Cambridge IGCSE · Information and Communication Technology (0417)

Storage devices: Practice Questions

5 multiple-choice questions marked as you go, and 4 written questions with worked solutions. All on Storage devices.

9 questions17 marksFree, no account

Question 1

1 mark

A technician is replacing a fixed magnetic hard drive in a server. What is a primary characteristic of this specific storage device?

Question 2

1 mark

An office manager is comparing internal and external storage. Which statement correctly identifies a typical use for a portable magnetic hard drive?

Question 3

1 mark

When comparing magnetic tape drives to solid-state drives (SSD) for long-term data archiving of rarely accessed data, which of the following is a primary advantage of the tape-based system?

Question 4

1 mark

Which of these storage devices uses a laser beam to read and write data by detecting pits and lands on the surface of the media?

Question 5

1 mark

A user needs to transfer a 5GB file between two computers that are not connected to a network. Which storage device would be the most suitable and practical for this task?

Question 6

2 marks

State one advantage of using a magnetic tape drive as a storage device compared to a hard disk drive for corporate data archiving.

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Question 7

3 marks

Explain why a Solid-State Drive (SSD) is considered more suitable than a magnetic hard disk drive for use in portable laptop computers.

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Question 8

3 marks

A large bank uses magnetic tape drives as part of its data management strategy.

(a) Identify the specific method of data access used by magnetic tape. [1]
(b) Explain why a bank would choose to use magnetic tape for archiving records rather than optical discs like Blu-ray. [2]

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Question 9

4 marks

A small video editing company is upgrading its workstations and needs to decide on the storage devices to be installed.

(a) Describe two characteristics of a fixed solid-state drive (SSD) that make it more suitable for running video editing software than a magnetic hard disk drive (HDD). [2]
(b) The company also uses portable magnetic hard drives. Explain one advantage of using a portable HDD instead of an SD card for backing up high-definition video projects. [2]

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