SLR 1.2 part 1

Question 1

what does primary storage consist of

Answer 1

RAM, ROM, registers and cache

Question 2

the 3 types of storage

Answer 2

primary storage, secondary storage, tertiary storage

Question 3

secondary storage consists of…

Answer 3

the operating system, programs and data that is held while the computer is off

Question 4

tertiary storage

Answer 4

used for backing up and archiving lots of data

Question 5

volatile storage

Answer 5

data held in the storage that can be lost when the computer is off

Question 6

differences between volatile and non volatile storage

Answer 6

primary storage is measured in giggabytes, secondary storage is measured in terrabytes
secondary storage is non volatile, secondary storage has slower access times

Question 7

access times

Answer 7

how quickly you can read from or write to a device

Question 8

RAM

Answer 8

random access memory, holds the operating system, programs and data in use by the CPU when the computer is running
temporary storage

Question 9

ROM

Answer 9

read only memory, holds the first instrutctions for when the computer is turned on

also known as the bootstrap

Question 10

difference between RAM and ROM

Answer 10

RAM is volatile whereas ROM is non-volatile
ROM is smaller in size whereas RAM has a larger size
ROM is read only memory whereas RAM Is read and write

Question 11

virtual memory

Answer 11

held in hard disk
used if there is not enough RAM to store open programs

Question 12

how virtual memory is used

Answer 12

if a program is not being used, it can be transferred from the RAM to the virtual memory. when a program is needed, it is transferred back from the virtual memory to the RAM
enables more programs to run and is ideal for multitasking

Question 13

why cant ROM hold storage

Answer 13

doe not have the physical
it is read only

Question 14

why is secondary storage needed

Answer 14

when computer is off so data is not lost
semi-permanent storage
back up data and files
archive data files

Question 15

drive

Answer 15

reads and writes data from secondary storage

Question 16

media

Answer 16

what data is actually stored on

Question 17

types of secondary storage

Answer 17

optical, magnetic, SSD

Question 18

types of optical storage

Answer 18

CDR - compact disk read-only
CDWR - compact disk read write
DVDR - digital versatile disc read only
DVDWR - digital versatile disc read write
blu ray - designed to super code DVD - has greatest storage

Question 19

how optical storage work

Answer 19

laser physically burns disk, making pits and lands which represents 1 and 0s.

Question 20

are optical drives good?

Answer 20

they are cheap, light and portable but have slow access times and prone to scratches

Question 21

how does magnetic hard discs work

Answer 21

uses magnetised compounds as format for 1 and 0s. have a drive that physically moves over the surface of the disc

Question 22

are magnetic hard discs good?

Answer 22

they are cheap and have a large capacity, but they are slow and fragile

Question 23

how does SSD work?

Answer 23

using a flow of electricity forcing electrons into floating gates between two oxide layers.

Question 24

is SSD good?

Answer 24

they are durable and have fast access times, but they are expensive and have limited read and write cycles, so they have short lifespan.
they make no noise require low power and have medium storage