You need to upgrade the hard drive on your desktop computer. After looking at some options, you’ve found PATA, SCSI, and SATA drive interface types. What is one way to determine which hard drive type to choose?
A) Select the drive interface type that supports the largest storage capacity
B) Select the drive interface type that supports the highest throughput
C) Check the device manager to find the installed hard drive controller type
D) It’s not necessary to select any particular drive type; they will all work on desktop computers
C) Check the device manager to find the installed hard drive controller types
A hard drive must connect to a compatible hard drive controller, so you need to be sure the hard drive you select matches the type of controller in your computer.
The incorrect answers:
A) Select the drive interface type that supports the largest storage capacity
I like the idea of selecting a drive based solely on the storage capacity, but it overlooks the interface requirements.
B) Select the drive interface type that supports the highest throughput
Speed is an important consideration when selecting a drive, but all of that throughput won’t help when there’s no compatible interface on the computer’s drive controller.
D) It’s not necessary to select any particular drive type; they will all work on desktop computers
That sounds like such a perfect world, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, you have to match your drive interface type with the controller type inside of the computer.
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Want to know more? Watch “Storage Technology Overview.”Understanding the fundamentals of personal computer storage is an important CompTIA A+ topic. In this module, we’ll provide you with an overview of computer storage systems, an explanation of disk geometry, and a description of how the master boot record manages to get your operating system started. |