Storage Devices - Drive Performance Issues

Question 1

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART)

Answer 1

Self-diagnostic program that alerts the OS if there is a failure. Monitors the hard drive and understands the health status of the drive. Measures lots of different attributes:
-Read Error Rate
-Spin-Up Time
-Reallocated Sector Count
-Seek Error Rate
-Power-On Hours
-Temperature

It monitors input/output operations per second (IOPS)

A hard disk drive has a lower IOPS than a solid-state device

Low IOPS can be an issue with the hardware or the software

Question 2

Defragmentation tool

Answer 2

Able to put files back together and reduce read and write times.. Fragmentation is not an issue on SSD.