Part 1-4: Computer Storage
Which 3 of the following are storage devices?
A) Optical drive (with associated disc) ✅ B) External hard drive ✅ C) Universal serial bus (USB) drive ✅ D) Digital visual interface (DVI) adapter Reason: This is an old adapter
One kilobyte equals ___ bytes.
A) 1,000 ✅ B) 10,000 Reason: A kilobyte is equal to roughly 1,000 bytes of data. C) 100 Reason: Technically, a KB was once considered 210 or 1,024 bytes. As storage became larger this difference became significant. In 1998 the IEC named this amount the kibibyte, while a kilobyte equals 1,000 bytes. D) 100,000 Reason: Kilo means thousand, so a kilobyte is equal to 1,000 bytes of data.
Because they are inexpensive and reliable ___ have become extremely popular storage devices.
A) ROM (read only memory) drives Reason: There are no ROM drives. B) RAM (random access memory) drives Reason: There are no RAM drives. C) thumbdrives (USB or flash drives) ✅ D) CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) drives Reason: There are no CMOS drives.
Eight bits are considered to make one ___ of information. In American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), it is the data required to store one character, such as a letter or a number.
byte
Rank these in order of size with the smallest on top.
byte megabyte gigabyte petabyte
If you wish to e-mail a file to a friend, but find that it is too big for your e-mail server, you can always ____ the file.
compress
Magnetically charged particles on spinning disks are how traditional ______ drives store data.
hard
To allow hard disk drive platters to spin more smoothly and cooler, some manufacturers seal the platters in ____ rather than just air.
helium
One thousand bytes equals a ____. This is roughly enough to store a short email in plain (not rich) text.
kilobyte
One million bytes equals a ____ of data. This is enough to store the text in approximately four books in plain text.
megabyte
The ____ the access time, the faster your data will reach your processor.
shorter
Which of the following devices have no moving parts?
A) Blu-ray drives Reason: Blu-ray drives have moving parts. The disc spins and is read by a laser. B) magnetic hard discs Reason: Magnetic hard drives store information by moving a read/write head over the surface of a platter. C) SSDs provide extremely fast, efficient storage. ✅ D) DVD drives Reason: DVD drives use a motor to spin a disc that is then read by a laser.
Which of the following are characteristics of solid state drive storage devices?
A) Durable, no moving mechanical parts ✅ B) Use lasers to read data Reason: Optical drives use lasers to read data. Soild-state drives (SSDs) use electronic circuits. C) Use electronic circuits to store data ✅ D) Use magnetic charges to store data Reason: Traditional hard drives use magnetic charges to store data. SSDs use electronic circuits.
Some new laptops come with an L3 __ with a capacity of up to 8 MB.
Cache
A disadvantage of using the cloud to store your files is that to access them you have to be connected to the ____.
Internet
Mapping patient genomes and the increasing number of YouTube uploads mean we will need more and more cloud ___ capacity in the future.
storage
Blu-rays provide approximately _____.
A) 4.5 GB of data storage space. Reason: Blu-rays store approximately 25 GBs of data (single layer). They are commonly used for storing HD movies. B) 700 MB of data storage space. Reason: CDs commonly can store up to 700 MB of data. C) 50 GB of data storage space. ✅ D) 300 MB of data storage space. Reason: Blu-ray discs can store up to 50 GB of data.
Jennifer asked Lauren, "When would you ever need to compress a file?" Lauren replied, "I had to zip a file last week for the following reason."
A) "My Mac has Keynote and I needed to open a PowerPoint file." Reason: Compressing a file Keynote file does not open it as a PowerPoint file. B) "One of my Word files had a virus." Reason: Compressing a file does not eliminate viruses. C) "Firefox was working more slowly than Chrome." Reason: File compression does not impact your browser speed. D) "I needed to send a 25 MB spreadsheet over Gmail." ✅
Which of the following three are characteristics of a Blu-ray disc?
A) A blue spectrum laser reads its pits and lands ✅ B) Uses capacitors and/or transistors to store data Reason: Blu-rays have pits and lands that absorb or reflect a laser beam, and can store approximately 25 GBs of data (single layer). C) Uses pits and lands to store data ✅ D) Holds approximately 50 GB of data ✅
Select all that apply Which 2 of the following are advantages of SSD storage over traditional (magnetic) storage?
A) Is read using lasers Reason: This choice should not be selected. Optical storage, such as DVDs, are read using lasers. B) More durable ✅ C) Faster ✅ D) Less expensive Reason: This choice should not be selected. While prices continue to decrease, solid state drive storage remains more expensive than traditional hard drives.
Which of the following are advantages of using cloud storage?
A) Redundancy; data is stored on multiple servers. ✅ B) Availability; data can be retrieved by any Internet-connected device. ✅ C) Security; you always have complete control of your data. Reason: With cloud storage, anyone with server administrator privileges could access your files. D) Ease of use; you can access your files even when you are not online. Reason: You must be online to view files stored on the cloud.
When referring to digital storage, RAID stands for:
A) Redundant array of independent discs ✅ B) Rational access to instant data C) Readily accessible identified data D) Reasonable assessment of individual dreams
Which of the following three are the methods of using cloud storage?
A) Saving a photo on Flickr ✅ B) E-mailing a file to yourself ✅ C) Purchasing an external hard drive Reason: An external hard drive is not always connected to the Internet and is not considered cloud storage. D) Purchasing online storage space ✅
Which of the following are characteristics of cloud storage?
A) Users can download files to other devices on the Internet. ✅ B) Lasers read the reflective substrate (coating) on the discs. Reason: Optical storage devices use lasers to read digital versatile discs (DVDs) or Blu-ray data. Cloud storage uses servers on the Internet. C) Servers act like giant hard drives. ✅ D) Files are backed up (stored on multiple servers). ✅
Which of the following are characteristics of a traditional hard drive?
A) Uses magnetically charged plates to store data ✅ B) Uses solid-state electronic circuitry to store data Reason: While they contain considerable amounts of electronic circuitry, traditional hard drives use magnetic charges to store data. Reason: While they contain considerable amounts of electronic circuitry, traditional hard drives use magnetic charges to store data. C) Reads data with lasers Reason: Blu-rays and DVD players use lasers. D) Commonly found in desktop computers ✅
In American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), eight bits = one ___.
A) byte ✅ B) bit Reason: A bit is the smallest unit of data a computer can process. A bit is too small on its own to hold relevant information. C) digit Reason: A digit is a generic term for number and does not refer specifically to computers. D) pixel Reason: A pixel is the smallest element of an electronic image.
Complete the problem. Three important types of memory in your computer include registers, random access memory (RAM), and _____.
A) caches ✅ B) hard drives Reason: A hard drive is a type of permanent storage device. C) ROM Reason: Your processor uses cache memory to allow it to better utilize its processing (clock) speed. D) Soild-state drive (SSD) Reason: An SSD is a type of non-volatile storage device.
E-mailing a file to yourself is an example of using _____.
A) cloud storage. ✅ B) optical storage. Reason: Optical storage stores information on optical disks, not on the Internet. C) internal storage. Reason: Internal storage includes hardware such as SSD and traditional hard drives. D) external storage. Reason: E-mailing a file to yourself or posting a photo on Picasa are examples of using cloud storage.
One disadvantage of cloud storage is that _____.
A) data is only available when you are online. ✅ B) because of their small size, thumb drives can easily be lost. Reason: Data on the cloud is stored on servers, not on thumb drives. C) When a digital versatile disc (DVD) gets scratched, data can be irretrievably lost. Reason: Cloud storage servers do not use DVDs to store information. D) Over time, data stored on the cloud deteriorates. Reason: Because most servers are continually backed up, it is unlikely that data stored on the cloud would deteriorate.
A significant advantage of using a solid-state drive instead of a traditional hard drive is that a solid-state drive uses _____.
A) electronics with no moving parts ✅ B) lasers with amplified light Reason: Optical drives use lasers to store information. C) magnets with stops and plots Reason: Hard drives use magnetically coated platters to store data and information. D) pits and lands, so it has much shorter access times. Reason: Pits and lands are used in optical storage not in SSDs.
Because a metal platter is physically spinning, hard drives have ___ .
A) faster access times than solid-state hard drives. Reason: A storage media has either longer or shorter access time (not faster or slower). B) shorter access times Reason: Because their discs physically spin, hard drives are relative slow. Solid-state drives, with no moving parts, have extremely short access times. C) longer access times ✅ D) wider Reason: Access time is measured in length. A storage media has either longer or shorter access time (not narrower or wider).
A laptop computer's RAM is measured in _____.
A) gigabytes. ✅ B) kilobytes. Reason: Most laptops today come with 4-16 gigabytes of data. C) terabytes of data. Reason: Laptops do not come with terabytes of RAM. D) megabytes. Reason: Most laptops today have RAM measured in gigabytes.
Because of its potential value in diagnosing health issues and because of the massive amounts of data it requires, one of the largest data storage requirements of the future will likely be for ___ .
A) mapping patients' genomes ✅ B) retinal scanning data Reason: Retinal scanning data requires storage for data and information, but not nearly the amount require dfor DNA. C) facial recognition data Reason: Facial recognition data requires storage space, but not nearly the amount that is required for DNA. D) storing fingerprints Reason: While this takes up some data space, it is dwarfed by the data required to map the human genome.
Storage capacity for laptop hard drives is typically described in terabytes or _____.
A) megabytes. Reason: Most laptops today come with hard drive capacities of between 500 GB and 1 TB. B) petabytes. Reason: A petabyte of data exceeds the amount of storage included with most laptop computers. C) gigabytes. ✅ D) kilobytes. Reason: A kilobyte of storage is not very much data.
Because it is small, energy-efficient, and fast, _____ cards/drives is/are often used to increase smartphone or digital camera storage capacity.
A) microSD ✅ B) optical Reason: Optical drives have a relatively large footprint. C) SIM Reason: A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module, widely known as a SIM card, is an integrated circuit that is intended to securely store the international mobile subscriber identity number and its related key D) RFID Reason: RFID is commonly used to identify objects.
The ___ the access time, the faster your data will reach your processor.
A) slower Reason: Shorter access time means data will be accessed faster. B) longer Reason: The shorter the access time, the faster your data will reach your processor. C) shorter ✅ D) wider Reason: The shorter the access time, the faster your data will reach your processor.
One minute of MP3 audio uses approximately one ___ of data.
A) terabyte Reason: One megabyte equals one million bytes. B) megabyte✅ C) kilobyte Reason: One megabyte equals one million bytes. D) gigabyte Reason: One megabyte equals one million bytes.
Categorize the following terms associated with optical media.
Blu-ray discs: * Store roughly 50 GB * Used to store HD movies DVDs: * Store roughly 4.5 GB * Used for movie rentals (non-HD) CDs: * Store roughly 700 MB * Used for music albums
Match the following regarding file compression. Drag the correct responses to the empty boxes. Lossy Lossless Zip
Lossy: Reduces space required by removing less-valuable data Lossless: Reduces space required by reducing redundancy within files Zip: A lossless compression format
Categorize the following as either memory or storage. Memory Storage
Memory: * Random access memory (RAM) * Processor registers * L3 Cache Storage: * Blu-ray disc * Read only memory (ROM) * Solid-state drive (SSD) * Universal serial bus (USB) drive
