CHAPTER TWO: INSTALLING SYSTEMS Flashcards

Question

what is a fixed disk?

Answer 1

A fixed disk is a storage device inside the computer that doesn’t move or get removed easily (like an SSD or HDD inside your PC). They come in standard sizes: - 5.25-inch – Mostly for things like DVD drives. - 3.5-inch – Used for older or larger HDDs. - 2.5-inch – Common for SSDs and laptop HDDs. Computers have drive bays (slots in the case) that fit these storage sizes.

Answer 2

Caddies (metal trays) help mount drives inside the PC. Some caddies have rails, letting you slide the drive in and out without opening the case.

Answer 3

1. Reliability Can the device fail easily or cause data corruption? Different types of storage have different lifespans and failure risks. 2. Performance Read vs. Write speed – Some devices read data (open files) faster than they write data (save files). Sequential vs. Random access – If you transfer big files, you want good sequential speed. If you open lots of small files, you need fast random access. Throughput & IOPS – How much data can it handle per second? Measured in MB/s or GB/s. IOPS (input/output operations per second) is a key metric for tasks like running databases. 3. Use Cases - OS drive – Needs to be fast and reliable (SSDs are best). - Gaming – SSDs improve load times. - Streaming or media storage – Needs high capacity (HDDs work well). - Backup – Reliability matters more than speed. - Removable media – Things like USB drives are portable but not ideal for everyday use.

Answer 4

Solid-State Drives. Think of an SSD like a super-fast USB drive built into your computer. Instead of moving parts like in old-school hard drives, SSDs use flash memory, which is a type of storage that lets your computer quickly read and write data.

Answer 5

Faster Performance: Since there are no spinning disks or moving parts, SSDs load files and programs much faster than traditional hard drives. More Durable: They don’t have mechanical parts, so they’re less likely to break if your laptop gets bumped or dropped. Getting Cheaper: SSD prices have dropped a lot in recent years, so they’re more affordable than before. They Wear Out Over Time: Flash memory doesn’t last forever. After too many write operations, the memory cells can degrade, meaning they stop working properly. Wear Leveling: To make SSDs last longer, the drive’s built-in software (called firmware) spreads out the writing across all memory blocks, so no single part gets worn out too quickly.

Answer 6

A hard disk drive is the old-school way of storing data. It’s like a high-tech record player that stores data on spinning metal or glass disks called platters. HDDs are generally slower than SSDs, but they’re cheaper and can hold a lot more data. That’s why they’re often used as secondary storage or backup drives.

Answer 7

1. The platters spin super-fast, and tiny mechanical arms (read/write heads) move back and forth to read and write data. 2. Each platter is divided into circular tracks (like rings on a tree), and those tracks are split into tiny sections called sectors, each holding a small piece of data.

Answer 8

Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID is a fancy way of using multiple hard drives or SSDs together to improve performance or protect your data

Answer 9

If a single hard drive or SSD fails, you can lose all your data. RAID helps prevent this by combining multiple drives into one system, so if one fails, the others can keep working. Even though RAID uses multiple drives, your computer sees them as a single storage unit.

Answer 10

Some RAID setups sacrifice a little bit of storage space to create backup copies of your data automatically. That way, if a drive crashes, you don’t lose everything.

Answer 11

There are different ways to configure RAID, called levels. (numbered 0 to 6). Some focus on speed, others on backup protection, and some do both.

Answer 12

RAID 10 is a mix of RAID 1 and RAID 0, giving you a balance of speed and fault tolerance.

Answer 13

Software RAID: Uses the computer’s operating system to manage the RAID setup. Hardware RAID: Uses a special adapter card that connects to the motherboard and manages the RAID system independently.

Answer 14

With hardware RAID, if a drive fails, you can hot swap it, meaning you can replace the broken drive without shutting down your computer.

Answer 15

These are storage devices that you can easily move from one computer to another without opening up the computer case.

Answer 16

1. Storage Devices That Move – like external hard drives or USB flash drives, which you can unplug and plug into another computer. 2. Storage Media That Moves – like CDs, DVDs, or memory cards that you insert into a drive and can remove when needed.

Answer 17

A hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) can be put into a special box called an enclosure to make it portable. This enclosure has a data interface (a connection like USB, Thunderbolt, or eSATA) that lets the drive talk to the computer.

Answer 18

a type of storage that doesn’t need power to keep data, just like SSDs.

Answer 19

also called USB drives, thumb drives, or pen drives, are small devices with a USB plug that lets you connect them to a computer.

Answer 20

are tiny storage chips used in cameras, smartphones, and tablets to store photos, videos, or apps. A memory card reader is a device that lets a computer read memory cards. It’s usually built into a computer or can be an external device that connects via USB.

Answer 21

These are drives that read and write CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs (BDs)—which are used for music, movies, and data storage. They use a laser to read and write data on the disc. While optical discs are advertised as long-lasting, scratches can make them unreadable.

Answer 22

speed ratings, written as record/rewrite/read speeds (e.g., 24x/16x/52x). - Record (write) speed is how fast it can burn data onto a disc. - Rewrite speed is how fast it can erase and rewrite data on a rewritable disc. - Read speed is how fast it can read data from the disc.

Answer 23

These are tiny, super-fast memory locations inside the CPU that store instructions while they’re being processed.

Answer 24

This is a bigger, faster memory where the computer temporarily stores data it’s working on. RAM is volatile, meaning it loses all data when the computer turns off.

Answer 25

If your system runs out of RAM, it can extend memory using the hard drive or SSD. Together, physical RAM + swap space = Virtual Memory (Virtual RAM). The operating system moves data in 4 KB chunks called pages between RAM and swap space. If there’s too much swapping, the system slows down because hard drives are much slower than RAM.

Answer 26

Think of your computer’s memory like a huge set of mailboxes, each with a unique address. The address bus is like a mail carrier who needs to know every mailbox’s location. The wider the address bus, the more mailboxes (memory locations) the system can track. A 32-bit CPU has an address bus that can handle 4 billion mailboxes (4 GB of memory).

Answer 27

The data bus is like the number of lanes on a highway—it determines how much data can be moved in and out of memory at once. In most systems, this is 64 bits wide, meaning it can move 64 bits of data per cycle.

Answer 28

Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM

Answer 29

Dynamic RAM: Stores each bit of data as an electrical charge in a tiny capacitor (like a mini-battery).

Answer 30

Synchronous DRAM: Works in sync with the system clock, making it more efficient.

Answer 31

Double Data Rate: Transfers data twice per clock cycle instead of just once. Newer versions of DDR (like DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, DDR5) keep improving speed by increasing the data transfer rate rather than making the memory chips themselves much faster. This helps avoid overheating and instability.

Answer 32

are circuit boards with multiple RAM chips.

Answer 33

DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module): The type of RAM used in desktops. It has little notches (keys) to prevent inserting the wrong type. SODIMM (Small Outline DIMM): The smaller version used in laptops.

Answer 34

Single-channel memory: Uses a single 64-bit pathway between the CPU and RAM. Dual-channel memory: Adds a second 64-bit pathway, effectively doubling the data transfer rate to 128 bits per cycle.

Answer 35

Error-Correcting Code RAM This is a special type of RAM used in servers and workstations where reliability is crucial. - It has an extra checksum (error-checking value) stored alongside the data to catch errors. - Uses a 72-bit bus instead of a 64-bit one - Single-bit errors can be detected and corrected automatically. - Multi-bit errors (2-4 bits) can only be detected, not fixed, and the system will stop to prevent data corruption.

Answer 36

RDIMM (Registered DIMM): Uses an extra chip to reduce the electrical load on the memory controller, improving stability but slightly reducing speed. UDIMM (Unbuffered DIMM): Regular RAM without extra error-checking or buffering.

Answer 37

A CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of a computer. It’s the part that does all the thinking and makes sure everything runs properly. Whenever you open an app, play a game, or browse the internet, your CPU is hard at work following a list of instructions to make everything happen.

Answer 38

1. Fetch – It grabs the next instruction (like "open this file" or "run this game"). 2. Decode – It figures out what that instruction actually means. 3. Execute – It carries out the instruction, either by itself or by sending it to special parts inside it (like the ALU for math operations or the FPU for complex calculations). 4. Store – It saves the result so the computer can use it.

Answer 39

Registers – Tiny storage areas inside the CPU that work super fast. Cache – A small, high-speed memory that keeps frequently used data so the CPU doesn’t have to keep fetching it from the slower main memory (RAM).

Answer 40

1. Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) (also called HyperThreading by Intel) 2. Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) 3. Chip-Level Multiprocessing (CMP) 4. Multithreading Notation (nC/nT)

Answer 41

Think of a single CPU as a worker at a desk. Normally, they do one task at a time. With SMT, it’s like they have two hands and can work on two tasks at the same time. It doesn’t double their speed, but it makes things more efficient.

Answer 42

Instead of just one worker, you have two (or more) CPUs in the same computer, so the work can be divided between them. This is expensive and mostly used in high-end computers like servers.

Answer 43

Instead of putting multiple separate CPUs in a computer, manufacturers started putting multiple CPU cores inside a single chip. So a dual-core CPU is like having two workers inside one CPU. A quad-core CPU has four, and so on. Today, CPUs with 8, 16, or even more cores are common.

Answer 44

If you see something like 8C/16T, that means the CPU has 8 cores and can run 16 threads (because of multithreading).

Answer 45

Imagine you want to run Windows and Linux on the same computer at the same time. Virtualization makes that possible by allowing one physical computer to act like several separate computers (called Virtual Machines (VMs)).

Answer 46

Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) sockets make it easy to install CPUs without bending the delicate pins.

Answer 47

Desktops – Regular PCs for home or office use, from basic budget models to high-performance gaming computers. Workstations – High-end computers used for things like video editing, 3D modeling, or software development. These often have more powerful CPUs. Servers – Heavy-duty computers that handle large workloads, like websites or databases. These often have multiple CPUs, each with many cores. Mobile CPUs – Found in laptops, smartphones, and tablets. These CPUs focus on power efficiency so that they don’t drain the battery too quickly or overheat. ARM CPUs – Used in many mobile devices because they use less power than Intel/AMD CPUs.