Secondary Storage

Question 1

What is Primary storage?

Answer 1

memory areas that the CPU can access quickly. It has the fastest read/write speeds and it is mostly volatile

Question 2

Give Examples of forms of Primary Storage?

Answer 2

CPU registers, cache, ROM and RAM

Question 3

What is Secondary Storage?

Answer 3

Non-volatile memory where all the data (OS, Apps & user files) are stored when not in use. Its read/write speeds much slower than primary storage.

Question 4

Examples of forms of Secondary Storage?

Answer 4

Magnetic HDDs, SSDs, CDs, SD cards

Question 5

What are HDDs?

Answer 5

Hard Disk Drives are High capacity, reliable storage used as internal storage in PCs and Laptops often call the Hard Drive

Question 6

What are HDDs made of?

Answer 6

Made up of magnetised metal disks that spin 100 times a second

Question 7

How do HDDs store, read and write data?

Answer 7

Store data magnetically in small areas of disc circular tracks. A moveable arm accesses these areas and reads/writes data

Question 8

What are Advantages of using HDDs?

Answer 8

Despite moving parts they are long lasting and reliable
Cheaper than SSDs
Despite SSD having a high capacity HDDs have higher capacity
Haver a longer read/write life than SSDs

Question 9

What are SSDs?

Answer 9

Solid State Drives are fast and reliable storage devices with no moving parts used for the same purpose as a HDDs. Have significantly faster read/write speeds times than HDD

Question 10

What are the advantages of SSDs having faster read/write times?

Answer 10

They can give quicker times for booting up, opening programs ands files than HDD

Question 11

What are Hybrid Drives?

Answer 11

Drives that use SSDs for OS and programs and HDDs for data

Question 12

What are Portable HDDs and SSDs used for?

Answer 12

To back up and transport large amounts of data

Question 13

What is flash storage?

Answer 13

Flash storage is any type of drive or system that uses flash memory to keep data for an extended period of time.

Question 14

Examples of other types of Flash Storage?

Answer 14

USB pen drives, memory cards (SD cards)

Solid State Storage

Question 15

What is Flash Storage used for?

Answer 15

To expand storage capacity of small devices like cameras, smartphones and tablets (which are too small for SSDs or HDDs)

Question 16

Advantages of SSDs

Answer 16

SSDs faster than HDDs
SSDs don’t need defragmenting (putting files split into smaller blocks back together)
SSDs more shock-proof (resistant to damage) than HDDs which are can be damaged by large impacts
SSDs are silent while HDDs make nise

Question 17

What is storage Media?

Answer 17

Storage media refers to the actual thing that holds data

Question 18

What is a Storage Device?

Answer 18

A thing that reads, writes data to media

Question 19

Give an Example of Storage Media?

Answer 19

HDDs or Optical Discs

Question 20

What are Optical Discs?

Answer 20

Cheap and Robust Secondary Storage such as CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray discs.

Question 21

How much data can CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray hold?

Answer 21

CDs- 700MB of Data
DVDs- 4.7GB of Data
Blue-rays- 25GB of Data

Question 22

What are the three forms that Optical discs come in?

Answer 22

read only (CD-ROM,DVD-ROM,BD-ROM)
write once(CD-R,DVD-R,BD-R)
rewritable(CD-RW,DVD-RW,BD-RW)

Question 23

Why are the use of optical discs declining

Answer 23

Because Internet speeds have increased and streaming services like Netflix, Spotify and Steam have removed the need for Optical Discs.
Modern Devices don’t have optical drives
They have low capacity per disc, very slow read/write speeds and poor reliability to flash devices

Question 24

Advantages of Optical Drives?

Answer 24

Very cheap (per GB), portable, wont be damaged by water or shocks (although easily scratched)

Question 25

What are Magnetic Tapes?

Answer 25

Plastic cassettes (reels of tape) Used by large organisations in achieve to store huge amounts of data. Cassettes require special tape drive for reading/writing.

Question 26

How is a Magnetic Tape used?

Answer 26

Data is read sequentially, from beginning to end, or until stopped by computer which means it is very slow when finding specific data stored on it nut has fast read/write speed once in correct place to begin reading/writing

Question 27

In which order are types of Secondary Storage are the fastest?

Answer 27

Optical Disc, Memory Card, Magnetic Tape, HDD, SSD

Question 28

In which order are types of Secondary Storage are the Priciest?

Answer 28

Magnetic Tape. Optical Disc, HDD, Memory Card, SSD

Question 29

In which order are types of Secondary Storage have the highest capacity?

Answer 29

Optical Disc, Memory Cards, SSD, HDD, Magnetic Tape