Part 1, Data on your computer

Question 1

what is

flash memory

Answer 1

this is technology that uses a chip which can maintain stored data without power. Some examples include SSDs, USB sticks

Question 2

what are the three

main components of a HDD

Answer 2

the main components this has are

1. platters
2. head
3. spindle

Question 3

what is

formatting

Answer 3

this is the process of readying a disk with a file system so that it can be read and written to by any or a particular operating system

Question 4

what is a

partition

on a hard drive

Answer 4

this is a way of dividing up a hard drives space each partition will be seen as a separate drive and can even hold different file systems

Question 5

what three components are used to

structure data on a HDD

Answer 5

to achieve this the following compoents are used

1. tracks

2. sectors

3. clusters

Question 6

describe what

tracks

are on a HDD

Answer 6

these are rings that follow the circumference of the HDD platter

Question 7

how much

data can one track typically hold

Answer 7

this part of the HDD data structure can typically hold more than a megabyte of data

Question 8

what are

sectors

on a HDD

Answer 8

these are arc shapes which divide the tracks into sections

Question 9

how much data will a

sector

typically hold

Answer 9

within a HDD data structure this will typically hold

512 bytes

of data

Question 10

describe what a

cluster

is within the HDD data structure

Answer 10

this is a series of adjacent sectors typically in powers of two

Question 11

how much data will a

cluster

typically hold

Answer 11

typically this will hold 4 or 8 sectors.

since each sector typically holds 512 bytes. this will hold either

1. (4 * 512) bytes = 2048 bytes
2. (8 * 512) bytes = 4096 bytes

Question 12

when using the

File Allocation Table 32 (FAT32)

or

New Technology File Sysem (NTFS)

file systems how is the data written to the hard drive

Answer 12

these two file systems make use of clusters.

when a new file is written it will be written to a new cluster.

it is the job of the operating system to allocate an appropriate number of clusters for the file.

if possible the data will be written contiguously otherwise it will be fragmented (only applies to HDDs)

Question 13

how does a file system formatted to a disk

1. know where data is

2. know whether an area is free to use or not

Answer 13

a file system makes use of an

index table

to know these

Question 14

give three points about

File allocation table 32 (Fat32)

Answer 14

some points on this file system are as folllows

1. this is the file system that was used by windows but is now usually used as a file system for flash memory

2. its index of every cluster is known as the file allocation table

3. was unable to write files larger than 4GB since it handled data in 32 bits

Question 15

give two points about

New technology file system (NTFS)

Answer 15

some points on this file system are as follows

1. this is the modern file system now used by windows
2. its index table is known as master file table (MFT)

Question 16

what is the name of the file system that

apple computers

use

Answer 16

this computers uses a file system known as

Apple file system

Question 17

what is the name of the file system used by

linux

Answer 17

this operating system uses a file system known as

Extended file system 4 (ext4)

Question 18

describe what

unallocated space

within a file system is

Answer 18

this is a discrete number of clusters that has no references in the index and is free to be written to. However, may hold past data

Question 19

describe the

logical size

of a file

Answer 19

this is the size of the actual file in bytes

Question 20

describe the

physical size

of a file

Answer 20

this size is found by the number of clusters that has been used to store the file

if a file has a logical size of 1280 bytes and the file system only uses 4 sectors per a cluster with each sector being 512 bytes then the physical size of the file must be 2048 bytes

Question 21

describe what

slack space

is on a HDD

Answer 21

this is the difference between the physical size of the file and the logical size

It is best described as unused space due to the file being smaller than the cluster allocated to it

An important note here is that old data that was ‘deleted’ by the user could still remain in this space but unseen to the OS since there is no reference to it

Question 22

what is

Latent data / ambient data

Answer 22

this is old data that remains in the slack space of a cluster

Question 23

Answer 23

Question 24

what are three best methods to

completely and safely remove data from a drive

Answer 24

some methods to accomplish this are

1. overwriting

2. degaussing

3. physical destruction

Question 25

when removing data describe the process of

overwriting

Answer 25

this involves using the operating system or some other software to write ones and zeros to every part of the disk. Although this can be a time consuming process

Question 26

when removing data from a HDD describe the process of

Degaussing

Answer 26

this is the process of exposing the hard drive to strong magnetic fields and in turn destroying the data that was held in a specific magnetisation

This is an expensive process because of the machines involved and if done incorrectly can leave data unchanged on the drive

Question 27

when removing data from a HDD describe the processs of

physical destruction

Answer 27

this is the most secure way to remove your data from a drive it simply involves either burning crushing or shredding the drive and making it impossible to repair and hence read