Chapter 5
Dumas, who has excellent mechanical aptitude, owns a computer with two hard drives. One drive is used for the operating system and the other drive is used for his personal files. He decides to install a third disk in a RAID 1 configuration to protect the disk with his files against data loss. He is not too concerned about data loss on the disk with the operating system because he could easily reinstall the OS, so that disk is not included in the RAID configuration. When he is done, he powers up his computer, no error messages are displayed, yet he is distraught because all his data is lost. Why would this happen?
(The RAID expansion card is not seated properly so the RAID drives are not being detected. Incorrect. The scenario states Dumas has excellent mechanical aptitude to help rule this out as a possibility. However, a RAID error message would have likely been displayed if the card was not seated properly. When RAID is configured all data on the participating devices is lost. If any of the drives contain data, it should be backed up first.)
Dumas, who has excellent mechanical aptitude, owns a computer with two hard drives. One drive is used for the operating system and the other drive is used for his personal files. He decides to install a third disk in a RAID 1 configuration to protect the disk with his files against data loss. He is not too concerned about data loss on the disk with the operating system because he could easily reinstall the OS, so that disk is not included in the RAID configuration. When he is done, he powers up his computer, no error messages are displayed, yet he is distraught because all his data is lost. Why would this happen?
(The new drive was smaller than the original drive so the data from the original did not fit. Incorrect. If using two different sized drives in a RAID 5 configuration, the total amount of data would be limited to the capacity dictated by the smaller drive. When RAID is configured all the data on participating drives will be lost. If any of the drives contain data, it should be backed up first.)
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?
(UEFI has the wrong hard drive type. Incorrect. In this case, type of hard drive means the way the hard drive is partitioned. There are two types of hard drive partitions in UEFI, GPT and MBR. If the UEFI has been set to read only GPT or only MBR, the hard drive will still be recognized by the BIOS, and the computer will indicate a boot record error.)
You buy a new hard disk drive and install the Linux operating system. You later decide you prefer the Windows operating system so you install it instead. Before you installed either one of the two operating systems, the hard drive had sector markings that allowed you to install the operating system of your choice. What facilitated this capability?
(not boot sector)
Sharon believes the computer she is troubleshooting is having problems with the hard drive. She wants to test her theory and finds an older, known, good, SATA drive in the spare parts bin but notices the gold conductors in the SATA power connector are very distressed. Sharon also realizes that the spare drive also has a 4-pin power connector.What type of power connector will Sharon need to supply power to the hard drive?
4-pin Molex connector Correct. A 4-pin Molex connector is a power connector for hard drives; and many power supplies still use this connection for power.
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.What type of hard drive should Jessica purchase?
7200 RPM magnetic HDD Correct. In this scenario, the 7200 RPM HDD is the fastest magnetic hard drive. Its speed is enough for Jessica's video editing projects. SSDs offer faster access time than HDDs but also cost more.
Your friend has compiled a moderate collection of movies they have bought over the years. They all reside on a media server they assembled with remote access capabilities. They would like to have a physical copy of each movie on optical media for off-site storage. Most of the movies consume between 60 and 120 GB of storage. What type of optical storage media should they use to back up the movies? Select two.
BD-R TL BD-R QL
Your computer has recently started to generate a few S.M.A.R.T messages. What is the most favorable thing you could do?
Backup your data immediately Correct. S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology) is used to predict when a hard drive is likely to fail. Backup your data and replace the drive.
You have a computer that is running low on storage, so you decide to install a second hard drive to store your files. You would like to partition the drive you just installed and end up with two volumes. In addition, you want to keep the original hard drive intact, which is where the Windows operating system resides.What process would allow you to meet your objective?
Boot Windows and use Disk Management to prepare the new drive. Correct. 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. You could use the Windows Disk Management utility to partition drives, create volumes, and group hard drives into a RAID array.
Delonte has been using his computer at work every day for two years with no problems. The nature of his work requires him to frequently create and delete test files of different types and sizes. However, he is starting to notice that his computer is slowing down.What Windows tool can be used to verify Windows is relocating data to help with performance?
Defrag and Optimization tool Correct. Windows Defrag and Optimization tool is used to verify that Windows is defragmenting a magnetic drive and trimming an SSD. In a new hard drive, data is physically written in contiguous sectors. However, over time, when more files are created and deleted, files will be stored in disconnected fragments and potentially decrease performance.
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?
Expansion card failed or became unseated. Correct. You should always be careful when moving a computer. If you moved the computer around too vigorously, a device may have become unseated.
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?
Hard drive has crashed. Correct. Unfortunately, the movie and everything else on the drive appears to be missing. You can troubleshoot the hard drive system to see if you can repair the system.
Leroy buys three identical 2 TB SSDs to implement a fault tolerant RAID configuration. He configures RAID 1 using the three disks, and later discover that the total storage is only 2 TB. What alternative, if any, does Leroy have?
Implement RAID 5 Correct. RAID 5 will allow him to use all three drives, achieve fault tolerance, and 4 TB of usable storage. The other 2 TB will be used to store the parity data.
Which statements are true, relative to RAID 0, and/or why would you implement it? Select two.
Improves overall disk performance Correct. RAID 0 writes across 2 or more physical disks evenly so that no disk receives all the activity, resulting in improved performance. RAID 0 improves performance but it does not provide fault-tolerance; if a drive in the RAID 0 configuration fails, data will be lost. To prevent against data loss and increase performance, use RAID 10. RAID 0 requires at least two drives Correct. RAID 0 writes across 2 or more physical disks evenly so that no disk receives all the activity, resulting in improved performance. RAID 0 improves performance but it does not provide fault-tolerance; if a drive in the RAID 0 configuration fails, all data will be lost. To prevent against data loss and increase performance, use RAID 10. You could conceivably partition one drive in two and implement RAID 0 in software, but you would not gain any performance improvement or fault tolerance, thus defeating the purpose.
Your computer has three drives in a RAID 5 configuration. One of the drives fails so you replace it right away. Immediately upon replacing the drive you notice that the overall performance seems to have been degraded. You research the issue and conclude that this is the expected behavior. How can you rationalize this behavior?
It takes time to rebuild the data on the new drive. During this time performance is degraded. Correct. When a drive in a RAID 5 configuration is replaced, the data is rebuilt using the data on the other two drives. For example, if the data you need was originally on the replaced drive, that data will not be available until it is rebuilt. This takes time. Even if no read activity is taking place, the drives are still active reconstructing the lost data on the replacement drive. The lost data includes both, actual user data and parity data. Once the data has been rebuilt, performance is restored.
Johan is a hard drive performance engineer working at a major storage device manufacturer. He needs to measure, record, and analyze the throughput, IOPS, and the latency of the different models of drives the company produces. What is the difference between these three parameters? Select three.
Latency measures the time required to process a data request or a transaction. Correct. Latency measures the time required to process a data request or a transaction. The lower the latency the better the performance. IOPS measures the number of read or write operations performed in one second. Correct. IOPS measures the number of read or write operations performed in one second. A higher IOPS indicates better performance. Throughput is the amount of data flow through a point in the data path in one second.
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?
Magnetic hard drive failed. Correct. 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.
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.)
Motherboard Correct. 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. RAID controller
You are installing a new hard drive in a system in which the hard drive will run at 6.0 Gbps.What can you use to determine whether the SATA port number into which you are connecting the drive will also run at 6.0 Gbps?
Motherboard manual. Correct. The motherboard documentation will indicate the standard for each SATA connection on the motherboard. You will find the documentation online at the manufacturer's website.
Lucas works at a small production company that receives contracts to perform high-end video editing and rendering. He needs to buy systems with the ability to write 30 Gb/sec to a storage medium. What standard should the systems support?
NVM Express Correct. NVMe is faster than the others. It uses four lanes (PCIe x 4) at 8 Gb/sec per lane for a total transfer rate of 32 Gb/sec.
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.)
PCIe expansion card Correct. 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. U.2 port on the motherboard Correct. 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. M.2 slot on the motherboard Correct. 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.
Explain the difference between RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5. Select two.
RAID 0 stripes data across disks, RAID 1 mirrors data, and RAID 5 uses parity. . RAID 0 stripes data across two or more disks. RAID 1 mirrors the data from one disk to two or more disks. RAID 5, stripes data across all three disks by placing user data on two disks and parity data on the third disk. RAID 5 performs a mathematical operation using the two blocks of user data, and placing the result, on the parity disk. The placement of parity data is rotated between all three disks to distribute the load between participating disks in the RAID 5 configuration All three flavors of RAID could be implemented using hardware or software RAID. Correct. RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5 could all be implemented using hardware or software RAID. However, Microsoft does not recommend software RAID because it is unstable.
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 of 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 provide fault tolerance and not suffer data loss if one drive fails.What RAID configuration should you recommend to Keion?
RAID 1 Correct. RAID 1 can be configured to duplicate data to one or more additional drives.
Andre lost important data and wants to ensure it doesn't happen again. However, he has a limited budget and doesn't want to spend too much money implementing an expensive fault-tolerant solution.What type of RAID configuration would you recommend?
RAID 1 Correct. RAID 1 is a type of mirroring that duplicates data on one drive to another drive and is used for fault tolerance. RAID 1 can be implemented with only two drives, so it is a less expensive solution than RAID 5 which requires at least three drives.
You work for a supplier that provides technology products to a variety of industries. One of your partners calls you and indicates they need to buy 10 computers that will run an application that requires writing to the hard drive at 3.5 Gb/sec.What standard should the SATA connector on the motherboard support?
SATA Revision 3.x
Juridia buys new a 16 GB flash drive, she takes it out of the package, and tries to copy an 8 GB file to it. However, the operation fails with an error message indicating the file is too large. Which of the following statements are most likely to be true? Select two.
The flash drive needs to be reformatted with the NTFS or exFAT file system. Correct. It is likely the flash drive was formatted with the FAT32 file system from the factory which supports files up to 4 GB in size. Formatting it using the NTFS or exFAT file system will remove the limitation. If you need to format a flash drive that has user data, make sure you back up the data first. The flash drive has the FAT32 file system, which supports files up to 4 GB in size. Correct. If the flash drive has the FAT32 file system, it will only support files up to 4 GB in size. Reformatting the flash drive using the NTFS or exFAT file system will eliminate this restriction.
Cirrus was hired to start a multimedia group at a major corporation. He has been asked to buy high-end equipment to ensure it will not be obsolete in three or four years. He buys a video camera capable of recording 8 MB/sec. What type of SD memory card should he use in the camera?
V10 Correct. SD memory cards with a Video Speed Class V10 designation are appropriate for video cameras; they have a minimum write speed of 10 MB/sec.
Dr. Everest, a professor at a university, is using custom software to visually demonstrate to his class the different techniques SSDs implement to help improve performance and reliability. Specifically, how the logical block addressing on a solid-state drive does not always address the same physical blocks, to distribute write operations more evenly.What should Dr. Everest call this specific portion of his presentation?
Wear leveling
You have a desktop system with a 2.5 inch 500 GB SDD and a laptop with a 200 GB SDD. You want to replace the 500 GB SSD on the desktop with a larger SSD and use the 500 GB SSD in the laptop. All data has been backed up. What factors do you need to consider?
You can simply proceed to install the SDD from the desktop laptop directly in the laptop. Correct. All 2.5 inch SSDs can be used in a desktop as well as in a laptop. To install a 2.5 inch SDD in a 3.5 inch bay in a desktop you need a universal bay kit as it creates a tailor-made fit. They are basically brackets that extend the width of a 2.5 inch SSD to 3.5 inches.
Godiva's computer is having issues booting up. She troubleshoots and her best guess is that the BCD is corrupt.In her endeavor to plan a solution and implement it, what command should she include?
bootrec Correct. The bootrec command is used to rebuild the BCD or Boot Configuration Data that holds the parameters Windows needs for a successful boot.