computer Science CIE iGCSE (9 decks)

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