Chapter 3 Question
1.A student has completed some work at school and wishes to take it home. He could use a pen
drive or a CD R disc to transport the files.
(a) Give two error messages that could appear to stop him saving his work.
Any two from:
− Scan the pen drive for errors
− Medium is full
− Virus found on the file
− Bad sector/unable to save
− Device not recognised
− Read error
(b) Compare and contrast the use of a pen drive rather than a CD R.
Differences
Max three from:
− Not every computer has a CD drive, but most PCs have a USB port
− A CDR can slip between papers and can be easily lost
− Pen drive are small and can easily slip out of a pocket
− Pen drive stores more data
− Pen drive is more robust
− Pen drive can be overwritten/edited/data erased
− Pen drive is solid state whereas CDR is optical
Similarities
− Pen drive and CDR are storage devices
− CDR and pen drive are portable
2. People can watch a movie either by streaming or from a Blu-ray disc. Give two advantages of
watching the movie by streaming rather than from a Blu-ray disc.
Two from:
Cheaper than buying the Blu-ray player
Streaming works on different internet connected devices
Streaming uses a simpler interface [2]
3. Complete the sentences, using the most appropriate item from the list.
a Blu-ray disc a compact disc a hard disk a magnetic tape
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Chapter 3 Question
a memory card a pen drive a processor RAM
ROM a solid state drive
(a) Optical storage medium that is often used to store HD movies is called
Ans: a Blu-ray disc
(b) Internal memory where the data cannot be changed is called
Ans: ROM
(c) Magnetic medium which can only be used for serial access is called
Ans: a magnetic tape
(d) Internal memory that is volatile is called
Ans: RAM
4. CD, DVD and Blu-ray are types of optical storage media. Tick the most appropriate optical
storage medium for each of the statements.
CD DVD Blu-ray
(✓) (✓) (✓)
Stores lower quality audio files ✓
Has the highest storage capacity ✓
The RAM version of this medium is used to
record and play recorded images at the same ✓
time
Stores high definition movies ✓
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Chapter 3 Question
5. Tick whether the following are examples of Magnetic tape, Blu-ray or DVD RAM.
Magnetic tape Blu-ray DVD RAM
(✓) (✓) (✓)
Does not require a laser to read the data. ✓
Uses serial access only. ✓
Used to store and play HD movies. ✓
Can store and read data at the same time. ✓
6. Circle two items which are used as external storage media.
Monitor Hard disk CD RW ROM RAM Mouse
7. Magnetic tapes are traditionally used for backing up data on large computer systems. Liu works
from home and is considering either backing up her data on to magnetic tape or a pen drive.
Give three reasons why she may prefer to use a pen drive.
Three from: Pen drives work on most computer systems magnetic tape drives may not
Magnetic tape drives are more expensive to buy
Pen drives are more robust
Finding/restoring data from a pen drive is easier
Pen drives are less susceptible to magnetic fields
Easier to carry around/more portable
8. The internal memory of a computer consists of both ROM and RAM. (a) Describe the terms
ROM and RAM.
Four from:
ROM
Read Only Memory
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Chapter 3 Question
Non-volatile//Data is not lost when the computer is switched off
Used to store the startup instructions/BIOS
RAM
Random Access Memory
Volatile//Data is lost when the computer is turned off
Stores the current running program/instruction
RAM can be written to and read from
To gain full marks the description must have correct answers for both ROM and RAM
(b) Modern laptop computers use Solid State Drives (SSD) rather than Hard Disk Drives (HDD).
State three advantages of using SSDs rather than HDDs in a laptop computer.
Three from:
The startup of the laptop is faster
SSDs consume less power than HDD so conserves battery power
Reduces the weight of the laptop as SSD is lighter
Makes the laptop more compact [3]
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