3

Storage Devices & Compression

Part I

Sub-Topic Questions

Secondary Storage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Primary Memory 7(b), 8

Optical 3, 4, 6, 7(a), 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 23, 25

Magnetic 3, 4, 5, 6, 7(a), 14, 15, 16, 21, 24, 25, 26(a)

Solid Sate 3, 4, 5, 6, 7(a), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26(b), 27

Cloud Storage 28, 29, 30

 Ch3: Storage Devices & Compression Eng. Omar El Safty

Storage Devices & Compression P1

1 Describe the purpose of secondary storage.

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2 The secondary storage in a computer is damaged, so it is removed for repair.

This means the computer will no longer work.

Explain why the secondary storage is needed for the computer to work.

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3 Backing storage makes use of magnetic, optical or solid-state technology.

Seven descriptions are given in the table below. Indicate with a tick (✓) which statements
refer to magnetic, optical or solid-state technology [7]

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4 Six statements are given about the operation of three different types of storage.

Tick (✓) to show which statements apply to each type of storage. Some statements
may apply to more than one type of storage.

Type of storage
Magnetic Optical Solid state
Statement
(✓) (✓) (✓)

this storage has no moving parts

this storage uses a laser to read and write data

this storage uses a read/write head

this storage burns pits onto a reflective surface

this storage uses NAND and NOR technology

this storage stores data in tracks and sectors

[6]

5 Julia inputs personal data into her computer.

Six statements are shown about HDDs, SSDs and USB flash memory drives.

Tick (✓) to show which statements apply to each type of storage. Some statements can
apply to more than one type of storage.

USB flash
Statement memory
HDD SSD drive
(✓) (✓) (✓)
it has no moving parts

it is non-volatile

it can use NAND gates to store data

it uses magnetic properties to store data

it has the smallest physical size

it has the slowest read/write speeds

[6]

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6 The table contains statements about types of secondary storage.

Complete the table by writing the correct type of secondary storage for each statement.

type of secondary storage statement

................................................. Pits and lands are created on a reflective surface.

................................................. NAND or NOR technology is used.

................................................. Platters are spun that are divided into tracks and sectors.

................................................. Electromagnets are used to read and write data.

................................................. Transistors are used as control gates and floating gates.

................................................. A red or blue laser is used to read and write data.

[6]

7 A computer has secondary storage.

(a) The table contains statements about secondary storage.

Complete the table by writing the type of secondary storage that applies to each statement.
Some types of secondary storage may apply to more than one statement.

Type of secondary storage Statement

data is stored using pits and lands

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data is stored using control gates and floating gates
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data is stored using electromagnets
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data is stored using a laser
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data is stored on a platter that is divided into tracks and
................................................ sectors
[5]

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(b) Explain two differences between primary storage and secondary storage.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

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[4]

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9 Describe how the data is read from an optical device.

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10 Describe how the data is written to an optical device.

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11 Describe how the data is written to a DVD.

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12 Cassie stores data for her business every day. She stores the data using optical data
storage.

Identify three examples of optical data storage.

Example 1 ..............................................................................................................................

Example 2 ..............................................................................................................................

Example 3 ............................................................................................................................[3]

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13 One type of secondary storage is optical.

Circle three examples of optical storage.

read only memory (ROM) secure digital (SD) card compact disk (CD)

hard disk drive (HDD) digital versatile disk (DVD)

Blu-ray disk universal serial bus (USB) drive solid-state drive (SSD)
[3]

14 Describe how the data is read from a magnetic device.

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15 Describe how the data is read from an HDD.

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16 Describe how the data is written to a magnetic device.

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17 Explain how a solid state device stores data.

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18 Describe the operation of USB flash memory and how it stores data.

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19 SSD is an example of a solid-state storage device, while HDD is an example a magnetic

storage device.

One advantage of an SSD rather than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is that it has no moving
parts, so it is more durable.

Describe two other advantages of the supermarket using SSD rather than HDD.

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20 Explain how a solid-state device reads data.

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21 Identify which type of storage would be the most suitable for use in a web server
and justify your choice.

Type of storage ..................................................................................................................

Justification ........................................................................................................................

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22 A business is creating a new mobile device that has an SSD as secondary storage.

(i) Give three reasons why an SSD is the most suitable secondary storage for
their mobile device.

Reason 1 .....................................................................................................................

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Reason 2 .....................................................................................................................

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Reason 3 .....................................................................................................................

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(ii) Identify two examples of software that can be stored on the SSD.

Example 1 ..................................................................................................................

Example 2 .............................................................................................................[2]

23 A company uses both solid-state and optical secondary storage.

Describe three differences between solid-state and optical storage.

1 ..............................................................................................................................................

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[3]

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24 A company uses both solid-state and magnetic storage.

Describe three differences between solid-state and magnetic storage.

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[3]

25 A company uses both magnetic and optical secondary storage.

Describe three differences between magnetic and optical storage.

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26 Storage can be described as being magnetic, solid-state or optical.

(a) Give two features of magnetic storage.

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(b) Give three features of solid-state storage.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

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[3]

(c) Give one example of each type of storage.

Magnetic ...................................................................................................................................

Solid-state .................................................................................................................................

Optical ......................................................................................................................................
[3]

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27 The photographer decides to purchase a solid‑state storage device to back up their images.

Complete the description of solid‑state storage. Use the terms from the list.
Some of the terms in the list will not be used. You should only use a term once.

binary denary electrons grid neutrons

non-volatile RAM star transistors virtua l volatile

Solid‑state storage is ....................................................................................... This means that

the data is not lost when the power is turned off.

Solid‑state storage is made of ........................................................... that are laid out in a

........................................................... .

Gates are used to control the flow of the ........................................................... through the

transistors. This changes the data in the transistors from 1 to 0, or from 0 to1.
[4]

28 Explain what is meant by cloud storage.

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29 (a) Give three benefits of storing data on cloud storage rather than storing them locally.

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(b) Give three drawbacks of storing data on cloud storage rather than storing them locally.

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30 A company uses cloud storage to store its data.

(a) Tick (✓) one box to show which is not a characteristic of cloud storage.

A Data is accessed through a network

B Data is stored locally

C Data is stored remotely

D Physical servers are used to store the data

[1]

(b) Explain two advantages for the owners of the company of storing its data in cloud
storage.

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[4]

(c) Explain one disadvantage to employees of the company storing data in the cloud.

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3
Storage Devices & Compression

Part II

Chapter 3 P2 (Compression)

Sub-Topic Questions

Text - Program Code - Databases 1, 2, 3, 4

Image 5, 6

Sound 7, 8(i)

Video 9, 10(a)

Identify Suitable Method 12, 13(a), 14(a)

Adv. & Dis. 8(ii,iii,iv), 10(b,c), 11, 13(b), 14(b)

 Ch3: Storage Devices & Compression Eng. Omar El Safty

Storage Devices & Compression P2

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4 Sam wants to compress a program source code file.

Identify which type of compression would be most suitable for Sam to use. Explain your
choice.

Compression type .....................................................................................................................

Explanation ...............................................................................................................................

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8 A music company has a website that allows users to stream music.

The music is stored in sound files.

The sound files are compressed using lossless compression.

(i) Describe how the sound files are compressed using lossless compression.

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(ii) State one reason why the music company would compress the sound files
using lossless, rather than lossy, compression.

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(iii) Give one benefit, to the user, of the music company compressing the sound files.

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(iv) Give one drawback of the music company using lossless, rather than lossy,
compression for the sound files.

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10 Sammi creates videos for the finance company website that give customers advice about
their finances.
He uses lossy compression to reduce the file size of the videos for the website.

(a) Give three ways that lossy compression can reduce the file size of the videos.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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(b) Give one drawback of using lossy compression to reduce the file size of the videos.

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(c) Sammi could have used lossless compression to compress the videos for the website.

(i) Give one reason why he would use lossless compression, rather than lossy
compression, for the videos.

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(ii) Give two disadvantages of Sammi using lossless compression, rather

than lossy compression, for the videos.

Disadvantage 1
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Disadvantage 2
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11

12 Georgia compresses photographs to store them on the USB flash memory drive. It is
important that the compression does not affect the quality of the photographs in any way.
State which type of compression is the most suitable. Justify your choice.

Compression type .....................................................................................................................

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

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13 (a) The photographer compresses the image using a method that permanently reduces

the colour depth and resolution of the image.

Identify which compression method the photographer uses.

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(b) One benefit for compressing the image is to reduce the storage space it uses.

Give two other benefits of compressing the image.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

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2 ................................................................................................................................................

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[2]

14 Salma wants to compress the recording to make sure that the file is as small as
possible for the website.

(a) Identify which type of compression she should use and describe how this would
compress the file for the website.

Type of compression .........................................................................................................

Description

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(b) Give two benefits of compressing the file for the website.

Benefit 1 ............................................................................................................................

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Benefit 2 ............................................................................................................................

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