Implimenting mass storage

Question 1

True or false: The storage areas within an SSD are called Sectors?

Answer 1

False. HDDs have sectors, SSDs have Pages within blocks.

Question 2

What is flash memory?

Answer 2

Non-volatile memory that can be electronically programmed or erased.

Question 3

In SSDs, Pages exist within blocks of data. How many pages are usually inside each block?

Answer 3

128

Question 4

What is LBA?

Answer 4

Logical Block Addressing - A HDD/SSD controller that enables addressing to work with the CPU through a LBA0 - LBA[max number] system.

Question 5

What are the three main types of partition formatting, such as MBR (which is one)?

Answer 5

Master Boot Record, Guid Partition Table, Dynamic Disk (windows)

Question 6

What are three defining characteristics of MBR

Answer 6

• Primary (max 4) and extended partitions (Max 1, with 2 logical drives within)
• Holds a boot sector bit at start of data so bios can find OS
• Logical drives

Question 7

What are three characteristics of Dynamic Disks

Answer 7

• Unlimited partitions or “volumes” as MS calls them
• Ability to do raid, span volumes across disks and more
• Available from high end win 7 and onwards

Question 8

Name 5 types of volumes dynamic disk is capable of

Answer 8

1. Simple volumes - Act as primary partitions do
2. Spanned volumes - Extending across multiple drives
3. Striped volumes - For quicker data
4. Mirrored - Doy
5. Raid 5

Question 9

What does HDD formatting do?

Answer 9

Enforces a file system, enabling file storage and retrieval. It also checks for bad sectors.

Question 10

What is the name of the MBR starting bit that provides bios with information pointing towards a bootable OS?

Answer 10

Master Boot Record

Question 11

Which File system has a two column system that uses hexidecimal to address file locations?

Answer 11

FAT32.

Question 12

For FAT 32, 0000FFF7 means what?

Answer 12

Bad sector.

Question 13

How does FAT32 know where the next piece of a file’s data is?

Answer 13

The right-hand column points to the Hexi-address of the next part.

Question 14

What are four features of NTFS

Answer 14

• Encryption
• Compression
• 16TB Partitions
• Disk Quotas
• Access Control List

Question 15

What are two limitations of FAT32?

Answer 15

• 4GB max size per file

- Does not work on drives larger than 2TB

Question 16

How does exfat improve upon fat 32?

Answer 16

Partition limits in the Zettabytes, File size limits in the Exabytes.

Question 17

Is it safe to convert a basic disk to dynamic?

Answer 17

Yes, but you will lose your partitions.

Question 18

What does it mean to mount a partition?

Answer 18

To use a drive as though it were a folder on a computer.

Question 19

How do you set up a mounted partition?

Answer 19

Dynamic Disk > Simple Volume > Setup wizard

Question 20

What is the purpose of thin provisioning?

Answer 20

It enables you to claim more HDD space than you really have. When your disks near their limit, storage spaces gives you a warning to add more. This eliminates the need to reconfigure your setup each time you need to add another HDD.

Question 21

What are the four possible entries found in a file allocation table?

Answer 21

The four possible entries in a file allocation table are an end-of-file marker, a bad-block marker, code indicating the cluster is available, and the number of the cluster where the next part of the file is stored.

Question 22

Name three windows tools you can use to deal with a troubled hard drive

Answer 22

• Defrag
• Chkdsk/error checking
• Disk Cleanup

Question 23

If a drive doesn’t show in bios, it is most likely unplugged, yes?

Answer 23

Yes