Common storage technologies questions and answers
Q1. Explain with examples what is meant by a ‘solid state device’.
A1. Solid state devices have no moving parts and get their power from whatever device they are plugged into. E.g. SD cards, micro SD cards, pen drives.
Q2. Suggest one way of improving a computer’s performance, related to the hard drive.
A2. Buy one with as fast a spin speed as possible. Data can then be read from the disk and written to it much faster than a slower disk. Or swap a magnetic hard drive for a solid state one.
Q3. What is meant by a storage medium described as a WORM storage medium?
A3. Write Once Read Many (times). You can only write to the device once. Once you have done this, you can’t write to it again, although you can read from it as many times as you like.
Q4. Give an example of a WORM medium.
A4. CD, DVD.
Q5. Explain how a CD writer stores data on a CD.
A5. Optical devices store binary patterns using lasers. These change whether an area on a disk can reflect light or not. The laser can then be used to read back patterns by shining a laser on the disk and looking at which areas reflect light and which don't.
Q6. State one device that uses magnetic storage technology.
A6. E.g. The hard drive, Tape.
Q7. State one device that uses optical storage technology.
A7. E.g. CDs, DVDs.
Q8. What is meant by a 'flash' storage device?
A8. Any storage device that uses solid state technology.
Q9. What kind of storage technology do Blu-ray disks use?
A9. Optical.
Q10. If hard drives are so slow compared to solid state devices, explain why they are still in widespread use.
A10. For very little relative cost, you can store huge amounts of data using a hard drive. This may change soon, as larger solid state storage devices become every cheaper to manufacture.