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CompTIA A+ 1001 > Peripherals, Mass Storage, & PC Builds > Flashcards

Peripherals, Mass Storage, & PC Builds Flashcards

1
Q

RS-232

A

Recommended Standard 232
9-pin
Serial port

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2
Q

DB-9

A

D-shell male socket

9-pin

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3
Q

USB

A

Universal Serial Bus

Connects almost all modern peripherals

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4
Q

USB Host Controller

A

An integrated circuit built into chipset
Acts as interface between system & USB devices
Up to 127 USB devices
Sends commands & provides power to USB devices

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5
Q

USB Root Hub

A

Host Controller part that makes physical connection to ports.
Also a bus, similar to an expansion bus
Upstream = Host controller
Downstream = USB device

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6
Q

Low-Speed USB

A

USB 1.1
1.5Mbps
Keyboards/mice

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7
Q

Full-Speed USB

A

USB 1.1
12Mbps
Headphones, bluetooth devices

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8
Q

Hi-Speed USB

A

USB 2.0
480Mbps
Webcams, card scanners, older wireless adapters, older flash drives

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9
Q

SuperSpeed USB

A

USB 3.0
5Gbps
Flash drives, external storage, cameras, wireless adapters

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10
Q

Superspeed USB (10Gbps)

A

USB 3.1
10Gbps
Flash drives, external storage, networking

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11
Q

USB 1.1 Connectors

A

USB-A (Upstream)

USB-B (Downstream)

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12
Q

USB 3.0 Connectors

A

Upgraded USB-A

New Micro-B

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13
Q

USB 1.1 & 2.0 Pins

A

4-pin connectors

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14
Q

USB 3.0 & 3.1 Pins

A

9-pin connectors

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15
Q

USB Connector Colors

A

1.1 = White
2.0 = Black
3.0 = Blue
3.1 = Teal
Always On = Red, Orange, or Yellow USB-A

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16
Q

USB-C

A

Symmetrical to avoid issues with older connections
24-pins
Supports USB 3.1 & Thunderbolt
Replaced Micro-USB mostly today

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17
Q

USB Cable Length

A

1.1 & 2.0 = 5 meter max
3.x = No defined max
As cable grows longer, cable suffers from interference
To avoid, stick with 2 meter max

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18
Q

USB Configuration: Too many devices

A

Too many devices can pull too much power.
Results in non-functioning USB ports
Disconnect devices until problem goes away

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19
Q

USB Configuration: Sleep & Doesn’t Wake Up

A

System will put the device to sleep automatically

Device manager: Uncheck “allow computer to turn of this device to save power”

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20
Q 
FireWire Ports (IEEE 1394)
\+ Speeds (2 Versions)
A 
Looks & acts much like USB (has all features)
Apple devices; replaced by Thunderbolt
Older than USB, different connectors
IEEE 1394a = 400Mbps
IEEE 1394b = 800Mbps
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21
Q 
Thunderbolt Ports (General)
\+ Cabling (2 Types & Max Length)
A 
Taps the PCIe bus for up to 6 external peripherals
Supports video (up to one 4k monitor)
Supports audio
Copper or fiber cabling
Copper = up to 3m
Fiber = up to 60m
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22
Q

Thunderbolt 1

A 
10Gbps
mDP connector (mini DisplayPort)
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23
Q

Thunderbolt 2

A 
20Gbps
mDP connector (mini DisplayPort)
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24
Q

Thunderbolt 3

A

40Gbps
USB-C connector
Half power consumption of Thunderbolt 2

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25
Q

General Port Issues: Bad Port

A

Make sure port is turned on
Check I/O options in system setup
Check device manager: Enabled? Disabled?

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26
Q

General Port Issues: Do I have a port problem?

A

Discern port problem from device problem.

Use a “known good” device in same port

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27
Q

Digitizer

A

Converts analog object/image/signal into digital format.

Pen tablet/signature pad

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28
Q

Sound: Sampling

A

Computers capturing sound waves electronically

Sampling rate range: 11KHz - 192KHz

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29
Q

Sound: Bit Depth

A

Higher bit depth = more sound characteristics stored
8-bit sample = 28 characteristics of sound
16-bit sample = 216 characteristics of sound

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30
Q

CD Quality
+ Bit Depth
+ Audio Type

A

44.1KHz
16-bit depth
Stereo

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31
Q

Sound: Formats

A 
PCM (Pulse Code Modulation):
WAV format (uncompressed)

Compression formats: MP3 (MPEG-1 layer 3)
AAC (Advanced Audio Encoding)

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32
Q

Audio Jacks

A

Main speaker out = standard speaker
Line out = external audio device
Line in = import sounds from external device
Rear out = connects to rear sound (surround)
Analog/digital out = special digital connection
Microphone = external microphone

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33
Q

S/PDIF

2 Cable Types

A

Sony/Philips Digital Interface
Optical: square w/small door
Coaxial: standard RCA connector

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34
Q

DAC

A

Digital-to-Analog Converter

Ex: Focusrite Scarlet

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35
Q

Wrapper

A

Video Container File
MOV: Apple QuickTime
AVI: Windows (not as common anymore)
MP4: (Common, h.264 & h.265 video)

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36
Q

Codec

A

A codec is a device or computer program which encodes or decodes a digital data stream or signal.
Video files use codecs for video & audio tracks
WAV or MP3
MPEG-2: DVDs, broadcast TV
H.264: Smartphone; streaming; Blu-ray movies
H.265: Half size of 264; same quality (for 4k)
VP9: Google’s competitor to H.265 (Android/YouTube)

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37
Q

CompactFlash

A 
Oldest, most complex, & largest of all flash cards
CF I (3.3mm)
CF II (5mm)
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38
Q

SD (Name & Capacities)

A 
Secure Digital (flash memory card):
Also: miniSD & microSD
Standard: 4MB to 4GB
SDHC (High Capacity): 4GB to 32GB
SDXC (Extended Capacity): 32GB to 2TB
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39
Q

SD (Speed)

A

1st Gen: Speed Class (2, 4, 6, & 10)

2nd Gen: UHS (Ultra High Speed)
U1: 10MB/s
U3: 30MB/s

3rd Gen: Video Speed Class (V + MB/s)
For 4k & 8k video
V6: 6MB/s
V90: 90MB/s

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40
Q

SD Application Performance Class

A

(min 10MB/s)
IOPS: Input/Output Operations per Second
A1: 1500 IOPS read | 500 IOPS write
A2: 4000 IOPS read | 2000 IOPS write

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41
Q

xD Picture Card

3 Types

A

Extreme Digital Picture Card
Used in old Olympus & Fujifilm digital cameras
Original | Standard (Type M) | Hi-Speed (Type H)

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42
Q

CDDA/CD-DA

A

Compact Disc Digital Audio
AKA: Audio CD
Standard format for audio compact discs (12cm)
Non-proprietary

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43
Q

CD-ROM

+ Speed ( x = )

A

Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
Divides CD into fixed sectors (2353 bytes each)

1x = 150KBps
4x = 600KBps
16x = 2400KBps
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44
Q

CD-R (Two Capacities)
+
Speed Reading

A

Compact Disc Recordable
74-min (650MB)
80-min (700MB)

Second burn laser (10x more powerful than read)
Ex: 8x24x = Burn at 8x | Read at 24x

45
Q

CD-RW

A

Compact Disc Re-Writable
Functional equivalent of a flash drive
Laser heats amorphous (noncrystalline) substance that, when cooled, slowly becomes crystalline

R Write Speed | RW Write Speed | Read Speed
8x4x32cx | 12x10x32x | 48x24x48x

46
Q

DVD (All Types)

A 
Digital Versatile Disc (originally Digital Video Disc)
DVD-Video = Movie format
SS & DS = Single-Sided & Double-Sided
SL & DL = Single-Layer & Dual-Layer
DVD-ROM | DVD-R | DVD-RW | DVD-RW DL
47
Q

DVD Versions & Capacities

A

DVD-5 (12cm, SS/SL) = 4.37GB, 2+ hrs video
DVD-9 (12cm, SS/DL) = 7.95GB, ~4 hrs video
DVD-10 (12cm, DS/SL) = 8.74GB, ~4.5 hrs video
DVD-18 (12cm, DS/DL) = 15.90GB, 8+ hrs video

48
Q

BD (Name & Capacities)

A 
Blu-Ray Disc
Near-perfect audio/video quality
SL = 25GB
DL = 50GB
BDXL = 100GB
BD-ROM | BD-R | BD-RE (RW)
49
Q

Mini BD Capacities

A 
SL = 7.8GB
DL = 15.6GB
50
Q

Magnetic Hard Drives

A

Composed of individual disks (platters) with read/write heads on the actuator arms controlled by a servo motor.

Platters: Coated with magnetic medium
2 Read/Write Heads (platter top & bottom)

AKA: Magnetic hard drives, rotational drives, platter-based hard drives

51
Q

Transducer

A

Bit-sized

For reading/writing to each spot on drive

52
Q

Spindle Speed (Rotational)

A

Measured in RPM
Older Drives: 3600 RPM
Most Common: 5400 & 7200 RPM
High-Performance: 10,000 & 15,000 RPM

Max = 15,000 RPM

53
Q

Drive Bay Fans

A

Used for high-performance hard drives to maintain life

54
Q

SSDs

A

Solid-State Drives

Based on the combination of semiconductors & transistors used to create electrical components with no moving parts.

Use flash memory chips to store data.

Non-volatile flash memory (NAND)

More costly than HDD

55
Q

SSD Form Factors

Hint: There IS a third one

A

2.5 in (SATA)
mSATA (smaller; on its way out)
M.2

56
Q

M.2

Different Keys

A

SSD Form Factor
(Flat, long)

Different keys for different kinds of storage:
Key B, Key M, Key B & M = Mass storage
Key A, Key E = Wireless networking

57
Q

Nonvolatile

A

Retains data when powered off.

58
Q

MLC vs. SLC vs. 3D NAND (SSD)

A

MLC = Multi-Level Cell:
Cheaper

SLC = Single-Level Cell
Better, more expensive

3D NAND = Memory cells are stacked vertically in multiple layers

59
Q

Sequential Read/Write Performance (SSD)

SATA vs. NVMe

A

Throughput (read/write rate) = MBps
SATA = up to 600MBps
NVMe = 2500 + MBps

60
Q

Random Read/Write Performance

HDD vs. NVMe
Hint: Massive Difference

A

Times per second a device can read/write small, fixed-sized chunks of data at random locations on the drive.

4k Read | 4k Random Write | 4k Mixed (4KB)

HDD = Fewer than 150 IOPS (input/output operations per sec)
NVMe SSD = hundreds of thousands of IOPS

61
Q

Latency (Mass Storage)

HDD vs. SSD

A

Response time/access time.
Measures how quickly the (SSD/HDD) responds to a request.

Usually in ms or µs

HDD = Under 20ms
SSD = Well under 1ms
62
Q

HHDs/SSHDs

+ Apple Version

A

Hybrid Hard Drives:
Combine flash memory & spinning platters

Apple Version: Fusion Drive
Separates HD & SSD; macOS decides where to store

63
Q

Storage Connections (5 Types)

A 
ST-506: Late 1980s - Early 1990s
PATA: Early 1990s - Early 2010s
SATA: Late 1990s - Today
M.2: Late 2010s - Today
SAS: 2005 - Today
64
Q

ATA

A

Advanced Technology Attachment:
Mass Storage Common Language

PATA (Parallel ATA) = IDE
SATA (Serial ATA)

65
Q

PATA

A

Parallel ATA (AKA: IDE)
Unique 40-pin ribbon cables (IDE cables)
Standard Molex power connectors

Last PATA standard supported massive drives
144PB (petabytes) = 144 Million GB
Up to 133MBps

Max Cable Length: 18 in

66
Q

S.M.A.R.T.

A

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, & Reporting Technology:
Internal drive program that tracks errors & error conditions within the drive.

Stored in nonvolatile memory on drive and can be examined externally with SMART reader software

67
Q

SATA

A

Serial ATA:
Addressed issues with PATA
Creates point-to-point serial connection between SATA device & controller.
Needs fewer physical wires (due to serial connection)
7-pin connectors (as opposed to 40 in PATA) = Thinner cabling
Hot-swappable
Max Cable Length: 1 meter

68
Q

PATA Problems

A

Limited Length: 18 in
Not hot-swappable
Reached throughput limits
Ribbon cable was obnoxious

69
Q

SATA Speeds (Throughput)

A 
Up to 30x faster than PATA throughput
SATA 1.0 = 1.5Gbps/150MBps
SATA 2.0 = 3Gbps/300MBps
SATA 3.0 = 6Gbps/600MBps
SATA 3.2 (SATAe) = up to 16Gbps/2000MBps
70
Q

SATAe

A

AKA: SATA 3.2
Ties capable drives into PCIe Bus on motherboards
Takes advantage of PCIe lane speeds (8Gbps per lane)
2 lanes = 2000MBps

71
Q

eSATA

Cable Type & Length

A 
External SATA:
Extended SATA bus to external devices at full speed.
Shielded Cable
Up to 2 meters
Withered when USB 3.0 hit the market
72
Q

External Enclosures/Drives (Connections)

A

External HDDs & SSDs:
USB 3.0, 3.1, or C-type
Thunderbolt

73
Q

AHCI

A

Advanced Host Controller Interface:
Enabled at CMOS before OS installation
When enabled, drive appears automatically

74
Q

NCQ

A

Native Command Queuing (feature of AHCI):

A disk optimization feature for SATA drives to attain faster read/write speeds.

75
Q

NVMe

A

Non-Volatile Memory Express:

Supports communication between OS & SSD through PCIe bus lane, reducing latency

76
Q

SCSI

A

Small Computer System Interface:
A set of standards for physically connecting/transferring data between computers & peripheral devices.
Popular in server market.
Evolved from parallel, to wider parallel, to serial

77
Q

SAS

A

Serial Attached SCSI:
Faster version of SCSI
Robots use for servers & storage arrays.
SAS-3: 12Gbps | support for SATA drives

78
Q

RAID

A

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks:
A disk drive subsystem that increases performance or provides fault tolerance or both.
Uses two or more physical drives and a RAID controller.
Many motherboards today have built-in RAID circuits.

79
Q

Array

A

Two or more drives working as a unit.

80
Q

Disk Duplexing

A

A variation of disk mirroring in which each of multiple storage disks has its own SCSI controller.

81
Q

Disk Mirroring

A

The practice of duplicating data in separate volumes on two hard disks to make storage more fault-tolerant.

82
Q

Disk Striping

A

Spreading data among multiple drives (no redundancy).
Fast way to read/write on hard drives.
If either fails, all data is lost.

83
Q

Disk Striping with Parity

A

AKA RAID 5

Parity Data: can be used to rebuild data if a drive fails
Requires at least 3 drives
Combines disk striping with mirroring

84
Q

RAID 0

A

AKA: Disk Striping
Does not provide redundancy.
Requires at least 2 drives.
One drive fails = all data lost

85
Q

RAID 1

A

AKA: Disk Mirroring/Duplexing
Requires at least 2 drives.
Great for safety (more fault-tolerant)
Loss of storage space (duplicated data)

86
Q

RAID 5

A

AKA: Disk Striping with Distributed Parity
Requires at least 3 drives.
Fastest way to provide data redundancy.
Uses one drive’s worth of space for parity
Out of favor today.

87
Q

RAID 6

A

AKA: Disk Striping with Extra Parity
Requires at least 4 drives.
RAID 5 with extra parity info.
Can lose up to 2 drives at the same time.

88
Q

RAID 10 (1+0)

A

AKA: Nested Striped Mirrors
Requires at least 4 drives.
Can lose up to 2 drives.
Pair of RAID 1 arrays | Arrays look like single drives
Block stripe across the two mirrored pairs (RAID 0)

89
Q

RAID 0+1

A 
AKA: Nested Mirrored Stripes
Requires at least 4 drives.
Can lose up to 2 drives.
Opposite configuration to RAID 10.
2 Striped Arrays (RAID 0)
The striped arrays mirror each other.
90
Q

Software RAID

A

OS is in charge of all RAID functions.
Windows Disk Management (and other third party software)
Used when price takes priority over performance.
Does not require special controllers (can use SATA controllers)
Best for small solutions (can overwork OS)

91
Q

Hardware RAID

A

Used when you need speed with data redundancy.
Intelligent Controller: handles all of the RAID functions
Have chips with their own processor & memory
Card handles RAID implementation (faster/more efficient)
Most traditional setups are hardware RAIDs.
Hot-swapping provided
Invisible to OS; special config utility in CMOS

92
Q

Dedicated RAID Boxes

A

AKA: RAID Enclosure
Take two or more drives and connect via a port on computer
USB/Thunderbolt (FireWire or eSATA on older systems)

93
Q

Installing PATA Drives (and Connectors)
+
1 Drive vs. 2 Drives

A

1 Drive: Set drive’s jumpers to standalone/master
2 Drives: Set 1 drive to master, 1 drive to slave
PATA Motherboard Port: IDE Connector
Pin 1: Colored stripe that corresponds to number 1 pin (must line up with drive)
Molex power connector

94
Q

Partitioning

A

Subdividing a physical drive into one or more units

95
Q

Format

Storage: Verb Definition

A

Installing a file system onto the drive that organizes each partition so that the OS can store files/folders on the drive.

96
Q

Sector

A

A subdivision of a track on a magnetic disk or optical disk.

Each sector stores a fixed amount of user-accessible data.
Older Drives: 512-byte sectors
Modern Drives: 4096-byte sectors (AF - Advanced Format Sectors)

97
Q

Page (Storage)

A

A storage area on an SSD (similar to sector concept).

98
Q

Block (Storage)

A

A group of pages.

99
Q

LBA

A

Logical Block Addressing:
A common scheme used for specifying the location of blocks of data stored on computer storage devices.

Makes addressing any form of mass storage easy.

100
Q

RMA

A

Return Material/Merchandise Authorization:
Some drives have during warranty period.
A part of the process of returning a product for a refund/replacement/repair.

101
Q

Standard Thick Clients (PC Build)

A

Runs a modern OS and general productivity applications (common tasks for home/office)
Has everything needed to run without a network connection.
Should meet or exceed recommended hardware specs for OS.

102
Q

Thin Clients (PC Build)

A

A system designed to outsource most of its work.
Relies on resources from powerful servers (may not have hard drives)
Single-purpose system (POS | Office using servers | Basic applications)
Depends on network connectivity
Meets minimum hardware requirements for OS

103
Q

Virtualization Workstation (PC Build)

A

Most often used to run a second OS within the OS installed on the hard drive.
MAX RAM
MAX Cores/Speed CPU

104
Q

Gaming PC (PC Build)

A 
High-end GPU
High-end sound card
Fast, multicore CPU
High-end cooling (liquid preferably)
At least 16GB RAM
105
Q

Graphic/CAD/CAM Design Workstation (PC Build)

A

Multicore CPU
High-end GPU
MAX RAM
Robust storage

106
Q

Audio/Video Workstation (PC Build)

A 
High-end GPU
High-end sound card
Large & fast storage
MAX RAM
Dual monitors (or more)
107
Q

NAS (PC Build)

A 
Network Attached Storage Build:
Media streaming
File sharing
Print sharing
Gigabit NIC (high-speed network connection)
RAID Array
108
Q

CDFS (+ Other name)

A

CD File System = Data & Audio

Non-proprietary file system for CDs!

AKA: ISO-9660 Format

CompTIA A+ 1001 (9 decks)

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