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Chapter 6. Memory and Storage > Answers and Explanations
Answers and Explanations
| 1. | C. Random access memory (RAM) loses its contents when the computer shuts down. Hard disk drives, USB flash drives, and read-only memory (ROM) are designed to retain their contents even if they are not receiving power. |
| 2. | B. SRAM, or Static RAM, is bulkier and more expensive than DRAM because it does not require electricity as often as DRAM. |
| 3. | D. Rambus memory that uses 32-bit RIMMs must use pairs, and unused sockets must be occupied by a continuity module. |
| 4. | B. SDRAM was the first memory type that was in sync with the motherboard’s memory bus. |
| 5. | A, B, C. To correctly insert the memory modules, you should follow all the steps listed. You might also have to use a fair amount of pressure to securely lock these modules in place. |
| 6. | C. Hard disk drives are the most important storage device used by a personal computer. Hard disk drives store the operating system (Windows, Linux, or others) and load it into the computer’s memory (RAM) at startup. Hard disk drives also store applications, system configuration files used by applications and the operating system, and data files created by the user. |
| 7. | C. Hard disk drives use one or more double-sided platters formed from rigid materials such as aluminum or glass. These platters are coated with a durable magnetic surface that is divided into sectors. Each sector contains 512 bytes of storage along with information about where the sector is located on the disk medium. |
| 8. | A, C. Most internal CD and DVD drives use the same ATA/IDE interface used by PATA hard disks. When this interface is used by drives other than hard disks, it is often referred to as the ATAPI interface. |
| 9. | B. If you want to play music CDs through your sound card’s speakers, you might need to connect a CD audio patch cable. One end connects to the CD-ROM drive and the other end connects to the CD audio port on the sound card or motherboard. Older drives support a four-wire analog cable, whereas newer drives support both the four-wire analog and newer two-wire digital cable. If the power cable wasn’t connected, the drive wouldn’t have opened when you inserted the disc. CD-ROM drives normally don’t need drivers installed; they are installed automatically by Windows. However you might need a soundcard driver. If the CD was faulty, Windows Media Player would not have played the song, and you wouldn’t have seen the song title or the elapsed time of the song. |
| 10. | C. PC2-8500 (DDR2-667) is a type of DDR2 RAM. |
| 11. | A. SDRAM has 168 pins. DDR has 184 pins. DDR2 has 240 pins. Rambus has 232 or 184 pins. |
| 12. | B. When installing RAM, don’t touch the bottom connectors or the chips on the side of the module if at all possible. Handle the RAM from the edges (but not the connector edge). |
| 13. | B. ATA-6 can transmit data at a maximum of 100MBps. ATA-5 has a max rate of 66MBps. ATA-7 has a maximum of 133MBps, and ATA-8 (SATA-II) has a maximum of 300MBps. |
| 14. | B. RAID 1 (mirroring) uses two disks, and two disks only. RAID 0 can use two or more disks. RAID 5 uses three or more disks. And RAID 0+1 is a combination of striping and mirroring, that needs four disks minimum. |
| 15. | A. A DVD’s standard storage size is 4.7GB. Other sizes larger than 4.7GB require double density or double siding techniques. |
Case Study 1 Solution
| 1: | For example, let’s say we have an Intel DP35DP motherboard and we want to install the maximum amount of RAM possible. First, we should define what type of RAM we need to install (from the motherboard’s documentation). Then we should access a memory manufacturer’s website to find compatible memory.
While examining the Intel DP35DP motherboard’s documentation, we find that it uses DDR2 RAM and can support between 256MB and 4GB of RAM. However, in order to install the maximum of 4GB, a kit of two sticks of RAM have to be installed. The maximum RAM speed allowed by the motherboard is 800MHz. So, the next step is to access a memory manufacturer’s website such as www.kingston.com. Then, we search by manufacturer (Intel), scroll down to the DP35DP model motherboard, and search. This displays a list of compatible RAM. In order to meet our goal of 4GB at 800MHz, we notice that there is only one compatible kit: KVR800D2N6K2/4G. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that this particular motherboard supports dual channel RAM. That means that the RAM must be installed properly within banks. These are usually color-coded. For example, on this motherboard, both RAM sticks would need to be installed into the blue slots. Both blue slots collectively form a bank. |
