1.1.3b Magnetic, flash and optical storage, RAM, ROM and virtual storage Quiz: OCR Computer Science, Unit 1

The 20 questions

1. Which type of primary memory loses its contents when power is turned off?

   • Hard drive
   • Flash memory
   • ROM
   • RAM

2. Which non-volatile memory contains the initial boot sequence instructions for a computer system?

   • Virtual memory
   • Cache
   • RAM
   • ROM

3. What optical storage technology uses microscopic pits and lands to represent binary data?

   • Floating gate
   • Electric current
   • Laser beam
   • Magnetic coil

4. Which storage medium uses floating gate transistors to store data non-volatilely without moving parts?

   • Magnetic tape
   • Hard disk drive
   • Flash storage
   • Optical disc

5. Which magnetic storage component moves across spinning platters to read or write data?

   • Laser diode
   • Read-write head
   • Paging file
   • Floating gate

6. What concept describes combining multiple physical storage devices into a single logical storage unit?

   • Cache memory
   • Paging
   • Virtual storage
   • Virtual memory

7. What section of secondary storage is used as temporary extension when RAM is full?

   • Virtual memory
   • Read Only Memory
   • Virtual storage
   • Cache memory

8. Which optical disc format offers the highest storage capacity among standard consumer discs?

   • Blu-ray
   • CD-ROM
   • CD-RW
   • DVD-R

9. Why is a solid state drive faster at accessing data than a hard disk drive?

   • No moving parts
   • Higher power draw
   • Magnetic platters
   • Larger physical size

10. What is a major disadvantage of magnetic hard disk drives compared to solid state?

    • Vulnerable to shocks
    • Shorter write lifespans
    • Volatile storage cells
    • Higher static power

11. What happens during paging when virtual memory is actively in use?

    • Deleting BIOS code
    • Swapping data blocks
    • Clearing cache
    • Formatting the drive

12. Which storage device type provides the lowest cost per gigabyte for large-scale archive data?

    • RAM
    • Magnetic tape
    • Solid state drive
    • Blu-ray disc

13. Why is RAM used as main memory instead of a hard disk?

    • Higher storage capacity
    • Lower manufacturing cost
    • Non-volatile retention
    • Faster read-write speeds

14. Which component of a hard disk drive is divided into concentric tracks and sectors?

    • Floating gate
    • Solid state chip
    • Magnetic platter
    • Optical disc layer

15. What happens to electrical charge in flash memory when powered down?

    • It remains trapped
    • It transfers to RAM
    • It grounds safely
    • It dissipates instantly

16. Which storage medium is most suitable for a portable action camera subject to movement?

    • Magnetic tape
    • MicroSD card
    • Magnetic hard drive
    • CD-RW disc

17. What type of ROM can be erased and reprogrammed using electrical signals?

    • DRAM
    • EPROM
    • PROM
    • EEPROM

18. What issue occurs when excessive paging causes a system to slow down significantly?

    • Memory leak
    • Bus collision
    • Buffer overflow
    • Disk thrashing

19. Which type of RAM requires continuous refreshing of its capacitive storage cells?

    • Flash memory
    • Static RAM
    • EEPROM
    • Dynamic RAM

20. What advantage does Static RAM have over Dynamic RAM in processor cache memory?

    • Higher data density
    • Lower cost
    • Faster access time
    • Non-volatile operation

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