Deck 1 — Hardware & Storage Scenarios

A technician installs an SSD that plugs directly into the motherboard, requires no power cable, and comes in different lengths. What type of SSD is it?,

M.2

A technician wants the fastest SSD available using the PCIe bus. Which interface should they choose?

NVMe

What is the difference between M.2 and NVMe?

M.2 = physical form factor; NVMe = communication protocol.

Which storage device contains spinning magnetic platters?

HDD

Which storage device has no moving parts and uses flash memory?

SSD

Which RAID level provides the fastest performance but zero fault tolerance?

RAID 0 (Striping)

Which RAID level creates an identical copy of data on another drive?

RAID 1 (Mirroring)

How do you remember RAID 0?

0 backups = no duplicates = striping = speed.

How do you remember RAID 1?

1 copy = mirroring = fault tolerance.

A drive has extended read/write times. Which diagnostic technology should you check first?

SMART

A laptop needs a RAM upgrade. Which memory form factor should be installed?

SODIMM

PATA is also known by what name?

IDE

Which PSU voltage powers HDD and optical drive motors?

12V

A laptop has a very dim screen, but an external monitor works normally. What component has likely failed?,

Backlight

Which display technology does NOT require a backlight because each pixel is self-illuminating?

OLED

A conference room display needs the widest possible viewing angles. Which display technology should you choose?

IPS

A support technician replaces a printer, and every page prints as random symbols. What should be checked first?

Driver

A multi-function printer needs to scan directly to a shared network folder. Which protocol is used?

SMB

A support technician hears grinding and clicking coming from a computer. Which component is failing?

Hard disk drive (HDD)

USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 speeds

USB 2.0 = 480 Mbps; USB 3.0 = 5 Gbps