CSA Storage Solutions & Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A customer's laptop only has USB-C ports. Which external SSD connection standard should you recommend for the fastest transfer speeds?
- USB 2.0
- Thunderbolt 3 (Correct answer)
- FireWire 400
- eSATA
Correct answer: Thunderbolt 3
Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB-C connector and supports up to 40 Gbps, far exceeding other options available through a USB-C port.
Question 2: What is the primary advantage of an M.2 NVMe SSD over a standard SATA SSD?
- Lower price per gigabyte
- Higher storage capacity limit
- Significantly faster read/write speeds (Correct answer)
- Greater compatibility with older systems
Correct answer: Significantly faster read/write speeds
NVMe SSDs use the PCIe bus instead of SATA, delivering read speeds up to 5x faster than SATA-based SSDs.
Question 3: Which storage form factor is commonly used in ultra-thin laptops and connects directly to the motherboard?
- 3.5-inch HDD
- 2.5-inch SATA SSD
- M.2 SSD (Correct answer)
- 5.25-inch optical drive
Correct answer: M.2 SSD
M.2 SSDs slot directly into a motherboard connector, making them ideal for slim laptops where space is at a premium.
Question 4: A customer wants to back up their entire PC automatically every night. Which solution is best suited for this use case?
- USB flash drive left in the laptop
- Cloud backup service with automated scheduling (Correct answer)
- Recordable DVD discs stored in a drawer
- A second internal SSD in the same machine
Correct answer: Cloud backup service with automated scheduling
Automated cloud backup services run scheduled backups and store data off-site, protecting against both hardware failure and physical disasters.
Question 5: What does 'storage capacity' refer to when selling a storage device?
- The speed at which data can be written
- The total amount of data the device can hold (Correct answer)
- The number of files the device can open simultaneously
- The device's physical dimensions
Correct answer: The total amount of data the device can hold
Storage capacity is the maximum amount of data a device can store, typically measured in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB).
Question 6: Which of the following best describes a 'hybrid drive' (SSHD)?
- A drive that works both as USB and Bluetooth
- A combination of HDD and SSD technologies in one unit (Correct answer)
- A drive compatible with both Mac and Windows
- An SSD with built-in encryption
Correct answer: A combination of HDD and SSD technologies in one unit
An SSHD combines a traditional spinning HDD with a small NAND flash cache to improve frequently-accessed file performance at lower cost than a pure SSD.
Question 7: A photography studio needs to store 20TB of raw image files with easy scalability. Which enterprise storage solution fits best?
- Multiple USB flash drives
- Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) expansion enclosure (Correct answer)
- Single 2TB external HDD
- SD card collection
Correct answer: Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) expansion enclosure
DAS expansion enclosures connect directly to a workstation and allow adding multiple high-capacity drives, scaling easily to 20TB and beyond.
CSA Storage Solutions & Management 3
A customer's laptop only has USB-C ports.
Which external SSD connection standard should you recommend for the fastest transfer speeds?