Module 5: Supporting Hard Drives and Other Storage Devices

Question 1

What technology is used to assure that the logical block addressing on a solid-state drive does not always address the same physical blocks, in order to distribute write operations?

Answer 1

Wear leveling

Wear leveling assures that the logical block addressing does not always address the same physical blocks in order to distribute write operations evenly across the solid-state drive.

Question 2

During normal Windows operations, you receive a BSOD, and your computer shuts down. You restart the computer and receive the error again. You go online to check the error and see that it is an error related to reading data from virtual memory.

What hardware might cause this BSOD error?

Answer 2

Hard drive

Virtual memory is stored on the hard drive. If you receive a BSOD that indicates a virtual memory problem, the hard drive is likely the cause of the problem.

Question 3

Terry came into work and turned on his computer. During the boot process, the computer shut down. When he tried again, the computer showed the error message, OS not found. Terry called the help desk and explained the computer issue. The help desk technician asked Terry to open the computer.

As a help desk technician, what would you have Terry check on his computer with the case cover removed?

Answer 3

SATA cable connection

Check to make sure the SATA data cable is connected to the hard drive. Also have Terry verify the SATA data cable is connected to the motherboard properly. You should also ask Terry to check the SATA power cable to verify it is connected properly.

Question 4

If you are adding a hard drive to a system that already has a drive with Windows installed on it, what should you do?

Answer 4

Boot Windows and use Disk Management to prepare the new drive.

If you are installing a second hard drive in a system that already has Windows installed on it, you should boot Windows and use Disk Management to prepare the new drive.

Question 5

Match the Optical Drive type to the amount of data the disk will hold.

Answer 5

4.7GB DVD single-side dual layer

25GB BD double-side dual layer

700MB CD

128GB BD double-side quad layer

15. 9GB BD double-side single layer
16. 4GB DVD double-side dual layer

Question 6

Why might you want to use a RAID 0 disk configuration?

Answer 6

Improve overall disk performance

RAID 0 writes across 2 or more physical disks evenly so that no disk receives all the activity, resulting in improved performance.

Question 7

You recently installed a new RAID controller card in a PCIe expansion slot on your computer. After setting up the controller, you transfer data from the backup you created over to the computer. When you finish the setup, you turn the computer off and return it to its normal location. When you turn the computer on, you immediately receive the error message, “RAID not found.”

What might be the problem?

Answer 7

Expansion card failed or became unseated.

You should always be careful when moving a computer. If you moved the computer around too vigorously, a device may have become unseated.

Question 8

What SATA standard provides a transfer rate of 3 Gb/sec?

Answer 8

SATA2

SATA2 or SATA II is rated at 3 Gb/sec.

Question 9

You and a friend decide to watch a movie on your computer. The movie is saved on a second hard drive on your system. When you are ready to watch the movie, you can’t find it on your computer. You try to locate the second hard drive, and it is no longer listed in Windows.

What might be the problem with the movie and the hard drive?

Answer 9

Hard drive has crashed.

Unfortunately, the movie and everything else on the drive missing. You can troubleshoot the hard drive system to see if you can repair the system.

Question 10

While working on your computer, you receive the POST error, “Drive Not Recognized.” You check your SATA cable to see if it is the problem, and it tests fine. You remove the hard drive and test it in a computer system known to be in good working condition and find that the hard drive is working. You can move data and check to make sure the OS files are not corrupt. You use a power supply tester to see if the voltage for the SATA power connection is correct, and the test shows the power is correct. You even check BIOS to make sure the hard drive can be recognized and find that all settings in BIOS are at default, so the system should recognize the hard drive.

What might be the problem with your hard drive system?

Answer 10

Motherboard SATA port has gone bad.

The motherboard SATA port has failed. If you move the drive to another SATA port on the motherboard, the computer will boot.

Question 11

During routine maintenance on your server, you discover that one of the hard drives on your RAID array is starting to go bad. After you replace the drive and rebuild the data, you run diagnostics on the RAID controller card with no problems, so you believe you fixed the problem. The next morning you arrive at work and discover that the RAID has completely failed. None of the disks are working. Your server is still running because you installed the OS on a non-RAID disk, but all the data is missing, and the server shows that none of your RAID disks are found.

What might be the problem with your server? (Select all that apply.)

Answer 11

Motherboard

RAID controller

Your motherboard may have a problem with the expansion slot that your RAID controller card is attached to. You can try the card in another slot to see if the slot is the problem.

Even though the diagnostics showed no errors, your card may have failed. This is evident because the entire hard drive on the RAID failed.

Question 12

What process writes sector markings to a hard drive?

Answer 12

Low-level formatting

Sector markings are written to a hard drive in a process called low-level formatting.

Question 13

Tim has an old server computer that his company uses as a backup. One of the hard drives has gone bad and needs to be replaced. The cable that the hard drive uses is not one that Tim has ever seen before, so he posts a picture of it on the company collaboration board to get help in deciding what type of hard drive he will need to order.

Identify the type of cable from the picture.

Answer 13

SCSI

This picture shows a SCSI cable. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) allows up to 15 devices to connect inside or outside the computer. Each device has a priority number that tells the controller who has priority on the line. SCSI hard drives are used primarily on server computers.

Question 14

What command line utility can be used to repair the BCD on a Windows installation?

Answer 14

bootrec

The bootrec command is used to rebuild the BCD or Boot Configuration Data that holds the parameters Windows needs for a successful boot.

Question 15

Jessica wants to purchase a new hard drive. She wants a drive that has fast access because she will use it to edit videos on her PC. She also needs a lot of storage and wants to have at least 4 TB available to save her videos. Jessica wants to keep the cost down as much as possible possible.

What type of hard drive should Jessica purchase?

Answer 15

7200 RPM magnetic HDD

In this scenario, the 7200 RPM HDD is the fastest magnetic hard drive. Its speed is enough for Jessica’s video editing. SSD HDD offers faster access time but costs approximately $350 more for the 4 TB hard drive.

Question 16

Devon would like to install a new hard drive on his computer. Because he does not have a SATA port available on his motherboard, he has decided to purchase a NVME SSD hard drive.
​

How can Devon attach a NVME device to his computer? (Select all that apply.)

Answer 16

PCIe expansion card

U.2 port on the motherboard

M.2 slot on the motherboard

NVME (non-volatile memory express) storage accelerates the transfer of data using the PCI Express bus. Devon can add a PCIe 4x expansion card to add the NVME drive.

If an U.2 slot is provided on the motherboard, you can add the NVME drive. This U.2 slot uses a cable and has an enclosure that protects the hard drive. U.2 devices are also hot swappable.

An M.2 port might also be used to connect the NVME drive. M.2 hard drives do not generally have an enclosure to protect the drive. They connect directly to the motherboard via a slot or hardware connector. M.2 is not hot swappable.

Question 17

If you receive a S.M.A.R.T. error on your computer, the hard drive has failed and must be replaced in order for the system to boot.
​

Is this statement true or false?

Answer 17

False

S.M.A.R.T.’s primary function is to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures. It predicts that the HDD is about to fail; it does not stop your computer from booting.

Question 18

This morning when Paul turned on his computer at work, it would not boot. Instead, Paul reported that he heard a loud clicking noise coming from inside his computer.

What might be the problem with Paul’s computer?

Answer 18

Magnetic hard drive failed.

Inside the hard drive are moving read/write heads and rotating platters; if they fail, they sometimes emit a loud clicking noise. This noise indicates that the hard drive is the problem.

Question 19

If a computer is performing slowly due to file fragmentation, what Windows tool can be utilized to rearrange fragments?

Answer 19

Defrag and Optimization tool

Windows Defrag and Optimization tool is used to verify that Windows is defragmenting a magnetic drive and trimming an SSD.

Question 20

Keion works as a freelancer creating websites and designing logos for clients. He recently had a hard drive failure and lost work for a client, and he would like to prevent the same type problem from happening again. Keion does not want to rely on a backup but would like a way to ensure that his data is safe on his computer. You recommend that he create a RAID array that will duplicate his work onto two disks.

What RAID configuration should you recommend to Keion?

Answer 20

RAID 1

RAID 1 duplicates all data to a second disk. Only two disks can be in a RAID 1 configuration; if you have more than two disks, you are using RAID 10.