Home > Articles > CompTIA > A+

31 Days Before Your CompTIA A+ Exams, Day 31: Storage

📄 Contents

  1. A+ 220-701 Exam Objective
  2. Interfaces and Cables
This chapter starts out your last month of A+ exam prep by describing names, purposes, and characteristics of storage devices.
This chapter is from the book

A+ 220-701 Exam Objective

Objective 1.1: Categorize storage devices and backup media

Key Points

Today you learn the names, purposes, and characteristics of storage devices. Today is the first of many challenging days. It does get easier. The internal devices have many details, all of which are fair game on the CompTIA A+ exam. Faced with entering a cold swimming pool, a running-start, closed-eye, tucked-knee cannonball is a great way to get in the water (and impress your friends). So, take a big breath and hold your nose.

Storage Devices

Storage devices include hard drives, floppy drives, nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM), tape drives, optical drives (CD and DVD drives), flash drives, and network drives.

Hard Drives

The hard disk drive (HDD) has been a mainstay of PCs for a long time. Because of its widespread use, it is a big part of the A+ exam. Traditionally, the HDD stores the operating system and the bulk of data in the PC. It is mounted in a 3.5-inch bay, and connects internally through a parallel advanced technology attachment (PATA) channel. PATA interfaces are sometimes referred to as advanced technology attachment (ATA) or integrated drive electronics (IDE). Jumpers are used to determine the HDD’s designation as master, slave, or cable select.

Most new PCs use a controller called serial ATA (SATA) for HDD and optical drives. SATA does not use jumpers or designations. Instead, SATA uses one header and one cable per drive.

All HDDs work the same way. Arms move read/write (R/W) heads over the surface of spinning magnetic platters. These R/W heads either align molecules to create a positive charge (a 1) or leave it with a neutral charge (a 0), thus making the binary code. When reading, the heads float above the disks and feel the positive charges or no pull from the neutral.

Floppy Drives

Incredibly, this is still on the exam. Luckily, there are just a few things to know about them. In many ways, a floppy disk drive (FDD) is like an HDD. It spins a disk, moves R/W heads across the surface, and stores data magnetically. There are two important differences: Capacity is limited to 1.44 MB, and the disk is removable by the end user. They mount in 3.5-inch bays that have access to the outside of the case.

A classic A+ question involves an FDD status light that stays lit all the time. The cable is oriented backward. Turn off the PC, unplug the FDD cable from the drive, flip it over, and plug it back in. Normally, the colored wire on the ribbon cable (pin 1) is closest to the Berg power connector. On the motherboard end, it should be oriented based on the numbers printed around the FDD cable header. Because there are 34 wires in an FDD cable, it is narrower than a PATA ribbon.

Solid-State HDD and NVRAM

Ranging from small external universal serial bus (USB) devices to larger-capacity HDDs, solid-state drives are in reality NVRAM storage devices. NVRAM, often referred to as flash memory or flash RAM, is slower than RAM but still faster than traditional magnetic storage media. Unlike RAM, NVRAM can maintain its data when not powered. Solid-state drives are especially good for laptops where portability, performance, durability, and low power consumption are valued over price and drive capacity.

Tape Drives

A magnetic tape is drawn across stationary R/W heads, but the same magnetic process takes place. The tape is removable by the user, but the drive remains mounted and connected to the PC. Tape capacity is large, comparable to HDDs, but access time is slow because of the sequential nature of tape media. These are primarily used as server backups.

CD, DVD, and BD Drives

The basic optical drive is a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). This CD-ROM drive reads premade discs and cannot write (burn) CDs. The CD can hold 650 MB or 700 MB of data. The CD-ROM drive mounts in a 5.25-inch bay and connects to the motherboard via a PATA or SATA interface.

Digital versatile disc (DVD) has many more variations. The basic read and write letters still apply, but there are two formats: + and –. For our purposes, they are the same. Just note that they are not compatible with each other. Plus drives only read/write plus CDs. Newer +/– hybrid drives can read and write both. Generally speaking, DVD drives are backward compatible and can use CDs. A typical DVD holds 4.7 GB of data or 8.5 GB for double layered (on the same side). Blu-Ray disks (BD) can hold up to 50 GB of data. A Blu-Ray disk can contain 25 GB for a single layer and 50 GB for double layer.

Optical media that is designated RW means it can be rewritten. If it is labeled with just an R that means once it is “burned” it cannot be changed.

Table 31-1 compares CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray drives.

CD Family

DVD Family

Blu-Ray Family

Need to Know

CD-ROM

DVD-ROM

BD-ROM

Can only read premade discs.

CD-RD

DVD+/–R

BD-R

(Recordable) Write a disc once, and it is read-only after that.

CD-RW

DVD+/–RW

BD-RE

BD-RW (Rewritable) Read and write a discrepeatedly.

CDRAM (not an optical drive)

DVD-RAM

("Endlessly" rewritable) Used primarily as surveillance-camera footage.

Network Drives

These drives are often referred to as remote, shared, or mapped drives. This means that the storage device resides on another computer, server, or other network device, not on the end user’s (local) PC.

Pearson IT Certification Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Pearson IT Certification and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Pearson IT Certification products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.pearsonitcertification.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020