Chapter 15. Storage Drives

What are the maximum unencoded data transfer rates for SATA Revision 3.0 and SATA Revision 3.2?

SATA 3.0 supports 6.0 Gbps (600 MB/s after overhead); SATA 3.2 supports up to 16 Gbps (2 GB/s)

Identify the pin counts for a standard internal SATA drive's data interface and its power interface.

7-pin data connector and 15-pin power connector

What three distinct voltages are delivered by a power supply unit via a standard 15-pin SATA power connector?

3.3 V, 5 V, and 12 V

What are the standard physical platter sizes (widths) for desktop computer and laptop computer hard disk drives (HDDs)?

Desktop HDDs use 3.5-inch platters; laptop HDDs use 2.5-inch platters

What are the two most common operational speeds (RPM) and internal form factors associated with standard laptop and desktop HDDs?

Laptops typically use 2.5-inch drives spinning at 5400 RPM; desktops typically use 3.5-inch drives spinning at 7200 RPM

What core structural property allows Solid-State Drives (SSDs) to achieve vastly superior latency and physical shock resistance over traditional HDDs?

SSDs write data directly to non-volatile memory microchips and contain no moving parts or spinning platters

What is the structural meaning of an M.2 2280 form factor specification?

The M.2 card physically measures 22 mm wide by 80 mm long

What is the primary speed difference between an M.2 SATA SSD and an M.2 NVMe SSD?

M.2 SATA is capped at 6 Gbps using the standard SATA bus; M.2 NVMe accesses the high-speed PCIe bus (typically x4 lanes) for multi-gigabit throughput

What enterprise-level serial communication protocol succeeds parallel SCSI and is widely implemented in robust data centers for high-throughput SSD arrays?

SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)

What is the functional design goal of RAID 0, what is its minimum drive count, and is it fault-tolerant?

RAID 0 provides Disk Striping for high performance; requires a minimum of 2 drives; provides zero fault tolerance (one drive failure destroys the array)

What is the operational definition of RAID 1, what is its exact drive requirement, and how does it achieve fault tolerance?

RAID 1 provides Disk Mirroring by writing identical data to 2 (and only 2) disks; if one drive fails, the other maintains system operation

What is the distinct structural arrangement of RAID 5, and how many drives must a technician use at minimum to configure it?

RAID 5 utilizes block-level striping with distributed parity across a minimum of 3 drives; it can survive the loss of exactly 1 drive

How does RAID 6 expand upon the fault tolerance of RAID 5, and what is its minimum drive count?

RAID 6 utilizes block-level striping with double distributed parity across a minimum of 4 drives; it can safely sustain the simultaneous loss of up to 2 drives

What is the architecture of a RAID 10 array, and what is the minimum number of disks required to build it?

RAID 10 is a nested "stripe of mirrors" (RAID 1+0) that combines the performance of striping with the redundancy of mirroring; requires a minimum of 4 disks

What is the fundamental operational difference between drive fault tolerance and data backup?

Fault tolerance keeps storage volumes online with zero downtime during a hardware crash; backup involves duplicating and archiving data to a separate location for disaster recovery

What specific file system should a technician format a 32 GB flash drive with to ensure compatibility across modern Windows, Linux, and macOS systems while supporting single files larger than 4 GB?

exFAT (FAT64)

What administrative procedure must be executed in the OS prior to physically disconnecting a USB flash drive or SD card to prevent data corruption?

Select "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" to shut down power and finalize data writes to the device

Identify the standard maximum storage capacities for standard SD, SDHC, and SDXC flash cards.

Standard SD: up to 4 GB; SDHC: up to 32 GB; SDXC: up to 2 TB

What is the physical width of standard computer optical drives, and what communication interface do they use to connect internally?

5.25 inches wide; they connect via the SATA interface

What is the data storage capacity of a standard single-sided, single-layer DVD-5 compared to a standard compact disc (CD)?

A standard CD holds up to 700 MB; a single-layer DVD-5 holds up to 4.7 GB

What are the raw storage capacities of standard single-layer Blu-ray discs (BD), and what optical standard do they use?

Standard single-layer Blu-ray discs hold 25 GB of data and use a blue-violet laser to read tightly packed surface pits

What physical step should a technician take if an optical drive tray becomes completely jammed and refuses to open electronically?

Insert an uncoiled paper clip into the tiny manual eject pinhole located directly next to the drive tray faceplate