ESTUDYR
WGU C191 MODULE 3 MULTICHOICE ANSWERED EXAM
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED RATIONALES
1. What is the most common type of secondary storage?
A) RAM
B) ROM
C) Magnetic disks ⭐Correct Answer: C – Magnetic disks⭐
D) Cache
Rationale: Magnetic disks are widely used for secondary storage due to their cost-
effectiveness, large capacity, and non-volatile nature.
2. What does the term "transfer rate" refer to in storage systems?
A) The time to locate a file on disk
B) The rate at which data flows between the drive and the computer ⭐Correct Answer: B – The
rate at which data flows between the drive and the computer⭐
C) The number of disk crashes per hour
D) The speed of RAM
Rationale: Transfer rate measures how fast data can move from a storage device to the
computer, impacting overall system performance.
3. What does positioning time (random-access time) include?
A) Time to read the last byte on a disk
B) Time to move the disk arm to the correct cylinder and rotate the sector under the head
⭐Correct Answer: B – Time to move the disk arm to the correct cylinder and rotate the sector
under the head⭐
C) Time for disk formatting
D) Time to write data to cache
Rationale: Positioning time combines seek time and rotational latency, which are critical for
disk I/O performance.
4. What is a "head crash"?
A) A planned disk write operation
,ESTUDYR
B) A backup procedure
C) When the disk head contacts the disk surface, causing data loss ⭐Correct Answer: C – When
the disk head contacts the disk surface, causing data loss⭐
D) Disk partitioning error
Rationale: Head crashes physically damage the disk surface, potentially causing permanent
data loss.
5. Which of the following is an example of an I/O bus?
A) SATA ⭐Correct Answer: A – SATA⭐
B) RAM
C) CPU
D) GPU
Rationale: I/O busses like SATA, SCSI, USB, and FireWire are used to connect storage devices to
the computer system.
6. What is the role of a host controller?
A) Stores all disk data
B) Uses the bus to communicate with the disk controller ⭐Correct Answer: B – Uses the bus to
communicate with the disk controller⭐
C) Manages CPU scheduling
D) Monitors RAM health
Rationale: The host controller acts as an interface between the CPU/bus and the storage
device, facilitating I/O operations.
7. Seek distance is equal to which metric?
A) Bandwidth
B) Random-access time
C) Seek time ⭐Correct Answer: C – Seek time⭐
D) Rotational latency
Rationale: Seek distance measures how far the read/write head must travel, directly correlating
to seek time.
, ESTUDYR
8. Which of the following describes bandwidth in storage systems?
A) Time to locate data
B) Total number of bytes transferred divided by total time ⭐Correct Answer: B – Total number
of bytes transferred divided by total time⭐
C) Disk rotational speed
D) Cache hit ratio
Rationale: Bandwidth quantifies the efficiency of data transfer over time.
9. SSTF (Shortest Seek Time First) is a form of which scheduling algorithm?
A) FCFS
B) Round Robin
C) SJF ⭐Correct Answer: C – SJF (Shortest Job First)⭐
D) Priority
Rationale: SSTF is analogous to SJF but applied to disk scheduling; it minimizes seek time but
may cause starvation.
10. What is a Storage Area Network (SAN)?
A) Local hard drive
B) Network where multiple hosts connect to multiple storage units ⭐Correct Answer: B –
Network where multiple hosts connect to multiple storage units⭐
C) USB flash drive
D) Cloud storage service
Rationale: SANs provide centralized, shared storage accessible by multiple hosts, improving
scalability and redundancy.
11. What is Network-Attached Storage (NAS)?
A) Storage connected directly to a single computer
B) Storage accessible over a network ⭐Correct Answer: B – Storage accessible over a network⭐
C) Volatile memory
D) Tape backup system
Rationale: NAS allows file-level access to storage via a network, making it ideal for shared
access.
WGU C191 MODULE 3 MULTICHOICE ANSWERED EXAM
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED RATIONALES
1. What is the most common type of secondary storage?
A) RAM
B) ROM
C) Magnetic disks ⭐Correct Answer: C – Magnetic disks⭐
D) Cache
Rationale: Magnetic disks are widely used for secondary storage due to their cost-
effectiveness, large capacity, and non-volatile nature.
2. What does the term "transfer rate" refer to in storage systems?
A) The time to locate a file on disk
B) The rate at which data flows between the drive and the computer ⭐Correct Answer: B – The
rate at which data flows between the drive and the computer⭐
C) The number of disk crashes per hour
D) The speed of RAM
Rationale: Transfer rate measures how fast data can move from a storage device to the
computer, impacting overall system performance.
3. What does positioning time (random-access time) include?
A) Time to read the last byte on a disk
B) Time to move the disk arm to the correct cylinder and rotate the sector under the head
⭐Correct Answer: B – Time to move the disk arm to the correct cylinder and rotate the sector
under the head⭐
C) Time for disk formatting
D) Time to write data to cache
Rationale: Positioning time combines seek time and rotational latency, which are critical for
disk I/O performance.
4. What is a "head crash"?
A) A planned disk write operation
,ESTUDYR
B) A backup procedure
C) When the disk head contacts the disk surface, causing data loss ⭐Correct Answer: C – When
the disk head contacts the disk surface, causing data loss⭐
D) Disk partitioning error
Rationale: Head crashes physically damage the disk surface, potentially causing permanent
data loss.
5. Which of the following is an example of an I/O bus?
A) SATA ⭐Correct Answer: A – SATA⭐
B) RAM
C) CPU
D) GPU
Rationale: I/O busses like SATA, SCSI, USB, and FireWire are used to connect storage devices to
the computer system.
6. What is the role of a host controller?
A) Stores all disk data
B) Uses the bus to communicate with the disk controller ⭐Correct Answer: B – Uses the bus to
communicate with the disk controller⭐
C) Manages CPU scheduling
D) Monitors RAM health
Rationale: The host controller acts as an interface between the CPU/bus and the storage
device, facilitating I/O operations.
7. Seek distance is equal to which metric?
A) Bandwidth
B) Random-access time
C) Seek time ⭐Correct Answer: C – Seek time⭐
D) Rotational latency
Rationale: Seek distance measures how far the read/write head must travel, directly correlating
to seek time.
, ESTUDYR
8. Which of the following describes bandwidth in storage systems?
A) Time to locate data
B) Total number of bytes transferred divided by total time ⭐Correct Answer: B – Total number
of bytes transferred divided by total time⭐
C) Disk rotational speed
D) Cache hit ratio
Rationale: Bandwidth quantifies the efficiency of data transfer over time.
9. SSTF (Shortest Seek Time First) is a form of which scheduling algorithm?
A) FCFS
B) Round Robin
C) SJF ⭐Correct Answer: C – SJF (Shortest Job First)⭐
D) Priority
Rationale: SSTF is analogous to SJF but applied to disk scheduling; it minimizes seek time but
may cause starvation.
10. What is a Storage Area Network (SAN)?
A) Local hard drive
B) Network where multiple hosts connect to multiple storage units ⭐Correct Answer: B –
Network where multiple hosts connect to multiple storage units⭐
C) USB flash drive
D) Cloud storage service
Rationale: SANs provide centralized, shared storage accessible by multiple hosts, improving
scalability and redundancy.
11. What is Network-Attached Storage (NAS)?
A) Storage connected directly to a single computer
B) Storage accessible over a network ⭐Correct Answer: B – Storage accessible over a network⭐
C) Volatile memory
D) Tape backup system
Rationale: NAS allows file-level access to storage via a network, making it ideal for shared
access.
